Yanks Celebrate With A Coke & Two Six-Packs

Phil Coke picks up his first career save in Yankees' 7-6 win over Twins, the sixth straight victory for Bombers. (Photo courtesy of New York Daily News)

Six was the number of the day for the New York Yankees last night at the Stadium.

Six, as in the number of runs the Bombers scored in the first inning, or even the number of consecutive wins they now possess. Maybe even the number of runs the opposing team scored, as the Minnesota Twins did in their 7-6 loss to the Yanks, which gave New York a four-game sweep and put them four games over .500 (21-17) for the first time this season. Hey, four may be the number of the day for Yankee fans.

Here's some more numerology for you: Four and six are the digits on the jersey of last night's starter. Andy Pettitte picked up right where he left off, continuing a stellar start to 2009 with a solid outing, pitching 6 2/3 innings.

Despite giving up four runs, Pettitte was aided immensely by a pair of home runs from Mark Teixeira, who homered from both sides of the plate; as well as a solo homer from Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod's fourth homer of the season marked the third consecutive game where he has hit one out of the park. A shaky bullpen proved solid enough to hold down the win, as Phil Coke got Mike Redmond to ground out to first to end the game, earning his first career save since Mariano Rivera was unavailable after pitching in both of the previous two games for the Yankees, each of which had gone to extra innings.

"We're not used to seeing anyone save games besides Mo very often," said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. "It's a little different."

What is not different, however, is the latest Yankee surge, which hopes to continue at the Stadium tonight against the Orioles, with CC Sabathia taking the mound for the Bombers, looking for an encore performance of his impressive eight-inning outing against the Blue Jays last week at Rogers Centre in Toronto.