As the Yanks cruise into the playoffs they are dealt a terrible blow. Johnson is shut down and won't pitch until the playoffs. He's been terrible his last four starts at least and Torre said that his back is acting up.
As Mariano gets nice and healthy--this news is not good. Johnson has been bothered by his back for a while now and the Yanks have to hope that the extra few days help him. If not then they have a serious problem going into the post season. Even without a creaky back, Johnson has been very sporadic with his stuff and in a five game set anything can happen as we so fondly know.
Can you imagine a rotation that includes Liddle and Wright? We've had serious doubts about how he'll perform anyway, but this makes it that much worse. Keep your fingers crossed because looking at tonight's lineup we have to feel great about the offense, but the staring pitching is their Achilles heal.