BALTIMORE – Maybe it’s because they know their season is measured by whether it ends with a parade up the Canyon of Heroes.
Or maybe after all the winning the Yankees have experienced recently, the first week of July never smells like the finish line.
Whatever the reason, the Yankees showed very little reaction to moving back into first place in the AL East last night via a 10-6 pounding of the Orioles last night at Camden Yards.
Coupled with the Red Sox losing, the Yankees’ season-high sixth straight win vaulted them into a half-game lead over the plucky Red Sox.
The victory also allowed team owner George Steinbrenner to wake up on his birthday with his World Champion ball club back in first place.
“If the season was over it would be great, but it’s July,” Scott Brosius said of the Yankees being in first place alone for the first time since May 31. “When we play well and do things right, we can win games. Our focus is to take care of business here.”
Finally, after almost three months of running on bogus gas, the Yankees are playing their best baseball of the year. And while solid pitching always is the Yankees’ signature – Ramiro Mendoza provided it last night – the bats have done more than their part.
During the six-game streak, the Yankees have scored 50 runs, are batting .317 (65-for-205) overall and .390 (23-for-59) with runners in scoring position.
“We are playing with a lot more confidence,” manager Joe Torre said. “We are not trying to force it. We are letting the game come to us.”
Randy Keisler almost let the game get away. Unable to fool anybody with a changeup, his best pitch, Keisler gave up five runs and four hits in four innings. Thanks to three-run fifth that was keyed by Tino Martinez’ two-run homer, the Yankees tied the score, 5-5, and allowed Keisler to spit the hook on a loss.
Enter Mendoza. All he did was provide four scoreless innings in which he allowed one hit.
“Give me the ball and I do the job,” said Mendoza, who was the winner and improved to 5-2. “I was throwing the sinker for strikes.”
In addition to Martinez’ 15th homer, which was his fifth in six games, Derek Jeter (3-for-6) went deep in the first with the bases empty and Brosius (3-for-5) homered leading off the sixth. All three dingers were off loser Jose Mercedes (4-9).
Chuck Knoblauch produced his best game of the season, going 3-for-4, scoring three runs, making a diving catch in left and getting on base five times.
“He was like his old self tonight,” Torre said of Knoblauch, who raised his average from .249 to .256. “He walked and wasn’t afraid to be behind in the count.”
As for the AL East penthouse, Torre explained there is plenty of season remaining.
“It only counts at the end,” Torre said. “But first place is significant because we are playing well.”
Keisler almost didn’t give the Yankees’ bats a chance. After Jeter staked him to a 1-0 lead with his seventh homer, Keisler walked Jerry Hairston on four pitches and went to 2-0 on Brian Roberts, who eventually dumped a single into short center field.
With David Segui at the plate, Hairston swiped third and Roberts stole second ahead of Todd Greene’s throw to second. Ahead of Segui, 0-2, Keisler left a pitch at the switch-hitting Segui and he crushed it into the left-field seats.
“He was up too much with the changeup,” Torre said of Keisler.
