With a little more than two weeks to go in the season, the Yankees are in a far better position than they were in the dark days of Spring:
TORONTO, Sept. 11 — The path to the playoffs is now in front of the Yankees. It took the bulk of the season, but they finally reached a goal Manager Joe Torre had emphasized since the team was struggling.
With a 9-2 thrashing of the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday, the Yankees lifted their record to 20 games over .500, at 82-62. They trail Boston by five games in the American League East, but with a four-game edge on Detroit in the wild-card race, they are just where they want to be.
“That’s been my number — 20 and above,” Torre said. “When you’re at 20, then you have to be seriously considering playing in October. Right now, we’re in a situation where we have our fate in our hands. We don’t need any help. We just go out there and keep winning ballgames, and we’ll be playing next month.”
Things are going so well now that the Yankees’ star slugger, Alex Rodriguez, managed two hits without getting the ball out of the infield. Rodriguez’s streak of five games with a home run came to an end, but that hardly stopped the Yankees’ momentum.
The Yankees have not lost since Labor Day, running their winning streak to six. Phil Hughes sparkled for most of his six innings, and Jason Giambi snapped a 1-for-22 skid with a grand slam in the fifth inning.
It’s now down to the Yankees (82-62) and the Tigers (79-67). If the Yankees go just a pedestrian 9-9 the rest of the way, they would finish with 91 wins. The Tigers would have to go 12-4 to tie.
With five games left against Toronto, six against Baltimore and three against Tampa Bay, the Yankeees are in a position to finish with at least 93 wins.
Not bad for a season that started out badly
