Yankees finally win a close one, team takes 4th straight series

The Yankees finally won a close ball game this afternoon against the Tampa Bay Rays, enabling the team to capture its fourth straight series while putting pressure on the Twins and Red Sox to keep pace, winning their games tonight.

The Yankees continue to take care of business, check that, their business, by finally showing some consistency and playing .600 ball at a time when it’s needed most.

They can look at the Cleveland Indians like the rest of us, stand back, and just say, wow! Or, maybe in the depths of their souls, they can look at the Dodgers, who continue to underwhelm, also when it counts, saying, there but for the grace of God go I.

Because it wasn’t that long ago when the Yankees were a sub-.500 team and it was anyone’s guess which way their season would go. In fact, it was just two weeks ago on another Wednesday afternoon when the Indians drubbed the Yankees in a twin-bill at the Stadium, reaching a low point in their season, with the Red Sox on their way in for four games.

And it was in that series with Boston the Yankees began to show their long awaited, true colors. And they haven’t stopped since. More to the point, though, we haven’t seen any five or six game win streaks since then, but we have seen a consistency of play in which the good results have followed.

Today, the Yankees sent their weakest starter, Jaime Garcia, out there to face the Rays in the rubber game of the series. Not much was expected from him, and not much was given. But, it was enough to enable his team to keep the ball rolling with a rare one-run 3-2 win over the Rays at Citi Field. The Yankees continue to lead the majors in one-run losses with 25.

Garcia’s 4.2 innings were just shy of earning him the win, which was picked up by Chad Green (5-0, 1.96), who has been lights out for the Yankees for more than a month now. Garcia was tainted only by a solo home run to Kevin Kiermaier.

On a day Aaron Judge was given a well-deserved rest, the Pinstripes pounded out ten hits, the biggest one coming from “Ole Reliable,” Brett Gardner, whose single off Chris Archer scored Todd Frazier and Jacoby Ellsbury, completing the Yankees scoring for the day.

On the downside, the team was 2-14 with runners in scoring position while also leaving eleven men on base. As things go, though, it still counts as a “W, ” and we’ll take it.

Aroldis Chapman earned his 18th save of the year, recording all of his four outs on strikeouts, and increasing his stature with the team after a rough month or so when no one could figure out what was wrong with him. Joe Girardi kept saying all along, though, he’ll figure it out, and eventually, he has. This goes down as a complement to Girardi as well, as once again, his belief in his team exceeds the scope of what most of us can see.

Yankees beat goes on

The beat goes on now as Buck Showalter brings his never say die Orioles to Yankee Stadium for four games beginning tomorrow night. Yankees pitching is lined up to throw their four best at the Orioles, who have slipped to 4.5 games behind in the Wild Card, with multiple teams to jump over.

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In other words, just the kind of team the Yankees don’t want to face right now. And with Showalter always pushing his team, bursting the Yankees bubble would be right up his alley.

But as said before, and it remains the signature of the Yankees season at this juncture, it’s all in their hands. And no team can ask for more than that.

Following the Orioles are the Twins for, perhaps, the Bombers biggest test of the season. Sellers at the trade deadline, the players, said, Hell no! to their front office remaining the darkhorse team in the Wild Card race as a team with, basically nothing to lose.

The Yankees invested considerably in this season at the deadline and, as a result, have more to lose than the Twins, but they also have more to gain.

Next: Clint Frazier: The maturation of a young man

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