With talk of realignment in the air, maybe the Yankees should petition to move to the National League.
The Yankees continued their dominance against the Senior Circuit in last night’s 5-2 victory over the Brewers in front of 46,450 fans at Yankee Stadium.
The win was the Yankees second straight against the Brewers, and moved the Yankees to 10-4 in interleague play this season, the second best mark in baseball behind the Angels. The win also clinched their 12th straight season of a winning record versus the NL. The Bombers own a 154-106 record all-time in interleague games, the best mark in baseball.
“We’ve just been in a streak where we’ve played really good baseball,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said, explaining their play against the NL. “That’s the best answer I can give you.”
A.J. Burnett had another strong outing, improving to 8-6 by allowing two runs on seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts in seven innings. Russell Martin and Jorge Posada both hit home runs to lead the offense. Mariano Rivera worked a flawless ninth for his 21st save of the season.
The bottom of the order did the work for the Yankees last night while their 1-5 hitters went 2-for-18 with six strikeouts. Alex Rodriguez had three of the punchouts himself, going 0-for-4. The Yankees had four straight hits in a four-run fourth inning, and just two the rest of the night.
The depth of their lineup was on display with the two homers coming from the No. 7 (Posada) and 8 (Martin) hitters in their lineup.
“It just feels like if one guy is not getting it done there’s going to be another guy to pick him up,” said Nick Swisher, who had the first RBI of the fourth. “As a hitter in this lineup if you’re up there fighting and you don’t get the job done you feel very confident in the guys behind you. They’re going to get it done.”
The Bombers have won four straight and 14 of their last 18 games. With the Red Sox losing in Philadelphia, the Yankees are now 2½ games up on their rivals in the AL East. It is their biggest lead since the morning of May 3.
Against the NL, the Yankees have benefited from the familiarity Martin and pitching coach Larry Rothschild have with the other league. Both came over from the NL in the offseason.
“Anytime you have that kind of help and advantage it’s huge,” Burnett said. “It helps, there’s no doubt.”
The Yankees have one more game this afternoon with the Brewers and then three this weekend at Citi Field with the Mets to finish up interleague play.
Most of the Yankees damage last night came in the fourth inning. Trailing 1-0, Robinson Cano drilled a triple off the center-field wall that Nyjer Morgan could not get to, and then scored on Swisher’s base hit. After a Posada single, Martin homered to left to make it 4-1. It was Martin’s first home run since May 24 against Toronto. It snapped a 68 at-bat stretch without an extra-base hit, the longest drought of his career, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
“He had a great game today,” Girardi said. “The home run is huge for us. It just changed the complexion of the game.”
Burnett continued to bury the memories of 2010. Last year, the month of June, when he went 0-5 with an 11.35 ERA, was a horror show for the right-hander. This year, he went 3-3 with a 4.15 ERA. Not amazing, but also not embarrassing.
He worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth, allowing just one run and won for the second time in five starts.