This is, after all, the club that was rocked in Game 1 of the 1996 ALDS, then won nine straight playoff games over that series and two more in the decade.
It's been little better for the Rangers in the regular season since the start of 1997. New York has gone 67-34 including today's doubleheader sweep, including six wins a row.
Today's starters, Andy Petttitte and Mike Mussina, have gone 5-3 and 6-4, respectively, as Yankees in that stretch. The Moose hasn't taken a loss since August 2003 against the Rangers.
By the way, how is it that Pettitte can't have a bullpen hold a lead for him. He'll never get to 200 wins this way.
Anyway, big points from today:
1. Derek Jeter garnered hits in both contests, going to 59 of 61 games with a base hit, if my math is correct.
2. Jason Giambi might be the worst baserunner ever. So slow he looked like he was being lazy at full speed, and tries to score from first when the ball is thrown to third, ending the inning. (Game 1 action, for those who missed it). Luckily, Jeter had already scored the eventual winning run, and Mariano Rivera closed it down, but a terrible mistake.
3. Mike Mussina looked OK. Would have liked to see more than five innings, but you take what you can get. Not sure what the velocity was, but from the glimpse I took on MLB's GameDay, nothing hit 90. That's still a problem.
I'll be at Saturday's game, so I'm hoping for a little more of this Yankees team and less of the April version.
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