The New York Yankees closed out the series finale in Chicago in grand fashion on Thursday as Alex Rodriguez and company scored six runs in the ninth to bring Joe Torre his 2,000th career win as a Major League manager. The milestone victory was Torre’s 1106th in pinstripes pushing him to a .602 career winning percentage with the New York Yankees. With another nine wins Torre will pass Leo Durocher for ninth place on the all-time managerial win list and will likely pass Walter Alston into 8th place with another 41. Even with the Yankees slow start this season, it is hard to imagine any team that would dismiss Torre’s career success as a manager, but if he fails to lead the Yankees through the post season with their all-or-nothing attitude you can bet that this Hall of Fame manager might be looking at his last season in pinstripes.

Alex Rodriguez hit his 15th career grand slam in the ninth inning and his Major League leading 22nd home run to give the Yankees a commanding lead for Mariano Rivera. Hot hitting Bobby Abreu broke a 3-3 tie in the ninth with a double to start the rally that plated six runs. Abreu, who has been among recent trade rumors following his slow start, is 12 for his last 25 hitting .480 during the last two series in which the Yankees have won 6 of 8 games while gaining ground on the division leading Red Sox who slumped to four straight losses. Mariano Rivera picked up his seventh save and appears to be regaining his dominance. After only five save opportunities through 47 games on the season, Rivera has converted four straight saves in the last week and is 7 for 7 since blowing his first two chances. The Yankees appear to be picking up the pieces and are heading in the right direction towards their season salvation.

Inter-league play is back along with Roger Clemens and his highly anticipated debut as New York looks to continue their season turnaround against Pittsburgh as they did two seasons ago when they completed a sweep of the Pirates to pull themselves back to .500 en route to the AL Division crown. With both teams sitting deep in the standings at 27 and 26 wins respectively, the Yankees have the opportunity to bring themselves to 1 game under .500 and break the double-digit Boston lead in the standings.

(6 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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