Even with best record in baseball, Yankees aren't relaxing

Brian Cashman at first offered a single-word evaluation of the Yankees' first half: "Great.''

While much hand-wringing accompanied the club's pitching problems in April and early May and what seemed like a three-month struggle to hit consistently with runners in scoring position, the Yankees ended the first half at 52-33 after winning 31 of their final 43 games.

"Obviously, we've had a great first half," Cashman said by phone. "First in the AL East, best record in baseball. Doesn't matter how you got there, we got there."

That said, as the Yankees start the season's second half Friday night against the Angels at the Stadium, neither Cashman nor the players see it as mission accomplished -- even with a seven-game lead on the Orioles (45-40), a 7½-game lead on the Rays (45-41) and a 91/2-game lead on the Red Sox and Blue Jays (43-43).

"We've been as good as anybody record-wise, but then again, you have to sit around and you have to try and get better," Derek Jeter said this week in Kansas City, where he started at shortstop for the American League in the All-Star Game. "You have to think about how you can get better. You can't sit around saying, well, we've done this, we've got it all made. It's a long season, so we really have to focus on the little things and try to get better . . . I think we've played well but I definitely think we can improve."

The Yankees lead the majors with 134 home runs, a pace that would give them 255 in 162 games, and a .796 on-base plus slugging percentage. But Curtis Granderson said that with all the division games the Yankees have in the second half -- 44 of 77 -- ground can be made up in a hurry.

"It's not over for anybody no matter where you happen to be," he said. "Everyone's got a shot."

The Rays sent 14 players to the DL in the first half, including three-time All-Star Evan Longoria, who still is out indefinitely with a hamstring injury. Ace lefthander David Price said in Kansas City that his team isn't conceding anything.

"We need to pick it up a little bit, get our big guys back and get everybody healthy, and if we can do that, we can start putting together some five-, six-, seven-game win streaks," he said. "If we can do that, we can climb back into this race for sure."

CC Sabathia, on the disabled list with a groin injury but scheduled to start Tuesday against Toronto, said the Red Sox can't be counted out. Not with Jacoby Ellsbury, Clay Buchholz, Dustin Pedroia and, presumably, Carl Crawford expected to come off the disabled list early in the second half.

"Obviously, it's a good team. Those guys are going to make a lot of difference," Sabathia said. "That's always the goal is to win the division. We've been playing well within the division but we know there's some good teams. Baltimore's playing good, Tampa's always a threat."

The Yankees had their own injuries to overcome, most notably to Mariano Rivera, David Robertson, Brett Gardner and Andy Pettitte, but have been able to withstand them to this point.

"When those guys went down, the other guys just picked it up," Jeter said.

Among those "other guys" in the bullpen were closer Rafael Soriano (20-for-21 in saves), lefthander Clay Rapada and righthander Cody Eppley. Freddy Garcia, awful in April, has had consecutive quality starts with Sabathia down. Veteran outfielders Raul Ibañez and Andruw Jones, playing more in the field than anticipated, have been healthy and productive, and Dewayne Wise has contributed his share of highlights.

"Nothing ever goes as planned," Cashman said. "It takes a lot more than 25 guys. We've gotten a lot of contributions and we're going to continue to need that going forward."