Grand Jorge Leads Yankees To First Place

When Yankees fans woke up today and looked through the sports page of their local newspaper, they will see a friendly and familiar site. The New York Yankees are back in first place, albeit a tie with the Tampa Bay Rays.

While the Rays have gone just 5-5 in their last ten games, the Yankees won seven of their past ten to pull even with the Rays at 4-23 overall this season.

New York just completed a span of 13 games in which they played teams with below .500 records. The Yankees won 11 of those 13 games, including a weekend sweep of the Houston Astros.

Veteran Jorge Posada was a big reason the Yankees were able to complete the sweep of the Astros. Posada who had been strictly used as a DH since coming off the disabled list with a foot injury returned to catching duties on Sunday.

Against the Astros, Posada went 4-for-9 including two grand slams. The grand slams came in back-to-back games, Saturday and Sunday. He became the first Major Leaguer to hit grand slams in back-to-back games since Carlos Beltran did it in 2006.

The last Yankee to accomplish this feat was Bill Dickey, in 1937. Posada was especially pleased when he found out the last Yankee to do this was also a catcher.

The two big home runs accounted for all of Posada’s eight runs batted in against Houston. He also scored three times and walked twice.

Posada continues to be a major presence in the Yankees lineup. He provides veteran leadership and has a knack for the clutch hit.

New York has dealt with injuries throughout the season and having a player like Posada back in the lineup is huge for this team. Posada is one of those players that the Yankees need to have in the lineup day in and day out. He will likely see more time at DH as the season goes on, but at least he will still be in the lineup.

Because of Posada, the Yankees have made a grand entrance back at the top of the American League East standings.

Hip Hip…JORGE!