Yankees lack an ace

Please spare everyone the sob story about this version of the Yankees lacking postseason experience. It hasn’t bothered Colorado or Arizona much.

Sure didn’t bother C.C. Sabathia, who had thrown a grand total of six playoff innings heading into last night either.

The truth is this version of the Yankees is lacking a truly dominant starter, and expecting Chien-Ming Wang to be the savior is simply unrealistic. Wang is a good pitcher. In fact, 19 wins in each of his last two seasons suggest he’s been excellent. But the guy misses bats about as often as Joba Chamberlain misses meals, which means hitters are extremely comfortable when facing him.

Combine that with a night where he is a little up in zone, and you’ve got the performance he delivered last night. An unacceptable performance for a game one starter.

The Yankees will turn to a familiar face tonight, when they run Andy Pettite out to the mound for game two. Pettite, whose team has lost in three of his last four postseason starts, will be expected the bail the Bombers out just as he constantly did years ago.

They’ll ask him to be the ace Wang wasn’t last night. And maybe he’ll come through.

But at this point, getting a quality Yankee start is more of a crapshoot than a given.