Yankees Lock Up East and Homefield

In one fail swoop the Yankees reached several of their goals for the season. Sunday's victory was number 100 on the season, it locked up both the AL East title and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs and it also evened the season series at nine with the Red Sox.

While insignificant in the grand scheme of the season it will do much to boost the moral of Yankee fans in their ever going battle with Red Sox fans for bragging rights. It is the first time in MLB history that a team began the season 8-0 against a team and failed to win the season series. What does that mean? Absolutely nothing, but coming from where the Yankees were after CC Sabathia lost in Fenway on June 11 this team has to feel good about themselves.

The game was mostly uneventful as the Yankees seemed to forget that Paul Byrd was on the mound and the Red Sox could not break Andy Pettitte during his first few shaky innings.

One subplot to the game that may go unnoticed under all the champagne is that of Brian Bruney. Bruney faced five batters and retired five batters. Considering Bruney has thrown 17.1 innings since he re-injured his arm after spending two separate stints on the disabled list and in those innings he has allowed and absurd 33 baserunners, this perfect outing against the heart of the Sox order is a revelation.

Bruney is on the borderline when it comes to the playoff roster. Girardi likes the hard throwing right-hander as is demonstrated by his numerous attempts to right Bruney by inserting hiim into meaningful situations late in games. There are six games left for Bruney to show he can be trusted in the playoffs.

Those six games will also be a time for Dave Robertson to show that his arm is where it was earlier in the year. Having those two pitchers to jump in the game in either the sixth or seventh in front of Phil Hughes will dramatically improve the Yankee relief core. It may also give Girardi the dilemma of deciding if he wants the inconsistent right-hander in Bruney or the inconsistent left-hander in Damaso Marte.

These will be the biggest questions that face the Yankees over the final week of the season. And if your only things to worry about going into the last week of the season is which middle reliever you should take to the first round, then you've had a pretty good season.

Burnett Keeps the Yanks Rolling

This was a game the Yankees should have won. In fact they should be winning every game they play against the Orioles. A.J. Burnett regained his first half form, striking out six and keeping the O's off the board for the first six frames while the Yankees built a comfortable lead.

There isn't much to say about the game. The Yankees jumped out in front early and the rest of the game felt like a formality. Brian Bruney attempted to make it interesting in the ninth, but before he could really get Girardi's heart pumping, the skipper came and got him in favor of Rivera who promptly struck Aubrey Huff out on six pitches.

There was no particular standout performer among the hitters and aside from Nick Swisher botching and subsequently making two amazing grabs in the outfield most innings moved by quickly. What today's victory does is ensure the Yankees will stay in first place for another day. Tomorrow the A's roll into the city. They are currently thrashing the Twins 16-1 in Oakland.

Tomorrow's match up puts Vin Mazzaro on the mound against CC Sabathia. Mazzaro began his major league career by throwing 18 scoreless innings and winning his first two starts. After those first two victories, though, he has learned how difficult the majors can be. The New Jersey native is 0-6 in his last seven starts, posting a 5.59 ERA. The Yankees have never seen Mazzaro so this game can go either way. Let's just hope Sabathia is on his game.

But I'm honestly more interested in seeing Friday's match up of Brett Anderson vs. Joba Chamberlain. Anderson was part of the Dan Haren trade back in 2007. He had a rocky start to his MLB career and the Yankees rocked him for three home runs when they faced him back in April. Anderson has gotten a lot better since then and he has yet to allow a run in July. Hopefully the game is a dual between two young pitchers on their way up and Joba keeps his new approach from last start.

Yankees Crush Mets in Series Clincher

After an embarrassing three game swing in Boston the Yankees travelled back home to take on their cross-town rivals. Friday night looked like it was going to end in yet another Yankee pitching failure as the Yanks blew three separate leads and A-Rod popped up to second on a 3-1 count. Luis Castillo, though, forgot that he actually has to catch the ball for game to end and Mark Teixeira must have forgot to get his work in on the treadmill as he chugged all the way from first to score on the three-base error.

As the Yankees entered Saturday they were looking to capitalize on the crushing defeat for the Mets, but Pettitte continued in his recent slide only making it through five innings while allowing five runs. The bats also went dormant, perhaps expecting the Mets to commit more blunders in the same vein as Friday night. The Mets did not and the Yankees watched Fernando Nieve cut them up with 95 mph heaters and a tight breaking ball.

As the Yankees walked into Sunday most fans were probably thinking worst was coming with Johan Santana on the mound against A.J. Burnett. What most fans might have forgotten is that Johan is one of those pitchers the Yankees always had a beat on.

The real question was whether or not Burnett would show up. Perhaps motivated by his second beat down at the hands of the Red Sox, Burnett was dominating. He looked like he would break in the third inning after a long layoff while the Yankees put up four on Santana. These last two starts are exactly what the Yankees got when the signed Burnett this off-season. He can be painful with his inability to throw strikes but he can always wow you with his natural ability to throw 95 with ease and a wicked breaking ball.

The Yanks will have an off day today before preping to take on the major leagues worst team, the Washington Nationals. Really it is a series the Yankees have to sweep and with Sabathia taking the hill first they have the best chance to get off on the right foot. Plus we will see if Chien-Ming Wang will regain his proper form and if Brian Bruney will carry the fire he had for K-Rod back out onto the mound when he is activated on Tuesday.

If you haven't seen the video of K-Rod vs. Bruney from yesterday's pregame warm ups its kinda funny. K-Rod definitely has the middle school "hold me back man" attitude while standing in front of the larger Bruney. Good thing for the Mets that K-Rod didn't actually touch Bruney or he would have burned the Mets with a stupid suspension.

I can relate to Bruney's argument and I feel the same about Jonathan Papelbon's celebrations too. I can understand when it is a big game or if they are called into duty with runners on in a tight game, but when it's a standard three-run lead save, chill out. Same goes for Joba, though we haven't seen as many of those fist pumps since he joined the rotation.

I'm gong to rest up on this off day and get ready for another week of baseball.

Bruney = New Joba

Last season when Joba started the year in the bullpen, many were wondering who would step up for the eighth inning and replace young flamethrower when he made his transition to the rotation. Brian Bruney was the early front runner for the job but a Lisfranc injury suffered while he was attempting to cover first base kept him out of the bullpen for 89 games.

This season Bruney is again off to a fast start, striking out 10 batters in only five innings including the last five batters he has faced. Bruney has always had command problems, but it is something he has made constant improvements on since joining the Yankees. It's still early and Bruney could lose this feel for the strike zone, but something tells me that he has started to figure out that staying in shape and pounding the strike zone will allow him to maximize his impressive stuff.

If he can lock down the eighth he may put an end to any Joba back to the pen ideas.