It ain’t over till it’s over.
And, sorry Boston, it ain’t over quite yet:
NEW YORK (AP) -Joba Rules were made to be broken.
Toronto was threatening in the eighth inning, pulling within two runs and putting two men on. Even though Yankees manager Joe Torre had said Joba Chamberlain was unavailable, the sellout crowd of 54,983 started chanting ”We Want Joba!”
Chamberlain jogged in from the bullpen on his 22nd birthday, threw five nasty sliders to strike out Adam Lind , then followed with a perfect ninth inning. With his first major league save, the rookie sensation preserved New York’s 7-5 victory over the Blue Jays and Mike Mussina ’s 250th big league win.
Harlan Chamberlain, the reliever’s polio-stricken father, watched from his motorized scooter and remembered back to his newborn son’s bassinet at Saint Elizabeth Regional Medical Center in Lincoln, Neb.
”Twenty-two years ago today, I put a glove with a Velcro ball in the palm of the glove,” he said. ”If that glove could have spelled out the future and said 22 years from today, you’ll be in Yankee Stadium, I would have thought that was the furthest thing that could ever happen,” he said.
New York, close to clinching its 13th consecutive playoff appearance, pulled within 1 1/2 games of AL East-leading Boston with a week remaining in the regular season. The Yankees overcame a 3-0 deficit and reached 90 wins for the seventh straight year, the third-longest streak in major league history behind the 1947-58 Yankees and 1904-12 Chicago Cubs , according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Mussina (11-10) won his third straight start since rejoining the rotation; backup catcher Jose Molina had three hits, three RBIs, a key tag play and a big pickoff; and Melky Cabrera threw out a runner at the plate for the second straight day, raising his assists total for the season to 16 - including a major league-leading 14 as a center fielder.
It looks like it’s gonna be a fun week
