MLB

Yankees showed true grit by avoiding collapse and winning AL East

LOOK AT IT GO! Curtis Granderson watches his three-run home run sail over the right field wall during the second inning of the Yankees’ 14-2 victory. Granderson hit a second homer — a solo shot — in the seventh. (Anthony J. Causi)

In the end, the Yankees weren’t the Rangers.

For the Yankees found a way to do what the two-time defending AL champs could not — hold off the relentless, plucky pursuit of an underdog. The Orioles pushed and pushed the Yankees. Right until Game 162. This is the compliment you can bestow the Yankees — they responded. And they are AL East champs yet again because of that.

When the final from St. Petersburg — Rays 4, Orioles 1 — went on the scoreboard just before 10 p.m., the Yankees were officially AL East champs. A sustained standing ovation rang through the crowd and hugs of joy and, yes, relief filled the home dugout in The Bronx. The Yankees were well on their way to clinching anyway, leading big over the abysmal Red Sox en route to a 14-2 romp.

Still, for all of the tension and tightness of the race the last month, the Yankees were happy to get the good news as early as possible. They are a championship-or-bust team and a few Yankees invoked the term “first step” in a clubhouse celebration that dripped with champagne and happiness, but with a restraint becoming a roster deep in been-there, done-that. The Yankees know the ultimate report card is still pending; that more heavy lifting begins in the Division Series Sunday against the winner of the Orioles-Rangers wild-card game.

Nevertheless, a sense of accomplishment swelled among the Yankees, for avoiding falling into second place and facing the peril of that one-and-done wild card. And for playing well enough, long enough to earn the No. 1 seed in a season in which Michael Pineda never played, Mariano Rivera and Brett Gardner hardly played, and Andy Pettitte and Alex Rodriguez missed long stretches with injury. Ivan Nova regressed, A-Rod lost more of his power and CC Sabathia lost his granite status by winding up on the DL twice.

“We didn’t back into anything,” Rodriguez said. “We played playoff ball all of September. We bent, but we didn’t break. We showed true grit.”

And also power. No Yankees team ever hit as many as the 245 homers this year’s squad as, fittingly, the two main power sources, Curtis Granderson and the hottest-hitter-on-the-planet, Robinson Cano, each homered twice on the final day of the season.

But the Yankees were more than just long-ball muscle. Rafael Soriano diminished the loss of Rivera. Hiroki Kuroda proved he could pitch in the AL. Sabathia finished strong. David Phelps was a rookie in service time only. Derek Jeter found the fountain of youth and amassed 216 hits. Ichiro Suzuki was revitalized as a Yankee after his acquisition and so was Derek Lowe. Nick Swisher defied his reputation and delivered in the clutch. Raul Ibanez did not produce a ton of hits, but just about all of them felt huge. Russell Martin was not sunk by a poor first half.

And then there was this — when the Yankees were backed to the cliff’s edge of infamy they responded like champs, at least AL East champs.

“We never panicked or got down on ourselves,” Mark Teixeira said. “Because of that we are division champs.”

The Yankees went into first place for good on June 10 and had a 10-game lead on July 18. Yet for 21 days starting Sept. 3, the Yankees and Orioles were never separated by more than one game, something that had not occurred between a first- and second-place team since 1889. The clubs would be tied 10 times in September, including on the final day of the month.

Yet the Yankees never surrendered first place, never stumbled out of the top spot. Not even for a day when that might have been such a psychological menace. The largest the Yankees lead climbed after Sept. 3 was two games. That is now. The end of the season. The Orioles pretty much forced the Yankees to win 95 games and the Yankees did, winning 16 of their final 21.

The Rangers had led the AL West for 178 days, from the fourth game of its season, April 9, until losing 12-5 to Oakland yesterday. The A’s, who trailed by 13 games on June 30, led the division by themselves just one day. That was at the end of play yesterday. Perfect timing.

“It shows how difficult it is to play 162 and win a division,” manager Joe Girardi said. “You deal with fatigue, emotions, injuries. Texas is a really good team but so are Oakland, Detroit and Baltimore. It’s hard to do this, and we know exactly what it took to get there.”

At just before 10 p.m. yesterday they got there. They hugged as AL East champs. First step.