Well it looks as if the Yankees may have finally found their bats…again. The past two nights have been a sincere joy to watch (sans Pettitte last night), and I feel that the confidence may be building like the over zealous arrogance of first place Red Sox fans. It has seemed like a completely different team from the one keeling over to both the Marlins and the Nationals just two series’ ago.

Joba pitched into the 7^th inning Wednesday night keeping his pitch count low (99) throwing 38 less balls than strikes. It’s good to see the cautious pitching staff is letting him flirt with triple digit numbers but it’s even better to see Joba not creating jams and tough situations for himself, as he stuck out 5 and walked none. With a suspended Burnett and a “hurt?” CC Sabathia I’m glad to see we can count on the young question mark when we need a win. I just wish he’d record more than two a month.

A-Rod game through with big at-bats with two outs in each of the last two games. First with the bases loaded and the Yankees in need of an All-Star like play from their convenient self- prescriber. The hit came after Cervelli’s first career home run and put the Yankees up two in the 6^th. The second came Thursday night when he homered in his first at bat go give the Yankees their first early lead in, what seems like, ages.

A-Rod is going to have to get hot and stay hot if the Yankees expect to take over first place in the American League East. Tex has been doing his part in front of him and Cano has really picked up his game and turned into a lethal 5-hitter lately. A-Rod has to be a feared hitter. He has now been back for over a month and can no longer play the “ I didn’t have a spring training” card. He has to start being as intimidating as he has always been and he HAS to start hitting low pitches and stop lunging and hitting weak ground balls.

The end of this stupid interleague marathon is almost over, but before we start celebrating the DH the Bombers are going to have to face the Mets in Queens. CC will try and prove his health and dominance tonight starting against Pelfrey. It’ll be CC’s first subway series start and only his second time facing the Mets (he won his first and only time). As much as I want to see him shut down the Mets and quiet the Shea 2.0 crowd I’m really just concerned with his health. He has had a couple of tweaks and soft injuries in-between 120-pitch outings this year, and I don’t want this all to add up to yet another off season mistake signing (I know most of you are feverishly knocking on wood right now—so am I).

Despite their poor showing versus the National league and their even poorer showing versus the Red Sox I’m feeling OK about their position as of right now. Granted, if they were coming off a couple of losses and not a couple of wins I’d be singing a different tune, but things are all right. The All-Star break is still about two weeks away and they haven’t hit the halfway point on the schedule yet; there are 90 games left. After the Mets, which is basically a home game considering location and attendance; they head back to the Bronx to play 3 against the Mariners and 4 against the Jays. Both series that the Yankees should win, one of which the Yankees might sweep.

Everything just needs to come together: the pitching, the hitting, the bullpen, the coaching and even the luck. Except for those three weeks in May the Yankees have yet to cook with gas and have been left with a hotplate. Someone in the middle is always slumping, someone is injured, the bullpen can’t hold a lead, the starters can’t give a lead, the offence can’t get a lead etc.

What the league, an apparently the Yankees, seemed to have forgotten before the principal, Brian Cashman, showed up in Atlanta is that the Yankees are really good—like really good. They control their own destiny. They have every aspect of the game covered; they just don’t seem to want to use it all at once. But if they’re not careful they’ll spend so much time putting the pieces in place that they’ll forget how to use them.