Six straight and eight wins in their last ten have pushed the Yankees into second place in the AL East. Anyone who thought the Yankees didn’t have much of a chance to win the division were mistaken as they now trail the Red Sox by 3 1/2 games.
Chien-Ming Wang won his first game since June 18 as he seven shutout innings. The start was the best one to date for the young right hander. His strikeout to walk ratio is still a little concerning (28/19) but he’s gotten his ERA down to 3.87.
Things got really touchy in the ninth as Mariano Rivera had to pitch out of a self-induced jam. The Indians did tag him for one run, but held on to walk away with his 19th save of the season.
Hitting stars included Derek Jeter (two for three with a run and an RBI) and Alex Rodriguez (two for three with an RBI and a stolen base).
The series continues this afternoon at 4 pm. Darrell May, who lost nineteen games for the Royals last season, makes his Yankee’s debut after being traded from the Padres for Paul Quantrill (we also received Tim Redding in the deal). The Indians are putting Scott Elarton on the mound.
