Yankees vs Chi. Sox

[gateb]

have u been wathcing tv or reading articles, every1 keeps saying this is the year the yanks dont make it.

I'm sure the writers and tv analysts aren't implying that the Yankees have no shot though.

[feefifoefum]

have u been wathcing tv or reading articles, every1 keeps saying this is the year the yanks dont make it.

 

The people of the media are the biggest bandwagon hoppers in existence. Just wait, if the Yankees sweep the Sox, they will crown them baseball's best team and say they are ready to steamroll their way into the postseason.

[NYHC GIANT]

The people of the media are the biggest bandwagon hoppers in existence. Just wait, if the Yankees sweep the Sox, they will crown them baseball's best team and say they are ready to steamroll their way into the postseason.

 

...I agree. Just look at the way the media has the muts winning the the world series already. Jeesh!

[gateb]

...I agree. Just look at the way the media has the muts winning the the world series already. Jeesh!

There's probably not many thinking that we'll WIN the World Series. Maybe get to it but they are going to look at our series against the Sox and Yanks and say we have no chacne even though that isn't true.

[BigBlueArrington]

Yankees making a playoff statement

 

By KEVIN DEVANEY JR.

kdevaney@lohud.com

THE JOURNAL NEWS

 

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(Original publication: July 16, 2006)

 

NEW YORK — Not too long ago, the Yankees' playoff hopes were on the brink of desperation. Yankee Universe was in panic mode. The Red Sox were supposedly running away with the division, and Alex Rodriguez conceded the wild card to the American League Central.

 

Yet two games after the All-Star break, the Yankees are suddenly in arm's reach of both routes to the postseason.

 

The hysterical Yankee faithful can begin to relax after yesterday's 14-3 pounding of the World Series champion White Sox at Yankee Stadium. The victory was the sixth in seven games for the Yankees (52-36) and pulled them within four games of Chicago in the wild-card race and kept them 1 1/2 games behind Boston in the AL East. They are a season-high 16 games over .500.

 

While Rodriguez repeated his stance that the wild-card team is going to come out of the Central, not everyone in the clubhouse agreed.

 

"I don't know who's been saying that. I haven't been saying that," Derek Jeter said. "We're four games out (of the wild card) with 70-something games left. That's a week (for us to make up the deficit)."

 

It's almost foolish to pour over the standings in mid-July when the Yankees still have 74 games remaining. But that's the nature of the Yankee Universe, where every pitch is obsessed over and October baseball is a rite of passage.

 

After taking two straight from the White Sox, the Yankees' playoff meter is dialed up and they're back on course for their 12th straight postseason berth. Despite a patchwork lineup and a thin bench, they've lost once since Joe Torre's closed-door team meeting in Cleveland on July 5.

 

The Yankees' manager insists the discussion was all about the team reaching the halfway point of the season and had nothing to do with the previous day's embarrassing 19-1 loss to the Indians.

 

Since then, the Yankees have responded. They've averaged 7.4 runs per game, outscored opponents by 30 runs, and gotten stellar starting pitching.

 

"The meeting hit home," Rodriguez said. "It was a good message for us to hear. They were things that we needed to hear. ... It wasn't necessarily a chewing (out), it was what he saw in the first half and where we need to go."

 

All this and Torre feels his team still hasn't put together a big charge yet this season.

 

The Yankees continued to build momentum yesterday, knocking around Chicago starter Mark Buehrle and building an 8-0 lead in the fourth. Buehrle (9-7), who's struggled mightily of late, was charged with seven earned runs in three-plus innings, leaving with nobody out in the fourth after the Yankees scored four times.

 

Jeter and Jason Giambi contributed a pair of two-run doubles in the inning, and Jeter and Bernie Williams each had three RBI for the game. Andy Phillips broke out of a 4-for-38 rut in July, going 2 for 4 with a home run and four RBI.

 

Mike Mussina (11-3) made the run support stand up. Outside of a towering two-run homer to Jim Thome in the fifth — a blast that landed about 10 runs into the upper deck in right — Mussina was effective. He left after six innings, giving up three runs and striking out five.

 

Starting pitching is going to be a key to the Yankees reaching the playoffs. It's been solid of late. Take away Kris Wilson's shaky spot start last Sunday and Yankees starters are 6-0 with a 2.85 ERA in their last six starts.

 

Jaret Wright will take the mound for the Yankees against Freddy Garcia today as they try to hand the mighty White Sox their first sweep of the season.

 

"This is the pennant chase," Torre said. "The White Sox are 25 games over .500 (actually 24), and if they're in any other division they're running away with it. This is a good test for us and it definitely helps our confidence to play them the way we have the last two days."