Yanks Sweep Mariners... again.

For the second time this month, the Yankees swept Seattle. Yesterday's 6-to-5 victory brought New York to the .500 mark and allowed them to jump over Baltimore in the standings. It was their 5th consecutive win but, more importantly, it was a win that was earned in the eighth inning when New York was down by 3 runs. The first win of the season that was achieved after the team had been down after the seventh inning.

"We got contributions from everyone, especially there in the last inning with walks and with timely hits," said shortstop Derek Jeter, who got the rally started by drawing a lead off walk. "We pretty much did a lot of things right."

Timely hits... it is what the team has been lacking and it is good to see the Yankees back on track.

They will begin a three game set against Baltimore today at 1:35pm.

Yankee Bats Come Alive

The Yankees secured their 4th consecutive win on Saturday when they beat the Mariners by a score of 12-to-6. This victory brings New York to a record of 24-25. The team still has an uphill climb in the standings but there seems to be a more positive feeling surrounding the club. Pitching has stabilized and the offense is clearly in a different place then they were just a week ago. The Yanks brought in 35 runs over the last 4 days and hitters that were previously struggling seemed to have found a way to connect with the bat. Cano going 4-for-4 and Giambi at 3-for-4 for the day are the most notable.

Joba Chamberlin began his transition to become a starter by pitching the 6th and 7th innings and a total of 40 pitches, 22 of them strikes. I purposely have not written anything about the official word that came this week regarding Joba's move out of the "set-up" spot but only because it has been covered so heavily in other areas. I do fully support this decision however and think the Yankees will be a better team because of it. My only hope is that Fartsworth does not become Joba's replacement... we can't afford to give up that many home runs.

Here are the standings as of today:

Were the M's Jet-lagged from Detroit?

I really wasn't surprised by last night's Yankees' win. After all, they were playing a last place team who had just gotten swept by a last place team. (Yeah, I know... the Bombers too are in last place, but that just makes it more special.) I was a little taken back however by the blowout of a score: 13-to-2.

Mariners' coach John McLaren tried to pull a Girardi-type tantrum in the 2nd inning by arguing balls and strikes. Perhaps he was trying to motivate his team too. But, unlike the Yankees who used Girardi's anger to inspire them to win their game the night before, the Mariners just seemed to lose their direction without their coach and the runs began to flow in the 4th and 5th innings.

We saw a three-run homer by Duncan, his first of the year and a much needed one for him if he is going to continue to live up to the reputation that he began to develop last year. We saw two respectable doubles from Giambi and Cano. But most impressively, we saw 2-out RBI's from Moeller, Abreu, Rodriguez, and Cano. The team seems to be learning how to get their base-runners home, something they have been struggling with early this year.

Pettitte pitched well going 6 innings and securing the win to make his record 4-5. He did get himself into a bit of trouble but he managed and dealt with it well.

The highlight of my evening spent at the stadium last night in Tier 11, Row B was the Jeter pop-up foul ball in the 3rd that bounced off my wife's lap and I recovered. I wish I could have written something more magnanimous like how I dived over three rows to catch it one-handed, but the truth is I was taking a sip of beer at the time and had to scramble when I saw it coming our way. Many balls have come towards me in the many years that I have been going to games. Some caught by guys next to me, some by those directly in back of me. This was the first time I was able to take one home in my pocket. Very cool.