Winning Continues

Sir Sidney Ponson had his stuff again last night and according to him, working with pitching coach Dave Eiland did wonders for his game. Ponson pitched very well and rebounded nicely from his last, sub-par performance. Veras, Farnsworth and Rivera got the job done in relief and Mo had to eek out two innings before the Yanks could score the winning run.

Little by little, the good days outnumber the bad days for Kyle Farnsworth and his season numbers are actually decent. The Yankees are still looking to acquire a reliever via a trade, but Krazy Kyle might just be better than what's available. The rub is that I still can't trust Farnsworth to deliver in the clutch, no matter what the numbers say. I've seen too many balls go sailing over the wall to ever put my faith in Professor Farsnworth in a critical situation. Mariano Rivera, sure. Kyle, no.

Jose Veras' numbers look even better and other than a couple of bad outings, he's been fairly solid.

Brett Gardner got one hit in five at bats, bringing his average up to .143. The Stache paid off again for Giambi, who had a critical RBI to give the Yankees their first run of the game, allowing Jeter to score. Even Joe Girardi was sporting a fake mustache for his post game interview. That was a very un-Torre like move, but I liked it. It's good to bond with the team a bit and show a little sense of humor.

The Yankees have taken two games from the team with the best record in baseball, and have shown that they can play as good as anyone in the major leagues. Unfortunately, Boston also won and the Yankees moved closer to first, but didn't gain much ground in the wild card race (although Oakland's loss helps).

A big part of the Yankees lack of success this year in injury. Having Matsui back in the lineup would certainly help the offense, and so far, Brett Gardner is no Johnny Damon. Aside from injuries, oftentimes it seems that the team wasn't playing with a lot of heart or with a real sense of urgency.  Being 6.5 games out of first means it's certainly possible for the Yanks to make a run for the pennant, but looking at their performance over the course of the first half of the season, it still seems unlikely.

Making a big trade or acquisition isn't the answer. Bringing in a new face isn't going to suddenly motivate everyone else to elevate their game. I don't know what the exact answer is, but it needs to come from within each player.