Roger Clemens turned the page on another chapter of his storybook career Monday night earning victory number 350 behind 8 innings of a two hit, one run gem. The win marked the first time a Major league pitcher has reached the 350 win milestone since Warren Spahn last achieved it for the Milwaukee Braves on Sept. 29, 1963. On 97 pitches, Clemens snapped a personal three game losing streak retiring the final 15 batters before departing after the eighth inning. The 44 year old Clemens is now 12 wins away from sole possession of 7th place on the all-time wins list behind Kid Nichols. After snapping a streak of 200 straight starts with a strikeout in his last effort against Baltimore, Clemens returned to form with 4 strikeouts, reaching 4,630 in his career, now 14 more than Randy Johnson and good for 2nd behind Nolan Ryan on the all-time list.

The New York Yankees continued their revitalization taking the Subway Series from the spiraling New York Mets with an 8-2 win on Sunday Night Baseball. Chien-Ming Wang (7-4) turned in a masterful performance pitching 8 2/3 of commanding baseball striking out a career high 10 batters en route to his fourth consecutive victory. Alex Rodriguez continued his hot hitting in the month of June with a first inning moon shot to left field, his Major League leading 27th on the season. The homerun was his eighth in the last 14 games and with three more RBIs he raised his Major League leading total to 73, 26 of which have come in the last 12 games. With A-Rod’s personal success now translating into wins, the Yankees have found success, pulling themselves to 3 games over .500 by winning 11 of their last 12 and 14 of 17.

Never thought I would ever be celebrating .500 again, but we are going to party like its 1993! The New York Yankees are back to .500 pushing their win streak to seven straight defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks in the series opener 4-1. The Yankees continued their interleague dominance squeezing four runs out of former CY Young winner Brandon Webb on Bobby Abreu’s three run first inning homer. Abreu’s only hit would not only extend his hit streak to 11 games but would prove to be the difference as Chien-Ming Wang held the D-Backs to 1-run over seven innings en route to his third straight win and sixth overall this season. The Yankees have now won 10 out of their last 12, breaking Boston’s double digit lead down to 9.5 games and climbing back to .500. It’s official, the Yankees are back!

Just as they did two seasons ago, the New York Yankees swept the Pittsburgh Pirates in what is looking like a repeat performance of their slow start in 2005 that ended with the AL East division crown. A 13-6 win on Sunday continued the Yankees current win streak to six straight and 9 out of the last 11 to bring them one game from .500 on the season. Alex Rodriguez provided the power hitting two homeruns on the day including a go-ahead three run shot in the fourth inning to lift rookie Tyler Clippard up from an otherwise inconsistent effort. A-Rod’s Major League leading 23rd and 24th homers plated 5 total RBIs raising his Major League leading total to 63. A red hot Bobby Abreu added four more hits raising his average from .228 to .272 during a current 10 game hit streak in which he is 19 for 38 and batting .500. Sean Henn picked up the win after relieving Clippard in the 4th in his first appearance since being recalled from the minor leagues.

The 2007 New York Yankees season script started a new chapter on Saturday with the much heralded debut of rotation savior Roger Clemens. Amid countless standing ovations, Clemens made his way to the mound just four years removed from his last service as a Yankees starter. Facing a familiar National League team in the Pittsburgh Pirates, Clemens settled in after yielding a first inning run to pitch two scoreless innings before giving up another two runs in the fourth on a two-out two run double. But behind with the rebirth of the Yankees offense, Clemens was able to shut down the Pirates after getting a lead, retiring his last 7 batters before departing after the sixth inning. He finished his day limiting the Pirates to three runs on five hits and seven strikeouts in a performance that was more than enough as the Yankees tacked on another five runs for the bullpen.

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.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim may have had an identity crisis in the last few years, but in the Joe Torre era, the Yankees haven’t forgotten their name. Standing as the only team with a winning record against New York (58-52 overall and 31-24 in the Bronx) since Torre took over in 1996, the Angels swept the struggling Yankees in their first meeting of the season. Spoiling a great effort by Mike Mussina where he allowed only 1 run through six innings, the New York bullpen allowed three walks in the seventh following a walk from Mussina before his departure to plate the tying runs and the go-ahead which the Angels would never relinquish. John Lackey continued the Angels tear through the month of May in a dominating performance that spanned eight innings in which he surrended 2 earned runs on five hits to earn his Major League leading 8th win of the season while lowering his ERA to an AL second best 2.36. For the third straight game, Angels pitching handcuffed the New York lineup drawing a sweep that leaves the see-sawing Yankees sitting at the bottom of the AL East now 12.5 games behind the rival Red Sox.

As hard as it has been not to sound like a broken record on the subject of the Yankees starting rotation, along comes the latest New York rookie from the depths of their not-so depleted farm system. For the eleventh time this season, Joe Torre has penciled in a new starter into the Yankees scorecard. For the seventh time it was a rookie, and for the fifth it was a rookie making his Major League debut. For Tyler Clippard it was the opportunity of a lifetime to showcase his 22 year old talent as the latest New York rookie to make his Major League debut this season. After getting the call from Triple A where he posted a 3-2 record with a 2.72 ERA, Clippard found himself thrown into the downside of an ailing Yankees team who had lost 7 of their last 10 games. With their backs against the wall looking at a potential Subway Sweep, Tyler Clippard took the opportunity and made the most of his Major League debut to lift the struggling Yankees.

There have been no shortage of opportunities for the New York farm system to showcase their talent at the Major League level this season as a plagued Yankees rotation has left one opening after another. Often characterized as talent depleted in recent years, the Yankees minor league system is proving that with an opening, rising stars like Phil Hughes, Matt DeSalvo, Jeff Karstens, and Darrell Rasner are more than ready to compete at the big league level. The most recent starter to get the call, Matt DeSalvo, has shined in the spotlight getting his first major league victory on Saturday night in his second career start. DeSalvo got the call from triple A last week after going 3-0 with a 1.05 ERA in five starts and has turned in similar numbers in two starts against the Seattle Mariners. Boasting some nine pitches in his arsenal, DeSalvo rekindled his confidence in the forkball against the Mariners, a pitch he hasn’t relied on since high school. The results paid off as he limited the Mariners to seven hits and two earned runs over 6 and 2/3 innings of work en route to the win.

Houston, we have solved the problem. A day after Chien-Ming Wang’s bid for perfection in the Bronx, Yankees Stadium was treated to another day of encouragement as Roger Clemens announced to the fans his incumbent return to pinstripes. The coveted pitcher approaching his 45th birthday ended speculation to where he would pitch in 2007, choosing New York over Boston and Houston. Although the move brings instant relief to the struggling rotation it comes with a heavy pricetag, $28M for a prorated season. But in a city that hasn’t seen a World Series parade in six years, it is hard to believe that money was on anyones mind in the Bronx. What is and will be on the minds of every fan until his return to the mound are the winning expectations of a seven time Cy Young winner with 348 career victories and 4604 strikeouts.