Things are the way they’re supposed to be. The mighty Yankees, the greatest franchise in the history of any sport, beat up on one of the newest and least prolific franchises. All is right with the world (almost) as the Yankees got out the brooms and swept the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
I think Tuesday was a culimination of the frustrations that the Yankees have had with Tampa this year. They simply destroyed the Devil Rays. Five runs in each of the first two innings completely ripped this game open. To add insult to injury, the Yanks racked up seven more runs in the sixth inning. In all they ended the game with twenty hits. Jason Giambi hit his 30th homerun and drove in five runs while Hideki Matsui went four for four with four RBIs. Jorge Posada, who appears to be fine after the collision last weekend, drove in four runs as well.
Lost in the offensive onslaught was a very nice outing by Jaret Wright. He gave up five hits through seven innings of work. He did strike out four, but he walked four as well.
Wednesday was a little tighter. As I predicted on Sunday, Derek Jeter came through in a big way. With the score tied 4-4 through six innings, Derek Jeter came through with a clutch two run single to put the Yankees in front for good. Chien-Ming Wang walked away with the win despite getting roughed up in his second start since coming off the disabled list. Hideki Matsui had another nice game as he went two for four with two doubles and two runs.
Yesterday’s game had it’s suspense as well. The Devil Rays jumped out to a 5-1 lead, but the Yanks rallied for six runs in the top of the sixth. The big hit of the inning was Robinson Cano’s grand slam. He finished the game three for five with three runs and five RBIs. Aaron Small, despite a subpar outing, improved to 8-0 and Mariano Rivera notched his 39th save of the season.
The Yankees are now 1 1/2 back of the Red Sox (only one back in the loss column). Baseball Prospectus is now giving us (or their analysis is at least) a 31% chance of taking the division and nearly a 50% chane of making the playoffs. This is up substantially since before the sweep (and it’s even better since we took two of three from the Red Sox). We’re in a virtual tie with the Indians for the Wild Card (1 game back in the win column, tied in the loss column). The Blue Jays are on deck, and I’m expecting another sweep. This weekend’s hero will be Alex Rodriguez as he cements his chances for a second AL MVP.
