Bronx, N.Y., July 6, 2013 — The Yankees leapfrogged the Orioles Saturday afternoon and retook second place, even if six full games back of Boston, with their second straight one-run win. They’ve won six of six, and have largely repaid the O’s for last weekend’s Camden Yards sweep. New York may sweep the Birds in response tomorrow, but as the season goes they don’t need to. They’ve dominated Baltimore in the Bronx.

On Andy Pettitte statuette day, the crafty lefty vet battled the visitors in the oven that was Yankee Stadium. One of the two strings to recent Pettitte starts, the positive one, is that he falls behind but holds the opposition with big pitches at key moments, kicking and dragging the Yankees into the later frames with a chance to come from behind. [The multiple-run early inning deficits is the other string.] The O’s jumped on Andy 2-0 on a Chris Davis home run to dead center in the first, 3-0 in the second, and 4-2 in the fourth once the Yanks had come back with two. Among the nine hits he allowed two outs into the seventh, aside from the Davis bomb, were three doubles, two of them leading off an inning. Ever the battler, Pettitte retired the next two batters both times, and escaped run-free in one of the frames.

The Yanks have won back-to-back Pettitte starts, as they’ve come up with the offense that has been largely missing this season, something Andy has seen in years past. Struggling through some tough early innings Monday coming off five losses, they pounded Twins pitching for 10 runs, and today, the Yanks not only mounted three rallies, but managed to score runs each and every time. Two in the second put them back in the game, the same outcome in inning four tied matters at 4-4, and their second sac bunt of the day in the fifth set up run No. 5, and set the final score. And then a lock-down bullpen delivered the win.

Joe Girardi has been forced to use the weapons he has, which has meant he has a middle and closing bullpen that has been consistent, often spectacular, but an offense that misfires through much of many games. He used the sac bunt twice Friday night, and again this game, but stretched the parameters of the strategy in the decisive fifth this time, having Luis Cruz move Lyle Overbay to second on an 0-2 pitch. A fairly benign bunt up the middle had the O’s defense settled back, and two pitches later, Eduardo Nunez bounced his second hit of the day up the middle, for his second run batted in.

On a day when much of the Yankee — oh heck, let’s call it the way it is — baseball world was focused on the Bronx-directed start of a rehab of the iconic pro shortstop and captain of the game, the one and only Derek Jeter, the lower-case news had David Phelps being DL’d, and Eduardo Nunez in the Bronx days before expected. Much of the Yankee 2013 story, still but traced in patterns of the future, goes that the many wounded slowly make their way back from the DL, strengthening the whole that is the team as they go. We — and the unfortunate Indians — saw what this can mean a month ago, as Mark Teixeira delivered not only seven rbi’s on two home runs, but back-to-back wins as well. And today they got that boost from the newest winner of the “Who’s back next?” sweepstakes. If you had Eddy Nunez, report to room five, and bring the stub. His offense set a nice pattern: knocked in the second run, scored the third, and delivered the last.

It’s no secret the Yanks have more to come back, some on a nearby path, some not, some like Phelps. The Cisco Kid may be down for the count. But there are hits, rbi’s and home runs in the channel. July 6, 2013, would have been the 256th birthday of naval hero of the American Revolution John Paul Jones, who is most famously remembered for having uttered the words, “I have not yet begun to fight.” You have to wonder what’s going on in the mind of manager Girardi, who’s been forced to pull out wins on two-strike bunts. With Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson, David Phelps, Jayson Nix, and the like recovering, you could understand if Joe G is saying,

We have not yet begun to play!

BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!