Green Likes Way Things Going for the Yankees

If the New York Yankees had to lose eight of their first 14 games, Dallas Green would have had it no other way--a victory on opening night, seven successive defeats, a victory that followed a team meeting and then four more victories in their next five games.

“The way it’s worked out, it could be to our advantage,” Green said Wednesday after the Yankees had completed their sweep of the Toronto Blue Jays. “It’s brought us together. And I know it’s better that it happened this way and not us winning six straight and losing the next eight.

“I think we’re getting more of a feel for each other,” Green said. “I don’t know if it’s the losing or what. But whenever a team goes uphill, it creates something positive. Maybe winning the first six wouldn’t have done the same thing for us because we wouldn’t have overcome anything.”

Not all the players are certain of that. Don Mattingly said yes, the reversal has been a healthy experience, but “I think either kind of streak--good or bad--brings you together. . . . I don’t know. I remember Donnie Baylor told me he hit a home run in the first game the year after he won the MVP and thought he was ready for a great year. He didn’t have to struggle. Then he struggled the whole year. If it works the opposite for us, great . . . I guess what we’ve done is better than winning and losing every other day.”

Tommy John isn’t so sure either. “The best thing that’s happened is that we’ve won some games because of our pitching, and that proves some positive things to people,” he said. “When you get good pitching, I think it builds a team’s confidence more than anything else.”

So here are the Yankees with a day off in Cleveland, of all places, and happy for whatever reason. They face a four-game series against the team that swept them in their three-game opening home series.

Their offense has begun to produce--even if Mattingly hasn’t. Their starting pitching, horrid during the losing streak, has been the driving force behind the reversal. And it has been aided greatly by a defense that has performed beyond expectations.

They are confident, or at least hopeful, that this change of direction is not merely the pendulum swinging back because of natural forces. “We’ve changed it,” Green said. “Baseball is a funny game with a lot of things you can’t explain. But I’d like to think our working hard is what’s responsible for getting us going.

“You notice we haven’t stopped the work. It’s a carryover from spring training. We didn’t skip batting practice because it was cold here (Toronto); we got our work in. . . . We’re still building the base. I don’t think the players (embrace the program) yet. They have to be pushed. It takes time, but when they see results like we’ve had here, they’re more willing to go along with it.”

No matter how much progress the Yankees have made, Green is certain more is to come because he sees the players coming together. “The melting pot is starting to work,” he said. “It’s taken more time than we expected. But they’re closer. When you play and overcome something like a losing streak or a team that’s supposed to be better than you are, you develop a feel.

“You can see it happening. They’re starting to know that Saxy (Steve Sax) is a ready-to-go player. They’re seeing that Rickey (Henderson) will do certain things in key situations. They’ll start expecting that from him, and he won’t want to let them down. That’s where the mutual respect begins. Once you get that, you’re a lot closer to being a good team.”