CC Sabathia finally managed to put on a show for his hometown crowd Tuesday night pitching 8 innings, allowing only 2 runs, striking out 7, and only throwing 94 pitches. Heading into Tuesday night’s game CC was 0-4 with an ERA over 8.00 for his career in Oakland. But after two bad pitches resulting in two home runs, CC sailed to the 9^th inning giving himself his 14^th win of the season and keeping the Yankees 7 games ahead of Boston.

So far the rumors are true and the expectations, met: CC Sabathia is a forced to be reckoned with once the calendar is flipped to August. He is the workhorse the Yankees will have no problem riding into the fall. He was arguably the Yankees ace in the first half a season, but now, there is a doubt for any body wearing pinstripes. “CC was dominant tonight,” Swisher said. “It seemed like once we got him the lead, there was no giving it back. He’s a great pitcher. That’s why he’s got a Cy Young sitting in his house somewhere.”(Yankees.com).

Derek Jeter had another 3-hit night on Tuesday giving him an impressive string of three games with at least 3 hits. Jeter now has his average at .330 and is making Girardi look like a genius for switching him from the 2-hole to the lead off spot. If Jeter continues to play like this you best believe you can expect an article from me explaining why he should win the MVP and not lose it to one of the M brothers in the twin cities again. (By the way not to be bitter and obsessive but find me one person not from the greater Twin City area that thought Jeter shouldn’t have received the MVP over Morneau in 2006).

Johnny Damon is the other man helping Girardi’s rep because of the line-up switch. He has been nothing short of spectacular in the 2 spot (2-4 yesterday including a 2B, R, RBI and BB) and is really benefitting from hitting in front of Tex and A-Rod. Having him and Jeter start of the game every night really couldn’t be substituted or matched by any other 1-2 combo in the major leagues.

Although the Yankees scored 7 runs, they probably could have scored more had they capitalized on all of Oakland’s mistakes. The A’s committed 4 errors in the game yet the Yankees only managed to turn one of those four mishaps into runs. As the season progresses the Yankees are going to need to make sure they take advantage of everything handed to them. When the game is on the line come playoff time, they’re not going to want to let opportunities slip away. It’s hard to complain about a 7-2 victory on the road but if they had anything to upset about it would be this.

They Yankees will finish up their west coast trip tonight (Wednesday), and will be looking to newly acquire Chad Gaudin to get the job done. He hasn’t made a start for the Yankees since he joined the squad but his numbers with the Padres aren’t very good (5-10, 5.13ERA). Luckily the A’s don’t have anyone resembling decent on the mound tonight (Brett Anderson) so you better believe they Yankees will be looking to their offence and their bullpen to pick up the victory tonight. But hey, maybe Gaudin is due for a gem, who knows?

The Yankees will then have Thursday off which will be their first day off in 16 days. Assuming the victory for the Bombers will give them a 13-3 record over those past three days including 5 out of 7 on the west coast. The Yankees need to re-harness this victorious team chemistry the next time they head out West because unlike this trip, the next one includes a trip to Anaheim to face the Angels. The Angels have always played the Yankees well, especially on their home turf, and have the most shocking and impressive team stat in the Major Leagues: As of last night EVERY PLAYER in their starting line-up hits .300 or higher…EVERY PLAYER.

Although no one was panicking, it was nice that the Yankees stopped the losing streak at 2 giving them the opportunity to win the series tonight. After Thursday the season takes its final turn as the Yankees head into the final quarter of the season. In the last 41 games of the season they will face the Red Sox 6 times, the Angels 4 times, the Rays 7 times and the Ranger 3 times. Meaning half (if you include the White Sox more than half) of their games will be against teams fighting for a playoff spot, two of which are in their division. Time to saddle up.