September 18th @ The Orioles

I think we can put the talk about not making the playoffs to rest now. The Yanks are the majors first 90 win ball club after the bludgeoning of the Baltimore Orioles last night.  Their magic number to make the playoffs is now at 7. If that doesn’t mean anything to you, let me put it another way.  If the Red Sox win every game from now until the end of the year (thus going 14-0), the Yankees would have to go 5-9 or worse to miss the playoffs. While not mathematically impossible, I’d call that a lock if I’ve ever seen one.

As far as this game goes, I’d like to congratulate Carsten Sabathia on his first 20 game season. If not for Robert Andino, (this guy has gone Alex Rios on the Yankees the past few days), Sabathia’s line would look much better. But the ends justify the means, as Sabathia will take a 7 inning 3 run effort any day to secure the win.

Offensively, everyone except Berkman in the Yanks top 5 turned in 2 hits (And Berkman hit the ball hard a few times). While you can’t get too excited about the beating the Yanks gave to Guthrie (it happens pretty often), it’s still nice to see the Yanks continue the momentum from Friday night.

Gotta say, I’m glad Gardner’s wrist is coming around. He had a fantastic night last night, with a single, double, triple and a stolen base. The home run isn’t always going to be there in the playoffs, and it’s going to take this kind of play to win. I really hope the Yankees brass is paying attention, and do not bother with Carl Crawford next year. I like our outfield quite a bit as is.