Yankees get lead off on chasing AL East

Why did we ever rule out the New York Yankees? They love winning and more importantly they are very good at winning – especially in crunch time – and we are seeing yet again with the Bronx Bombers that with the return of experienced players, like starting pitcher Andy Pettitte, they get it done when it matters.

For all the stat lovers out there, thanks to Baltimore splitting a doubleheader against the Blue Jays last night and New York’s win, it is the first time since September 2 that the AL East division lead is standing at more than a single game.

The Yankees now lead the Orioles by 1.5 games while the O’s have a 3.5 game lead in the American League wild card over the Angels, who are doing their best to get back into the mix.

Again yesterday we saw the Yankees dependency, or as they’d prefer to call it – strength – on hitting the long ball. Four went over the fence yesterday at Target Field as Andy Pettitte picked up his second consecutive win since coming off the DL last week.

Nick Swisher, Curtis Granderson, Raul Ibanez and Eric Chavez all went deep in a game that saw Pettitte throw six scoreless innings. The veteran – who is now 5-3 following an injury-ravaged season – scattered seven hits and a walk while striking out three.

For Granderson it was his 40th home run of the season and the figure places him in some elite company. The leadoff merchant is now just the fifth Yankee ever to hit 40 home runs in consecutive seasons; joining Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Micky Mantle and Jason Giambi in accomplishing the feat. For Granderson it must feel like very warm company.

But enough about the game, which also saw Derek Jeter extend his hitting streak to a season-high 18 games (seriously, what else can that man physically do?), you have to look realistically at the Yankees chances come the postseason.

For one thing, C.C Sabathia has to improve. He is still the ace of this staff, but in recent starts he has been shaky and has lost some of the command and velocity which has seen him dominate in recent years. Sabathia was the cornerstone of the 2009 championship year and a firing number one is exactly what New York is hoping for to protect the likes of Ivan Nova and Hideki Kuroda.

But whilst the Yankee rotation has looked nothing like invincible this year, to have Pettitte back is truly inspiring for New York who are so used to seeing the veteran hurler throwing from the mound come the playoffs. He knows how to win and we have seen from his first two starts this month that he is ready to put the injury which has seen him miss the majority of the 2012 season behind him.

As much as neutrals despise the Yankees and hold a similar view on Manchester United, there is no denying that when the likes of Pettitte, A-Rod and Jeter – who let’s not forget is the face of baseball – end their careers it will be a sad day.

To have these guys competing every day – and for Jeter that is a very literal statement – is great to watch and along with Ibanez who yesterday hit his 18th home run of the year at age 40, this Yankee team is full of guys who are just a few seasons away from retiring.

To have one more ticker tape parade would be good for them, but there are a lot of teams this year that want to prevent that from happening. Even so, going into the playoffs the Yankees wanted to win the division and avoid the coin toss game taking place in the wild card.

They have some breathing room after last night’s action and with all those veterans in the clubhouse the message will be to continue to play good baseball and above all else, do it the Yankee way and win.