Bronx, N.Y., May 31, 20013 — If you didn’t already believe that baseball is a bottom line game, a look at Yankee Stadium in Friday night’s fifth inning might have convinced you. Following two home losses to the Mets, the first by five runs and the next by two, here Kevin Youkilis strode to the plate with two down, and the Yanks were still looking for a fourth hit, a figure they had reached in the fourth, then third innings the two nights before.

But the Yankees were up 2-0, a lead that jumped to 3-0 when Youk came through with a single to left. Bolstered by the return of Mark Teixeira, who walked and scored their first run, and Youk from the disabled list, the Bombers had put together three hits in the two-run second, none bigger than the no-outs double by left fielder Vernon Wells over the head of center fielder Jackie Bradley, Jr., which placed the soon-to-come tallies into “position.” It is the righthanded hitting lineup that gets the biggest boost with the arrival of a right- and a switch-hitting batter, and Wells, who had been tasked with much of that burden to this point, seemed to flourish at the arrival of reinforcements. It was his lone hit, but he lined deep to right center later in the game.

Jayson Nix, another righthanded hitter who has been carrying much of the burden, and Ichiro Suzuki followed with rbi singles. Ichiro would later score the third and fourth Yankee runs, once he reached on a fielder’s choice grounder (on a controversial play that got Joe Girardi tossed from the game) and another single. The latter came in a three-hit seventh that moved the Yankee hit total to seven, a number they haven’t been reaching much even when they were winning close, low-scoring games, a scenario that halted when they fell into a five-game slump that preceded this night’s contest.

And although the 2013 Yankees have been winning more than their share of offensively challenged games through superb starting and professional relief pitching, it was the start by staff ace CC Sabathia, who lost last Sunday, that made all the difference this time. The Yanks got stellar starts this week from Phil Hughes, Hiroki Kuroda, and Vidal Nuno around a rare stinker from David Phelps, but it has been the recent mediocre results from Sabathia, given the season-long offensive struggles, that have caused the greatest concern. The matchup of New York’s titular ace with John Lester of Boston, the team that used New York’s weeklong struggle to snatch away first place, set up an intriguing game one in a three-game weekend battle.

Red Sox southpaw Lester, although coming off a few so-so starts, flashed a 6-1 record against CC’s 4-4, with a better era (a half run lower) and WHIP (.21 lower), though the Yankee ace had slightly better walk and strike out numbers. And that’s where CC beat Lester Friday night. Featuring his best fastball in weeks (still low nineties though he reached 93 a few times), a big breaking slider, and a killer change, in the first seven innings he struck out three once, two twice, and one flailing visitor three other times. Three of his 10 punch-outs were strikes called by home plate ump Lance Barksdale, who was the consistent recipient of angry stares and loud complaints by players on both sides all night.

But Sabathia did not simply bend the Sox to his will with power pitching. Of the nine ground outs he coaxed to go with the whiffs, four came on two double play grounders following leadoff singles by the nice-glove/no-hit third baseman Jose Iglesias, who continues to hit in the .400s despite the scouting wisdom both with and against his club that insists he is a bad hitter. The other four hits against Sabathia were doubles, and the Sox bunched two of these into the seventh to close the lead to 3-1. Brett Gardner got the three-run lead back, and forged the 4-1 final, with an rbi single in the bottom half.

So the Yanks quieted some of the panicky voices after their unprecedented sweep at the hands of the lowly Mets, restored some fan faith in their ace, and welcomed two key guys back into their starting 10. They inched back into within a game of the first place position they held for much of May, with two more games against visiting Boston on tap for this steamy weekend. And veteran lefty Andy Pettitte is penciled into game one of three against surprising Cleveland on Monday.

For all the strike outs, CC allowed no walks, though he faced five three-ball counts, and his 14 of 26 first-pitch strikes was not a total to write home about. But the 73/36 strikes/balls ratio, aping 2/1 almost exactly, proves that more often than not Sabathia was in total control. An uncertain fanbase rocked the night away like their team had pounded their rivals into submission, despite the fact that the offensive numbers continue to be eerily unYankee-like.

Back on May 31, 1969, 44 years ago, late Beatle John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono recorded the iconic antiwar song, Give Peace a Chance. And Yankee fans celebrated through much of the game Friday night, not just because a few hits fell in and gave their team an early lead. They joyfully reacted to the undeniable fact:

CC Gave Them a Chance

BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!