August 15th @ The Mariners
Yanks caught some minor breaks in this one with bad Mariners’ defense and baserunning – along with at least one favorable umpire’s call on balls and strikes. Then again, the Yanks bullpen and defense was outstanding in this contest. Heck, the only negative thing about this win is that it probably means Sergio Mitre lives to see another day in the Yankees starting rotation.
New York is now an insane 23-6 since the All-Star break. And, they are 36-11 since June 24th (when Cashman went to Atlanta). Yes, that’s a winning percentage of .766 over the last 7 1/2 weeks. Apply that rate to a 162 game schedule and it’s 124 wins. One-hundred and twenty four wins?
This just in! There’s really little chance possible that a major league baseball team could play any better than the Yankees have been doing since June 24th.
Somebody has to get the whole skinny on what went down that day in Atlanta – because the Yankees were 38-32 before that (and five games out) – and not playing well before that team meeting with Cashman.
They caught two pretty big breaks – Ichiro attempting to steal third with 2 outs and a 2-0 count, and the called third strike for Robertson with the bases full. The strike zone was somewhat inconsistent all night and he did have a low strike most of the night, but still, that pitch was low. Robertson looked pretty good I thought, but he dodged a bullet on that call. Not to look beyond Oakland, but the Fenway series will be interesting. If this keeps up, that series could really bury the Sox.
[…] as Steve Lombardi pointed out last night, the Yanks have been on a 1998-style tear. Since the All Star Break, the Yankees are […]
I checked out the River blues site and I can’t compare this team to 98 …yet. where the Red Sox two time World champions in five years in 98? No. Where the Angels the Yankee slayers par excellence back in 98? No. I like what I see from them but the Yanks were two years away from a championship in 98. and like I keep on saying CC has been middling at best in October, AJ never has pitched in the playoffs AND can Joba excel as a starter in October? I’ll wait until after this season to make any definite statements because the Yanks have more experience in folding in the first round even to a team like the Tigers lately than going all the way.
What happened on June 24th? Francisco Cervelli hit his first major league home run. That’s what turned it around 🙂
-catherine
(The Cervelli fan)