Another Day, Another Hero

The Yankees certainly have developed a flair for the dramatic.

Johnny Damon homered off Jesse Crain with one out in the 10th to lift the Yankees to their third consecutive walk-off win, a 3-2 victory over the Twins Sunday at Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees have won five in a row and are playing a fun brand of ball. There is plenty of reason for optimism, but still some cause for concern.

Damon's blast was a fitting cap to a crisp, well-played, thoroughly enjoyable game. Both sides had good pitching, played terrific defense, received some timely hits and missed some opportunities.

A.J. Burnett rediscovered his form and was dealing, matching zeroes with a sharp and efficient Kevin Slowey through six innings. Burnett finally ran out of gas and lost some of his command in the seventh, allowing two runs, but the offense picked him up.

Alex Rodriguez homered to lead off the Yankees' half of the seventh. Hideki Matsui followed with a double, was sacrificed to third by Nick Swisher and scored on Melky Cabrera's sac fly as the the Yankees manufactured a run to tie the score.

The bullpen then turned in a sterling performance, with some help from the defense. After Jonathan Albaladejo finished off the seventh, he created a jam in the eighth, loading the bases with one out.

Joe Girardi called on Brett Tomko, who got Denard Span to ground sharply to the right side. Mark Teixeira smothered the ball and threw home from his knees to get the force. Tomko then got Matt Tolbert to foul out to end the threat.

Often times, when people talk about a slick fielder who has a weak bat -- Rey Ordonez comes to mind -- they might say the runs he saves with his glove make up for his light bat. But with Teixeira, the Yankees have the best of both worlds: a run producer and exceptional defender. Sunday, his glove saved the game. Isn't it nice to have a first baseman who actually can field the position?

The Twins, of course, had an answer for Teixeira's play. Swisher led off the ninth with a walk and Cabrera sacrificed pinch runner Brett Gardner to second. Francisco Cervelli followed with a sharp grounder through the middle that hit off pitcher Jose Mijares and rebounded back toward the plate.

Twins catcher Joe Mauer raced out to make the play, but realized he didn't have a play on Cervelli at first and held onto the ball. Meanwhile, Gardner never stopped around third and headed toward home. It became a foot race to the plate that Mauer somehow won.

I can't get on Gardner. One of my big complaints about this offense, aside from its inability to hit with runners in scoring position, has been its slow, plodding nature. Gardner was aggressive and tried to make something happen.

If Mauer throws to first, Gardner scores, easily. And with most other catchers, Gardner still likely would have scored. They would have been caught by surprise and been to slow to recover. Mauer is just a great player and deserves credit for making the play.

If you want to call it a mistake, I can live with that kind of mistake.

But for a second straight game, the Yankees won a battle of the bullpens. Mariano Rivera pitched another scoreless inning in the ninth and has not given up a run since giving up the back-to-back homers against the Rays. His ball is moving and his shoulder appears to be getting stronger. Put the panic button away. The Rivera Era isn't going to end just yet.

Alfredo Aceves followed in the 10th and was perfect again for his second consecutive victory. I can't help but be impressed by Ace so far. He's performed every time he's been called upon. I hope Girardi will start to call upon him in bigger spots. He deserves a chance to prove himself.

But the biggest accolades are reserved for Damon, who became the third straight Yankees, joining Melky Friday and A-Rod (right) Saturday, to receive a shaving cream pie to the face from Burnett (hey, don't mess with success -- keep those pies coming).

Damon sure seems comfortable in Yankee Stadium, has carried this team for a couple of week and is having his best power year, so far. He's in the final year of his contract and looks far from done at the plate.

But while it's easy to get caught up in the winning streak, we should be careful not to be fooled into thinking all is well with this team.

The Yankees continue to struggle with runners in scoring position, going 1-for-5 Sunday, stranding seven. The good news is that we have seen some progress. We have seen the team manufacture some runs in the last few days and Sunday the Yankees laid down three sacrifice bunts. But we are also still seeing selfish at-bats.

The Yankees should have seized a 1-0 lead in the fourth when Derek Jeter led off with a single, stole second and advanced to third on Damon's sacrifice. Teixeira, however, struck out looking and A-Rod fouled out.

Whenever there is a runner on third with less than two out, it is imperative that run gets scored. Yeah, a two-run homer would be nice, but you have to come away with one and that means we need to see more guys who are willing to go the other way or up the middle. Just give me a good at-bat. Who knows how the game changes if the Yankees take a 1-0 lead there?

And while the bullpen has been better the last few days, no one should be confident about this group. The good news is Brian Bruney pitched at Scranton Sunday, threw strikes and had good velocity on his fastball (94 mph). If he responds well physically, he should be back, possibly by Tuesday.

That would allow Girardi to re-establish bullpen roles, assuming Bruney doesn't struggle. Phil Coke should be the seventh-inning guy and hopefully flourish. He's been very good since Bruney went down, but he's was starting to get overexposed. Bruney's return should correct that.

Jose Veras, Edwar Ramirez and Albaladejo could then be used in the sixth, extra innings or spotted in certain situations. Tomko would be a long guy and the Giradi will get a chance to test Ace.

Maybe, just maybe, this bullpen can be salvaged and solidified. Maybe.

In the meantime, let's just enjoy this roll ... though a nice, routine, blowout win Monday would be nice.

On More Note
Chien-Ming Wang pitched seven scoreless innings at Scranton against a Scranton lineup that included Travis Hafner, Andy Marte and Tony Graffanino. He threw 75 pitches, 49 strikes, and allowed four hits. He struck out one and recorded 12 groundball outs. Reports have his fastball hitting 93. Phil Hughes will make his next start on Wednesday against the Orioles, but Wang could return for the weekend series against the Phillies.

Runners In Scoring Position
Sunday
1-for-5 (.200)
Season
83-for-336 (.247)

Up Next
Monday vs. Twins, 7:05 p.m., YES, ESPN
Glen Perkins (1-2, 4.27 ERA) vs. Andy Pettitte (3-1, 4.00)