On WFAN: Yankees' CC, Gardner Hoping To Ride Momentum Through Stretch Run
NEW YORK (WFAN) -- Here come the Yankees!
Don't look now, but the Bombers are creeping up in the standings with Alex Rodriguez back in the middle of the lineup and Alfonso Soriano absolutely crushing the ball.
It's all about "The Big Mo" -- momentum -- and a hope that New York didn't dig itself too deep of a hole. Pitcher CC Sabathia joined the "Boomer & Carton" show Thursday and said A-Rod's return has given the Yankees a jolt.
"Him being in the lineup, him being around our team, I think it just gives us a boost," Sabathia said of A-Rod, who is playing while he appeals a 211-game suspension related to MLB's Biogenesis scandal. "You gotta look at Curtis (Granderson) coming back, too. Obviously, like you said, Sori's killing the ball. Robbie (Cano) is gonna get hot. It's only a matter of time before these guys start playing, (and) we get everybody back healthy in the lineup. I think it makes a big difference.
"Hopefully we get (Derek Jeter) back in a week or two or however long that takes or whatever and get him back healthy, and we can go out and start rolling, start playing and just looking like our old selves."
Sabathia also talked about his pitching woes this season and the job that manager Joe Girardi has done:
CC Sabathia
The Yankees have bounced back from a four-game losing streak that included Rodriguez's first three games of the season in Chicago. Since then they've won two of three against Detroit and are on the verge of a four-game sweep of Los Angeles.
Soriano has been the hero this week, piling up 13 RBIs in his last two games.
"It's no secret we've been playing below-average baseball for over a couple months," outfielder Brett Gardner told Boomer & Carton. "We've dug ourselves a hole, we're starting to run out of time. But we've won five out of six and hopefully we can go for the sweep today and take some momentum into Boston this weekend, at least win the series and start getting closer to where we want to be -- and that's playing in October."
The Yankees are now 8.5 games behind first-place Boston in the AL East and sit five games out of a wild card spot.
"Hopefully these last six or seven weeks we can kind of go on a little roll and make some people ahead of us get nervous," Gardner said.
Brett Gardner
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