Consistency the Key to Yankees' Success in '08

The past seven years have been pretty lousy for the Yankees.

Sure, they have gone to the playoffs every year, but for the fans that's not enough. They demand a World Series win—or at least a pretty darn good reason why they don't have one.

So what do the Yankees need to do to stay in the hunt all season long and make a legitimate run toward a World Series title? I think it all comes down to three things: a good, solid, and consistent pitching staff; a consistent offense; and, most important of all, a healthy team.

The pitching we have seen so far this year has been to any fan's delight—a 180-degree turnaround from last season's starting performance. Let's sit back and enjoy what we have seen from the pitching staff, not only from the starters but from the bullpen as well.

The bullpen has yet to allow one run in any of the games that the Yankees have won. To keep it up, it's likely all they must do is stay healthy.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the Yankee offense, which is averaging less than four runs a game.

At this time last year, Alex Rodriguez was already pushing 10 home runs. He was well on his way to having a career record set for RBIs and runs scored.

Jeter was also off to a great season, continuing to be the automatic 200-hit guy. Then there was the always consistent Bobby Abreu.

They also had some new but strong bats join the lineup. Shelly Duncan was immediately loved by everyone when he started hitting home runs.

So here we need to see some of what we saw last year, and we need to see it consistently. To do this again they have to be healthy.

At one point last year, over half of the Yankees' lineup was made up of new players. These were the players who fans would see and ask, "Who in the world is that?"

Injuries killed the Yankees the most last year. When they were finally a healthy and somewhat cohesive team, they became what we had been looking for all season.

The goal for the 2008 season is to go virtually injury-free. Except for Jeter, they have done a relatively good job of maintaining this status so far.

Of course, there will be days when it will seem like the entire team has collapsed, but these days are expected from any team.

A good lineup that gets the job done, whether in pitching or batting, is one that is stable and stays injury-free for a good part of the season. So, in the end, the keys to success come down to consistency and health.