Numbers Game for the Yankees

Sorry I was away so long, but I got away for the long holiday and missed an exciting weekend of Yankees baseball. I'll update with some numbers:

• The Yankees won 89 games in 2008
• The Yankees have won 89 games in 2009 with 3 1/2 weeks left in the regular season
• The Yankees are 39 games over .500 for the first time since 2004
  
• The Yanks are 11.5 games up on Texas for a playoff spot
  
• The Yanks are (a season-high) 9 games up on Boston in the AL East
• The Yanks are 6.5 games up on LA Angels for home-field advantage
• The magic number to clinch a playoff spot is 14
• The magic number to clinch the AL East is 16
• The magic number to clicn home-field advantage is 19
• The Yankees have won 11 out of 14 (.786)
  
• The Yankees have won 27 out of 35 (.771)
  
• The Yankees have won 38 out of 51 (.745)
  
• The Yankees have won 51 out of 69 (.739)
• (That means for the second half of the 139 games of the season so far, the Yankees have won almost 75% of their games...jeez)
• Despite starting 0-8 against the Red Sox, the Yankees are 37-22 against the AL East (the division with 9 out of the last 13 American League pennant winners)

And one personal milestone broken:

• With 2,117 games, Derek Jeter moved ahead of Yogi Berra for third on the Yankees list behind only Mickey Mantle (2,401) and Gehrig (2,164)

Not bad. But still a lot to accomplish for the Yankees. Jeter's next with the hits record, then the playoffs, the division and home-field advantage.

And then the real fun starts, because the numbers really count in October...