AL East: Ninth straight title for Yankees

Yahoo! Sports ^

[frogjerk]

TORONTO (AP) -- The New York Yankees clinched their ninth consecutive AL East title on Wednesday night when the second-place Boston Red Sox lost to the Minnesota Twins.

The Yankees began the day needing one win or a Red Sox loss to wrap up the division championship -- and their 12th straight playoff berth. New York lost 3-2 in Toronto, but Boston's game went final about 30 minutes later -- setting off a champagne celebration in the New York clubhouse.

"The sooner we can get it over with, the better," manager Joe Torre said after the Yankees lost but before Boston was defeated.

The race between the Red Sox and Yankees was close much of the season until New York swept a five-game series at Fenway Park from Aug. 18-21, increasing its lead to 6 1/2 games over Boston.

The Yankees' lineup got a major boost when the team acquired right fielder Bobby Abreu in a trade with Philadelphia on July 30, while Boston was hurt by a rash of injuries and illnesses this summer. David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Jason Varitek, Tim Wakefield, Jonathan Papelbon and Jon Lester were among the key players who missed extensive time.

Last season, New York clinched the AL East title with a win in Boston on the penultimate day of the regular season.

Bengie Molina homered for Toronto, and the Yankees couldn't take advantage after Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay left in the fourth with a strained right forearm.

After Bernie Williams fouled off a pitch from Halladay, Toronto manager John Gibbons, pitching coach Brad Arnsberg and trainer George Poulis went to the mound.

Halladay didn't even attempt a warmup pitch before leaving the field. The Yankees led 1-0 at the time.

But New York's Sean Henn, making his first start of the season, allowed three runs in the bottom of the fourth.

Molina tied the score with his 17th homer. Reed Johnson hit an RBI single off Brian Bruney, and Alex Rios added a run-scoring double to make it 3-1.

Henn (0-1) gave up three runs and four hits in 3 2-3 innings.

Williams cut it to 3-2 with a homer off David Romero in the sixth. Romero (1-0) pitched 2 1-3 innings for his first major league win.

B.J. Ryan worked a perfect ninth for his 34th save in 38 chances.

Robinson Cano's RBI double in the third gave New York a 1-0 lead.

Notes

Torre said closer Mariano Rivera feels fine and will probably pitch this weekend. Rivera has been sidelined since Aug. 31 by a muscle strain near his right elbow. ... Gibbons said his team still has the goal of finishing in second place. "We've been stuck in that third-place rut for years now," he said. Toronto has finished third in the AL East seven of the past eight seasons.

[PzLdr]

Right. And we all know the Yanks kicked ANOTHER hundred mill to the rest of MLB in revenue sharing and luxury tax. What did your team spend their share of it on?

[frogjerk]

I don't know if King George has the most money of any owner in baseball, but we all know he owns the only team with a payroll of $194,663,079...

Classic Communist Class warfare argument.

[NewLand]

NY Yankees, winner of 26 World Series titles...more than the next 3 most victorious World Series winners...combined!

[frogjerk]

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

New York Yankees' Bobby Abreu celebrates with teammates after the Yankees clinched the AL East in Toronto after the game against the Toronto Blue Jays, on Wednesday Sept. 20, 2006.

Boston Red Sox relief pitcher Craig Hansen looks up at the scoreboard as he walks off the field after giving up a three-run home run in the eighth inning to Minnesota Twins center fielder Torii Hunter during a baseball game at Fenway Park in Boston on Wednesday night, Sept. 20, 2006. Hansen was pulled from the game after the play.

[OldFriend]

The Yankees lost their game. They clinched their title NOT by winning their game.

[OldFriend]

A-rod was insufferable. But the way the team acted towards him while kissing Giambi's butt was ludicrous.

[PzLdr]

They clinched their title by having more wins when the BLOWSOX could surpass if they won the rest of their games. And last time I looked, the Yanks had the best record in the American League.

[PzLdr]

...more wins THAN..." Goofed again.

[RayChuang88]

Actually, just wait until both the New York Yankees and New York Mets move into their new stadiums by 2009. Both the Yankees and Mets will be seriously rolling in the dough because everybody will want to be at the new stadiums with roomier seating, better sightlines, clean, roomy restrooms, roomy clubhouses for both home and visiting teams, roomy areas for the press, and definitely WAY better food concessions. The Yankees and Mets will have no trouble selling out season tickets, selling out every luxury box, and players will be clamoring to play at these new state-of-the-art stadiums.

[misterrob]

Anything WEEI says you should pay no attention to. Where do they play him? Pena and Hinske seem to be the replacement for Trot (sad how much he has declined, isn't it?), Crisp will be in center and Manny in right.

[misterrob]

Tell you what, have the Yankees try starting a bunch of AAA and MLB rejects for a month and see where they wind up. Yankee fans can say that they missed Matsui and Sheffield but Cabrera is the real deal and Abreu is an All Star. In August the Sox lost 5 starting position players along with a starting pitcher.

Tell me how well Damon is doing in two years and then you can evaluate that signing.

[misterrob]

Sox kicked in $40 million of their local revenues back to MLB

[misterrob]

Compare what? A $15 million a year guy to a kid who was pitching in college last year?

[misterrob]

Considering that Giambi is a proven cheater is all that more disgusting. Where was he in 2003 and 2004 when they needed him?

[dead]

(Let's Go Mets!)

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Now it's time for A-Rod to put the team on his back and carry them to the Fall Classic.

I;m a Yankees fan through and through. But ARod seems to produce only when it's not needed. Yankees up 5-0 and ARod hits a 3-run dinger. Yankees down 2-0 and ARod grounds out. It's unbelievable how "non-productive" this "productive" ballplayer is. Breaks my heart. Especially at $26MM per year.

Still, he'll probably hit 600 non-steroids home runs in his career.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

The Mets have a shot. They are a very solid team.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Yeah. Sweeping 5 games when it counts is really backing in.

And leave the backstabbing of ARod to me, please.

[raccoonradio]

I know I'll be cheering for New York...