Colon, Garcia impacting Yankees early on

Who would have thought veteran pitchers Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia would have an impact on the Yankees in the early going of the 2011 season? Not many people predicted these guys would have much success at all.

The Yankees signed both players to low-risk minor-league deals this offseason and both signings have paid off so far.

But Colon and Garcia are pleasantly turning heads and the Yankees are going to need them to keep it going, especially since we don’t know what is going to happen with Phil Hughes.

You can also throw in AJ Burnett as a player that has pleasantly surprised, but he seems to always pitch well in April. I think Burnett carries his early season success into the rest of the year and has a very good year.

The Yankees will only go as far as their starting pitching will take them. They’ll have games where their offense puts up big numbers, but in crunch time and in the playoffs it’s pitching that makes the difference. I don’t know whether the Yankees will still be sending out Colon and Garcia to start on a regular basis when August roles around, but what they are giving the Yankees early on this season is more than anyone could have asked for.