Wild Weekend of Walk-off Heroics for Yanks

A couple of weeks ago, I suggested the Yankees were gelling without A-Rod. I stand by my comments, even though the team floundered for a while with big time disappointments against the Red Sox and some of the AL’s finest earlier this month.

I think the Bombers took their lumps, found some level of camaraderie while Rodriguez was sidelined and now that they are getting healthy, have A-Rod back in the lineup and are in the middle of an important early season homestand, are playing their best baseball.

Dare I say it: The corporate Yankees are having fun.

It looks like the Yanks have found an identity. They’re really starting to put it all together. The Yankees have a wacky way about them recently and are becoming masters of the late inning comeback. All of sudden, the Yankees are gritty. They’re enjoying the game. Everyone’s stepping up. Which is saying a lot, considering it was only a couple of weeks ago that guys like Mark Teixeira couldn’t get out of their own way on the diamond.

A-Rod’s absence, I believe, provided some much need bonding and far less distraction in the early going. But his arrival has provided the Yankees with more fire power and comes at the perfect time. New York was reeling. A-Rod was ready to provide some much needed spark.

The combination of the two has really electrified the team.

Not coincidentally, the Yankees are beginning to enjoy the spoils of these late-inning heroics, which around their clubhouse means proudly wearing a facial mask of whipped cream. Johnny Damon was the latest to take one in the face on Sunday, belting a 10th-inning home run to lift his club to a 3-2 victory over the Twins, New York’s third straight in walk-off fashion.

And just as in the previous pair of thrilling finishes, AJ Burnett slathered Damon right on the field.

Damon's blast into the second deck in right field off Twins reliever Jesse Crain continued a string of late magic for the Yankees, who have won a season-high five straight to improve to three games over .500.

The last time the Yankees had three consecutive walk-off wins was Aug. 27-29, 1972.

Saturday afternoon, Rodriguez hit a two-run walk-off homer in the 11th inning to record his first hit at the new Yankee Stadium and stun the Twins. Teixeira, who had four hits and finished a triple shy of the cycle, set up the homer with a leadoff walk.

Friday night set the stage for the wild weekend. Even before Melky Cabrera stunned the Twins with his walk-off hit in the ninth, it had been a memorable one at Yankee Stadium. Alex Rodriguez made his debut in the new park and Brett Gardner, filling in for Johnny Damon, proved to be a supersonic sub, speeding around the bases for an inside-the-park homer.

Andy Pettitte will look to sweep the Twins out of town tonight when the Yankees try and close out the four-game series with another victory over Minnesota. Glen Perkins will oppose Pettitte.
The MLB record is five straight walk-offs. If the Yankees truly want to make some history, they'll need to accomplish this rare feat two more times to tie the record. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that belongs to the Houston Astros, who victimized the New York Mets and Montreal Expos five times at the Astrodome from July 19-23 in 1986.

Is another walk-off in store?