Just Like It Always Is

The Yankees failing against a no-name and succeeding against a potential Hall of Famer is nothing new. They made Pedro their daddy, they beat up Trevor Hoffman in 1998, and they never let the Oakland A's trio pitch past them in the ALDS. But they've been horrible against rookies or other pitchers they haven't really seen. My theory is that they're intelligent bunch of ballplayers who spend a lot of time reading scouting reports and guessing and when they don't guess correctly, they have a rough day.

So when I heard the prognosticators say it was really important to win on Saturday because Santana was pitching on Sunday, I knew that was ridiculous. And so it occured. They couldn't touch Fernando Nieve and they couldn't seem to miss against Johan Santana.

The key play to this game was the two out hit that Francisco Cervelli had against Johan Santana to get the Yankees going. And once he got that hit, the Yankees never looked back. Cervelli has been a pleasant surprise for this team and once again showed that he can be a good catcher as well, guiding AJ Burnett to his best game in a LONG time.

Hopefully this game will help this team break out and start winning some games. You never say they need to sweep, but with the MLB-worst Washington Nationals in town, they need to continue what they started today.

And those who were worried the Yankees can't win in this ballpark should realize that they've now won 14 of 19 and look pretty comfortable there. It wasn't the prettiest way to do it, but this was another series win for the Yanks.