Melky, A-Rod down Royals

So those Yanks are really rollin’ these days, huh?

Behind home runs by Alex Rodriguez – his 499th overall – and Hideki Matsui – his 10th of July – and three RBIs by Melky Cabrera, the Yanks beat the Royals yesterday 7-1. With that win the Yanks assure themselves of yet another series win and improve to 12-3 since the All Star Break.

For the Yanks, yesterday’s game was a good one to win. With Kei Igawa on the mound tonight, the Yankees needed a good start from Moose. In his last outing, Mike Mussina came out on the wrong end of a 14-4 game. But Moose rebounded nicely enough. He made it through his typical 5.2 innings on 95 pitches and allowed only 8 baserunners and 1 earned run.

After Melky Cabrera, on a two-run home run and a sac fly, singlehandedly put the Yanks up 3-1, the rest of the team took over in the 8th. A-Rod belted his 499th career home run, and Hideki Matsui hit his 18th of the season. The bullpen went 3.1 two-hit innings, and the Yanks walked away winners for the fifth straight game.

With that win, the Yanks find themselves closing the gap in the AL East. One night after falling to Daisuke Matsuzaka 1-0, Fausto Carmona and the Indians topped the Sox 1-0. Out west, the Mariners lost for the sixth straight game as they continue their fall toward Pythagoras. So now, the Yanks are a season-high eight games over .500. They’re 4.5 games behind Cleveland and just 0.5 games out of second in the Wild Card. They’re also 6.5 games behind Boston, the closest they’ve been since May, and their expected win-loss puts them just a shade out of first. This team is turning things around.

Offensively, the Yanks have been mashing during their five-game winning streak. Overall, the team is hitting .395/.461/.657 with 33 extra-base hits. While some people had lost faith in this team, this is exactly what we all knew the Yanks could do. It’s going to be a fun two months in the Bronx.