September 9

They haven't won as many games as the White Sox, but the Yankees' stake to what they consider their rightful place in the World Series is firmly planted.

	Roger Clemens has allowed just one run in his last 26 innings of work.

They have all but clinched first place in the AL East and along the way have won three of the four games they have faced Pedro Martinez. Roger Clemens is also now the AL's second-best pitcher, while Andy Pettitte is on his way to 20 wins and with Orlando Hernandez and Denny Neagle the Yankees have the best rotation in baseball. And while they were 11th in the AL in runs scored on June 29, the day they acquired David Justice, they are now third.

Add in that Chuck Knoblauch is back on the field attempting to make the best of a tough situation, they have more bench presence than any Yankee team in this great five-year run and they have enough time to get Bernie Williams and Paul O'Neill healthy.

Of course, they had decided to rest Williams before they even got to Boston, but then the Yankees and Braves begin spring training thinking about preparing for the World Series. Everyone else thinks about just making the playoffs.

But as the Yankees look at the possibility of riding Clemens, who right now is better than anyone they've had in their rotation during the last five years, for four or five postseason wins, there is one critical crack in their armor.

"What we've got to do now is get the bullpen straightened out," says Joe Torre. "I think we can do it, and we know now we won't have (Ramiro) Mendoza, so we have to get everyone else in gear."

The role of Mendoza will be played this October by Dwight Gooden, and he may surprise everyone. "The first day he threw for us in Tampa after we signed him, we looked at one another and just laughed," says Yankees pitching guru Billy Connors. "Really," says Gooden, "I was that bad."

Connors brought over legendary Orioles pitching mind George Bamberger, and they set out to change Doc's style, which had always been about power. They felt that in Tampa he'd been throwing uphill, and they changed his arm angle. Then they got him to think down in the zone.

"I'd always worried about how hard I was throwing," says Gooden. "They got me thinking 'sink,' and even though it might not be that hard, it could be effective." Gooden showed them a changeup he learned in Cleveland but had never broken out. "I've been recreated," Gooden says.

OK. But remember, Doc is the sixth/seventh inning pitcher. And remember this: In the last three years, Mariano Rivera, Mike Stanton and Jeff Nelson have thrown 117 innings and had a combined ERA of 1.10. Right now, all are struggling.

"We always had the luxury of holding them back and keeping them fresh," says Torre. "We had to use them a lot to get through the first couple of months, and they've now hit a rut."

The bullpen was 7-0 in April, but by late June, Nelson and Stanton were already up to 37 appearances, and Rivera had thrown more innings than Torre would have liked. The pen had a 2.41 ERA on June 10. Through Saturday, it has been 5.20 since. Stanton has struggled and so has Nelson, who when he complained about how Torre was using him, felt the wrath of owner George Steinbrenner. Rivera's baserunners per nine innings is up from 8.2 a year ago to 10.3 and he's already thrown as many innings as he did in 1999.

But the Yankees are 8 games up of the fading Red Sox through Saturday. This means Clemens, Pettitte, El Duque and Neagle and the bullpen can rest and get ready for the opening October series. "It's what we have to get done," Rivera said on Saturday, before going out and pitching for the second straight day in a non-save situation. "And we will."

It's practically impossible to survive an October series without a deep bullpen. The Giants, with Felix Rodriguez and Robb Nen, have had the NL's best duo for the last 2½ months. The Mets, meanwhile, have generally been strong all season (though there's always the worry that Turk Wendell and others will wear out). The Braves, on the other hand, are just falling into place with John Rocker finally filling his role as the club's closer. As for St. Louis, well they are trying to get Jason Christiansen, who has better stuff than the Cards even realized before they traded for him, and Mike Timlin in gear in front of closer Dave Veres.

People keep wondering about the White Sox pitching, but they score so many runs with that deep lineup and their bullpen is so good and so deep, they can win games 3-2 or 8-6. The Indians think that as Ricardo Rincon rediscovers the tilt on his slider and if they get Steve Karsay and Paul Shuey to throw as they did Wednesday, they will be all right. Seattle's bullpen has been strong all season, while Oakland's has struggled of late. Boston's bullpen, which held the team together on days Pedro didn't pitch, is on the verge of falling apart as Hipolito Pichardo and Bryce Florie are out for the season while Rich Garces is troubled by a pulled groin.

"Nelson and Stanton have been there in October, and that stands for something," says Torre. Indeed it does -- especially with Clemens, Pettitte, El Duque and Neagle in front of them.

News and notes