At this point, all the Yankees can do is win their games. If they do that, the rest should fall out. The Red Sox won last night, so we’re still a half game back of them. The Indians lost though, so we picked up a game and that deficit is also a half game.
Last night’s game was without it’s problems. The Yankees jumped out to a 9-3 lead, and that slowly evaporated. They needed the run in the fifth, but not neccesarily the two runs in the eighth, but this game was a lot closer then it needed to be.
Gary Sheffield came up huge. With an injured leg, he drove in six runs as the DH. He doubled and hit his 29th homer of the season.
The problem was the pitching. Aaron Small got roughed up in his five innings of work. The bullpen didn’t fare much better as Scott Proctor, Tom Gordan and Alan Embree were all tagged for runs. Sadly, the game got so close that Torre had to use Mariano Rivera.
Today, it’s Randy Johnson vs. who cares (actually it’s Rodrigo Lopez). Johnson has been pitching well down the stretch, and we need another shutout tonight. Mike Mussina makes his return tomorrow and he’ll probably be on a pitch count, so resting the pen is imperative.
