With Wednesday’s win over the Rays, the Yankees clinched yet another series victory, and have moved to 30 games over .500.
Let that sink in.
The best team in baseball by a six game margin, the Bombers once again found a new way to win on Wednesday, turning a dropped fly ball in center field by Brett Phillips (who replaced Kevin Kiermaier after he left with a sore Achilles) into a three-run blast by Kyle Higashioka, the latest Hero of the Night, to bust open a 4-0 lead before hanging on for a 4-3 win.
“They’ve found ways to win,” Aaron Boone said. “We have some guys that are having great starts to their season individually, but so many guys in that room have contributed in so many ways.
“So many ways we’ve been able to win games, and I think that gives guys confidence going into each day knowing we don’t have to do it just one way.”
Through all the new ways of achieving victory, some regular contributors remain. Aaron Judge started the scoring on Wednesday with a solo blast off of Cy Young candidate Shane McClanahan, while the Yankees’ own Cy Young hopeful Nestor Cortes allowed just one run over 5.1 innings of work.
In what was expected to be a bloodbath among four playoff hopefuls, the Yankees’ nine-game lead in the AL East is just a half game less than the largest divisional lead in baseball (the Astros lead the Rangers by 9.5 games). Their record is comparable to historic teams like the 1998 Bombers up to this point, and so far in the 13-game stretch that many believe will truly tell how good they are, the Yankees are 2-for-2.
But the Yankees believe the true source of their success is in not paying much attention to all of those numeric measurements of just how good they’ve been.
“Yeah, but I think we’re more focused on the next game,” Judge said. “The record and what we’ve done so far is great, but what makes this team special is we’re worried about the next game now.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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