Some order was restored in the Yankees universe yesterday.
Jorge Posada was back behind the plate, and the Yankees returned to the top of the AL East.
Posada also blasted his second grand slam in as many days as the Yankees beat the Astros 9-5 to complete a sweep and move into a tie with the Rays for first place.
The win was the eighth straight for the Yankees at Yankee Stadium, and they now are a season-high 17 games over .500.
The Rays had a six-game lead three weeks ago, when the Yankees dropped two of three to the Mets, but the Yanks have used strong starting pitching and a break in the schedule to whittle away that lead. It’s the first time the Yankees have a share of first since April 21.
“You have to play well on a consistent basis to be here right now and be where we want to be at the end of the year,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.
“You can’t get too caught up if you have a great week and you get a lead or if you have a bad week and lose a lead or whatever takes place. You’ve got to consistently play well. You start worrying about other teams as you get much later in the year.”
Posada caught his first game since breaking a bone in his foot on May 16. For the second consecutive day he hit a grand slam, this one a fifth-inning blast off Casey Daigle that put the Yankees up 7-1.
He became the first Yankee to have a grand slam in back-to-back games since Bill Dickey on Aug. 3-4, 1937.
The only other Yankee to accomplish the feat was Babe Ruth, who did it in 1927 and ’29, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
There is reason to wonder whether Posada is all the way back, though. He exited the game after the eighth inning with soreness in his foot, but in a different spot than where he broke the bone.
“[It’s] just probably tired,” Posada said. “I haven’t caught in a while and I don’t think … soreness in the overall foot, to tell you the truth. It’s not in the spot that I got hit.”
Posada said he was not sure if he would catch tomorrow against the Phillies, and Girardi said the Yanks wanted to see how Posada recovered today and tomorrow.
“There’s always going to be a level of concern until he doesn’t have any pain,” Girardi said.
Ramiro Pena, playing third base in place of Alex Rodriguez (hip flexor), gave starter Phil Hughes a 2-1 lead when he hit a two-run single in the fourth. Hughes pitched fairly well until the sixth inning, when the Astros scored three runs off him, two on a Kevin Cash home run.
The Yankees worked 10 walks, tying their season high. Six of those walks came in the fourth and fifth innings, with the Yankees loading the bases in both frames. Five of those batters scored. This was particularly impressive with ump Ted Barrett’s large strike zone.
The victory pushed the Yankees’ mark to 12-4 in the 16-game span that featured series with the dismal Indians, Orioles and Astros.
“I don’t care who you’re playing,” Girardi said. “You look at this club, they were 8-2 in their last 10 games. They were playing extremely well. Every day is a new day. Every day is a tough game in my mind. We’ve been winning series, and that’s what I want to continue to do.”