Sweep Success for the Bombers

Sunday night's game may have been the best for New York. In a game where they could have easily said three out of four is good enough and folded the tents when Victor Martinez hit his eighth inning home run, they stormed back with four in the bottom frame. They got an excellent start from "crafty" lefty Andy Pettitte and a big home run from Alex Rodriguez. When down 2 to 1, Johnny Damon haunted his former team with a drive to right center to even the score. Mark Teixiera followed with a majestic home run to the second deck in right. Then, for good measure, Nick Swisher drove in two for some wiggle room.

The Bombers beat the Red Sox 5 to 2 to sweep the four game series and push their American League East lead to 6.5 games.

John Harper of the New York Daily News has this take on the four game swing.

David Brown's Yahoo! column has a great quote from Nick Swisher. ""Listen, the Red Sox had our number," Swisher said, "but we changed cell-phone providers." Niiiice.

Google News has over 4900 articles linked up about this series. Amazing.

So where do these two teams go from here? It is way to early to call this race for the Yankees. But it sure does seem like they could run and hide as August comes to a close. That would be a be lift for New York, where they could rest Joba Chamberlain and possibly use him in the playoffs. Andy Pettitte has shown signs of being a solid number three in the playoffs, and you always like having a veteran such as Pettitte to throw out there.

Is it the Phillies year to blow a big lead? After chasing down the Mets the past two seasons, Philadelphia has the target squarely on its back this year. The Marlins and Braves are doing their best to keep pace as the summer swelter sets in.

The Marlins finished off the Phils yesterday, completing the sweep with a 12 to 3 win in Philly. The game included one of the stranger ejections you will ever see. Shane Victorino was tossed for his reaction to ball and strikes... from center field! Victorino came charging in to argue being tossed but was held off by his teammates. If you get a chance, visit MLB.com and watch the clip. It is strange to say the least.

The Braves picked up a game in the standings as well, dropping five runs in the ninth on the Dodgers to run away with an 8 to 2 win. Florida now sits just four games back of Philadelphia, while the Braves are just four and a half games back.