Bronx, N.Y., September 23, 2005 — You don’t go on a streak like the Yankees have of late without doing many things right. Since enjoying their last off day of the regular season September 12, they have won 10 of 11, accepting contributions from virtually every member of their roster to keep the winning going. They took the field against the Toronto Blue Jays in the first of three Friday night having won four straight, and finally in first place by a full game.

Joe Torre’s bag of tricks for victory twice in the last week combined dominant starts with game-winning home runs from the unlikeliest of sources. Shawn Chacon threw his second straight eight-inning shutout for the first part of the equation Friday night. But while there is nothing unlikely that home runs would come off the bats of Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano, their arrival back-to-back during Blue Jays starter Ted Lilly’s first eight pitches of the evening was a nice twist. Throw in that each was drilled to the batter’s opposite field, and I think this contest is of a piece with those we have witnessed all week.

The first-inning travails of ex-Yankee Lilly were hardly over once Cano’s liner tucked in inside the left field foul pole for a 2-0 Yankee lead, but considering the way Chacon dominated on the mound, they might as well have been. But this Yankee bunch has displayed a killer instinct once they wobble a pitcher of late, and the Jays southpaw would be forced to throw another 35 pitches before escaping the frame down 4-0. He managed a first out when Gary Sheffield lined hard to center after an Alex Rodriguez walk. But Hideki Matsui delivered A-Rod with a hard double into the right field corner on the throw after Lilly wild-pitched him to second. Fans 14 and under received free Tino Martinez posters this night, which made the Pinstriped first sacker’s two-out single past second for run number four seem entirely fitting.

The Jays gave it their best shot of the evening to make it a game after Ted’s ugly inning, but to no avail. Lead-off back-to-back, second-inning singles by Corey Koskie and Shea Hillenbrand got Chacon into quick trouble, but although Greg Zaun and Alex Rios both lined hard toward third around an Eric Hinske soft grounder to second, MVP candidate Alex Rodriguez made short work of both, and Chacon was on his way. The Yankee righty has been superb nearly every time he has pitched since being acquired in August, and he beat Toronto 6-2 in a day game in the Stadium four weeks ago. Then he shut the Jays out in Toronto last weekend. But tonight’s challenging second frame notwithstanding, this outing may have been even better.

The 112 pitches (the Scoreboard had 111) were three more than last Saturday, but he decreased the hit total from four to three, and upped the K’s from one to three. He walked one in each game. Chacon uses the whole plate, and he hit Frank Catalanotto with an 0-1 pitch leading off the sixth (he hit two Jays back in August). His 74/38 strikes/balls ratio was better than the 63/46 of six days ago, and he threw first-pitch strikes to 18 of 29 Toronto batters. Chacon used 88- and 89-mph fastballs interspersed around curves and sliders hovering around 80 early, but as he grew more comfortable his changes of speed and plane caused Toronto nothing but uncomfortable at bats. While Shawn retired six of seven on just 18 tosses in the fifth and sixth, his heat was up to 90 mph but as low as 85; his first-pitch seventh-inning strike to Hinske was a 71-mph curve that almost puttered its way across the plate.

Chacon’s dominance made for an entertaining evening for the 53,000-plus in attendance, but it’s good he did so well, because Toronto Manager John Gibbons pieced together seven innings from his young bullpen, and they all did well. Jeter and Cano used a walk and single to put Lilly into immediate trouble in the bottom of the second, and Gibbons replaced him with young righty Sean Marcum, who made things worse by walking his first batter. But even though flawed Toronto defense and good Jeter base-running avoided a double play on Sheffield’s ensuing bouncer to third, Matsui gave the Jays another try and they converted the 6-4-3 to hold the Yanks at 4-0. Marcum went four, and the Yanks scratched out just one unearned run while Brandon League, Vinnie Chulk, and Jason Frasor turned in an inning apiece.

A side effect of Chacon’s no-nonsense, take-the-ball-and-throw approach was that the Yanks played good defense as well, and aside from the second-inning liners A-Rod stabbed, Matsui made a fine running grab of a deep Vernon Wells liner into the gap in the third, and Chacon ran hard to cover first when he needed to. In addition, Bernie Williams charged hard to nab a Russ Adams liner to short center in the eighth one at bat after A-Rod charged and pegged Aaron Hill out on a slow roller just past the mound. Bubba Crosby topped them all with a two-handed diving scoop of Wells’s tracer to short right center off reliever Scott Proctor in the top of the ninth.

It was another in a series of pleasant evenings in the Baseball Cathedral, though it was mostly cloudy, and on more than one occasion, there was a smattering of drops from a passing shower. Of course, one rejoices in first-inning Yankee runs, but once the home team had the nice lead, it has become a foregone conclusion that we would have to endure the fifth-inning “wave” many tried to muster (and many more vociferously booed). It has become standard practice in the Stadium when the boys hold a lead, even a slim one. Although I partook in neither, I have to admit I was happier with my fellow fans’ level of involvement in the doings afield when everyone stopped getting up and down in unison and spectators’ energies were instead redirected into a lusty rendition of the ever popular “Boston S__ks” chant. The Sox were losing according to the updates at the time, but that would soon change. But regardless, they could do no more than keep pace one game back once Scott Proctor closed out the 5-0 Yankee win.

The Stadium flags were still at half mast Monday and Tuesday, but they were flying at full height by Thursday. Some attribute the half-mast honor to the passing of Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist; I know I was thinking more of the 1,000-plus lost in New Orleans to hurricane Katrina. Likewise last year the flags were down for weeks after the death of ex-President Ronald Reagan, but after a while I found myself mourning superstar song stylist Ray Charles even more. Ray would have been 75 Friday night. He is remembered fondly for many great songs, including Georgia on My Mind, and the Hit the Road, Jack they’ve played often in the Stadium when an opposing pitcher is removed. But Charles also won an award for his recording of Let the Good Times Roll back in 1960.

Yankee fans have been groaning all season at disappointing performances from mega-million-dollar superstars, and also because of the injuries to so many pitchers. But GM Brian Cashman has plugged some mighty big holes with the free-agent signing of Aaron Small, the emergence of rookie Chien-Ming Wang and the trade of a few no-names for Shawn Chacon. The Bombers are hosting a late-season revival, and the wins and hits just keep on coming. It is time to join the fun. As Ray repeats several times in the song,

You only live but once
And when you’re dead you’re done

Hey everybody,
Let’s have some fun

Let the Good Times Roll!

BTW,TYW

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!