ANAHEIM, Calif. — Look at it this way:
If the Yankees’ season were a basketball game, they’ve been hit with a tough whistle early in the game. A batch of starters are in foul trouble, and need to sit until halftime, and so there is only one goal in mind: don’t let things get out of hand.
John Chaney, the great Temple coach was the first one who implemented a steadfast rule that if you get a second foul in the first half you sit: no questions, no negotiations, no bargaining.
“I’ve never won a game in the first half,” Chaney once said, “but I’ve damn well lost more than my share in the first half.