Don’t let comeback win obscure offensive woes

T HE CONTROVERSY whether Masahiro Tanaka has lost his fastball or not has annoyed the Yankees. But, really, just say, “your welcome.” Without Tanaka, the conversation would be about an offense that has way less oomph than even this version of Tanaka’s fastball. Ultimately — health permitting — Tanaka only will appear in 30 games. This lineup could be the stench bomb that keeps giving for 162. The batting order is thinner than the pinstripes on the home uniforms.

The Yankees scored one run in the opener and had one again Wednesday before being essentially handed three more runs in gifts from Mother Nature and the Blue Jays. So they won 43.

But don’t be deceived by those four runs. They were scored more with smoke and mirrors than with skill and talent. In fact, the Yankees scored three runs in the eighth when this was pretty much the least possible they could score considering all that was presented to them in terms of windblown fortune and Blue Jay incompetence.

The Yankees had seven hits Wednesday. Two were by Jacoby Ellsbury, two were popups that blew away from fielders and two went off fielders in the fateful eighth.

We can say the popgun attack is just two games old. Butwhat do you see in this group of position players to think that Yankees will be even an average offensive team?

Think of this way: If you could pinch hit anyone on this team in a key situation, who would it be? Probably Ellsbury or Brett Gardner. Which is good. Because they are the leadoff and No. 2 hitters in the lineup. But that means you are not picking the guys who hit Nos. 3,4, 5, 6 — well, you see the trend. The middle of the Yankees lineup looks like a relic from an archaeological dig.

In the opener, Gardner homered for the Yankees run. In Game 2, Ellsbury went 2for2 with two walks. He singled and stole a base that was instrumental in producing the Yankees’ first run. In the eighth inning, Ellsbury had the only well struck hit.

This all emphasizes how important Ellsbury and Gardner are to a team that generally lacks what they both bring— primeage talent and athleticism. They are not just the energizers and catalysts. They also need to be run producers.

The rest of the Yankees move too slowly or don’t hit enough — unless we are going to get a revival from Carlo Beltran, Mark Teixeira, Brian McCann, Alex Rodriguez and Stephen Drew.

In many ways, the eighth inning was revealing of Yankees problems even as they were scoring the three runs. A good offense would have had five or more.

Chris Young, pinch hitting for the hitting challenged Didi Gregorius, hit a popup down the rightfield line that got pushed by the win away from second baseman Devon Travis and plopped in for a double. Ellsbury followed with a line single to center. Gardner was hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Brett Cecil relieved and threw a wild pitch to pull the Yanks within 32. But Cecil followed another lefty, Aaron Loup, into the game because the Yanks lean heavily lefty and are going to see this all year — and Cecil had strong career numbers against Beltran and McCann.

Beltran, who looks stiff, particularly running around right field, struck out. Teixeira was intentionally walked to reload the bases. McCann was hit by a pitch to force in the tying run. Chase Headley then hit a comebacker that if fielded cleanly would have initiated a 123, inningending double play. Instead, it went off Cecil’s glove to deliver the goahead run.

With A Rod due, Toronto brought in 20 year old Roberto Osuna. This is going to happen a lot, too. There are questions whether Rodriguez can catch up to heat and Osuna can tickle 100 mph. Rodriguez struck out looking on a borderline pitch. Drew then flied to right.

So it was nine men to the plate, one windaided double, one RBI single off the pitcher, two hit by pitches, an intentional walk and a wild pitch. Murderers’ Row it wasn’t. And forget the best of Yankees history, you wonder if this lineup is even going to outperform the dismal group of the past two years. Maybe some of the middle of the lineup will find better results with warmer weather. Or maybe more time playing on their bodies will make them more feeble.

Ask yourself this right now: Do you think Tanaka has a better chance to rediscover his best self or for this lineup to do the same?