Anatomy of a Winning Homestand

Despite their loss today, the Yankees went 8-2 on their ten game homestand.

I guarantee that if you ask any single person in a Yankees' uniform they will tell you that, yes, it would have been nice to sweep the homestand, but going 8-2 over ten games is not a shoddy deal.

Here's why the Yankees went 8-2.

1) They beat the team they were supposed to beat, no excuses, sweeping Baltimore in the middle three games of the series.

2) They never said die, even in games it didn't look like they'd win. They had four walk-off wins; nearly five, and in some of the walk-offs never lead until their final at bat. The starting pitching kept the team in the game; the bullpen did a remarkably good job, despite often playing short, and the offense came up clutch when it mattered.

3) The homestand wasn't the responsibility of one single player. Nearly everyone pulled their weight at some point. There will always be someone slumping; what matters is whether or not the rest of the team can pick that someone up. This week, the Yankees did.

4) Starting pitching, starting pitching, starting pitching.

Only AJ Burnett struggled on Friday. Nearly every other game, every starter kept the team in the game, even if they had to grit through it (and when the starter couldn't, ie, Joba's injury, the bullpen did).


5) Clutch hitting.

Four walk off wins, and nearly five, says a heck of a lot. None of the walk offs came against the weak Orioles; they came against the relatively competitive Twins and the world champion Phillies.



So, there you have it.

Yes, the Yankees dropped the series to the Phillies, but they came *that close* to not. If Teixeira doesn't ground into that double play, the Yankees probably win that game.

There was one loss--that on Friday--in which the Yankees never had much of a shot at winning the game. One, out of ten games.

The team is playing with the type of energy and fight that, face it, we haven't had since 2003.

Yes, the Yankees are still be in third place.

If they keep playing like this, they won't be for long.

This One's For the 'Pen: Yankees win 9th in a row despite injury to Joba (Postgame Notes 21 May 2009)

Even when things go wrong for the Yankees now-a-days, they're going right.

Leaving the game in the first with an injury, Joba Chamberlain being hurt could have been the ultimate blow that quashed the Yanks' winning streak.

It wasn't.

Instead of giving in, the Yankees offense took advantage of an ineffective Adam Eaton, scoring seven runs early and not looking back.

The bullpen fashioned three solid innings from Alfredo Aceves, two and a third bend-but-don't-break innings from Jonathan Albaladejo, one and two thirds pretty-darn-good-considering innings from José Veras, and one good ole' fashioned inning from Mariano Rivera and won their ninth in a row.

Just think, even as recently as two weeks ago, the idea of the bullpen having to pitch 8.1 innings would have sent the Yankees' universe into a tailspin.

Even the lingering specter--that of Joba's injury--was alleviated with the announcement that x-rays were negative and Joba had a bruised knee.

Now, there's no saying whether or not the knee's going to swell much or otherwise make life miserable, but it's not broken and the injury is not to a shoulder or an elbow. All things considered, it's the best possible outcome for such an injury.

The Yankees, on the strength of three straight doubles in the first and home runs from Robinson Canó, who excelled out of the two-spot tonight, and Hideki Matsui, swept the Orioles.

This may seem unremarkable, but then when one remembers that the Yankees may have missed out on the playoffs last year due to their inability to beat cellar-dwelling teams, this is a refreshing sight.

At the very least, even if Philadelphia comes in and sweeps the Yankees (which, obviously, I hope does not happen), the Yankees will still have gone 7-3 on a 10 game home stand.

They have not one nine in a row since 2007; AJ Burnett and co. have a chance to make it ten in a row tomorrow.

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I'm headed to the game tomorrow evening. Section 118, row 28. If you're going, stop by and say hi.