The Yankees dodged a bullet this weekend. Sure, being swept by the Oakland A’s and losing four straight games would seem to suggest that the bullet was right on target, but the outcome could have been much worse.

Boston’s Sunday doubleheader with the Texas Rangers meant that Sox manager Terry Francona started a number of understudies in the second game, substituting J.T. Snow for Kevin Youkilis, Doug Mirabelli for Jason Varitek, and Otis Nixon-lite Willie Harris for Manny Ramirez. David Pauley, who is no Luis Tiant, started the game, got raked, and was sent back to the minors. In summary, Boston conceded the game, saving the Yankees the possibility of another half-game lost in the standings.

Good timing also protected the Yankees’ rear from attack by the Toronto Blue Jays. The Jays, who stand just three games out of first place and two games behind the Yankees, hosted the team with the best record in the American League, the Detroit Tigers, and dropped two of three games. Had they faced a more pliable opponent, the Yankees could very well have spent their Monday day off in third place.

In part, the Yankees’ poor showing was due to Oakland’s strong pitching staff, but as Casey Stengel used to say, good pitching beats good hitting and vice-versa; when the top-scoring offense in baseball meets the third-ranked pitching staff, there are a number of possible outcomes besides abject surrender. The truth is, though, that the Yankee lineup the A’s faced wouldn’t lead the league in runs scored if left on its own for 162 games, or even come close. With Alex Rodriguez slumping or still enervated from his bout with the stomach flu, Derek Jeter’s thumb tumescent, and Jason Giambi battered, the Yankees were essentially playing one functional All-Star by Sunday, Jorge Posada.

Johnny Damon and Robinson Cano have done quite well by their own standards, but they aren’t game changing talents the way those other Yankees are. Melky Cabrera needs to find some power and consistency before he becomes a true asset; Bernie Williams, despite flashes, is actively hurting the Yankees; Miguel Cairo is a millstone. The Yankees have fared better than expected with this crippled lineup, somehow surmounting a pitching staff that has been inconsistent at best. But like all things that are seemingly impossible, reality is taking hold and will soon shatter the illusion that this is survivable without front office intervention.

It’s not that the Yankees are complacent, but that years of experience have taught them that Providence will provide for them in times of need. Last season the pitching staff disintegrated but Shawn Chacon and Aaron Small did things that were unprecedented in their own experience. Williams did his best imitation of Monty Python’s dead parrot and it didn’t matter. Ruben Sierra was given a full month of September starts to push the team under the Red Sox and failed. The year before, Jason Giambi was attacked by parasites, benign tumors, and Balco, and it didn’t matter. In 2003, Ken Huckaby stomped on Jeter’s shoulder on opening day and Jeff Weaver turned into Hideki Irabu, yet the team still went to the World Series.

The lesson derived from all of these events, not to mention 30 years of Steve Trouts coming and Jay Buhners going, is that panic is bad. Waiting is good. These things will sort themselves out. Joe DiMaggio thanked the “Good Lord” for making him a Yankee, but there was really no need because the Big Guy loves the pinstripes and wouldn’t let a small thing like a crippled Hall of Fame shortstop or the smiting of an outfielder or two get in the way of His plans for October.

Over in Queens, Omar Minaya has gotten religion too, but he seems to subscribe to the Ben Franklin school – He helps those who help themselves. When Minaya’s pitching staff diaspora threatened to weaken his team’s grasp on first place – in a division so weak that all the Mets have to do is avoid outright collapse to go to the playoffs – he dealt for Orlando Hernandez and called up Alay Soler despite the latter’s lack of experience. He also succeeded, finally, in undoing one of his predecessor’s chief mistakes by getting the Rockies to take Kaz Matsui away.

Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. If Einstein was right, then Matsui and the Mets had long since qualified for antipsychotic pharmaceuticals. Ending that rendezvous with mutually assured destruction qualifies as a major accomplishment. Finally, rather than mess around with mediocre veteran solutions to their outfield injuries, Minaya called up top prospect Lastings Milledge.

In a division that no one wants to win but him, Minaya is playing with house money, yet he is taking nothing for granted. Yankees GM Brian Cashman seems to be waiting to see if his team can play its way out of the race. Given new autonomy this winter, Cashman failed to address the team’s need for proper reserves given the desertification of his farm system. Maybe Tony Womack was Tampa’s idea, but failing to sign a veteran reserve outfielder was his. Bringing Cairo back after a .296 on-base average season with the Mets happened on his watch as well. There were better options but the Yankees passed them by. Having closed the doors on salvation in December, the team doesn’t know how to react in June.

Hideki Matsui might come back this season, or he might not. The same can be said of Gary Sheffield. If the projected return date were earlier, if it were more certain, if the division was weaker, waiting for the cavalry might make sense. The opposite approach is mandated here. For once, the Yankees could use some of that old-fashioned Steinbrennerian impulsivity. The alternative is a slow fall from the race.

Mr. Goldman writes the Pinstriped Bible for www.yesnetwork.com and is the author of “Forging Genius,” a biography of Casey Stengel.