Vernon Wells released by the Yankees

The Yankees have released outfielder Vernon Wells, according to the official transactions page on MLB.com. Wells was designated for assignment by the Yankees last week in order to make room for LHP Matt Thornton on the 40-man roster.

The Yankees roster was simply too crowed for Wells, with there being six outfielders on the roster after the signings of Carlos Beltran and Jacoby Ellsbury, and looking to move at least one of them before the seasons begins, Wells, along with Ichiro, figured to be the odd man out.

Wells got off to a good start last season for the Bombers, hitting .300 in the month of April with 6 homeruns and 13 RBIs. But his production dropped badly over the rest of the season, hitting just 5 more homeruns and finishing with a .233 average in 430 at-bats.

The Yankees still owe Wells $2.4 million in 2014 while the Los Angeles Angels owe him $18.6 million. That is the final year on the seven-year, $126 million contract he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays back in 2008. Any team that signs him will likely only have to pay a pro-rated salary, with the Angels and Yankees picking up the bulk of the tab.

Even with Wells now out of the picture, we can still speculate that the Yankees will still be trying to move Ichiro, who is owed $6.5 million in 2014. His market might not be, but finding a place to move him shouldn't take too long.

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Yankees officially announce signing of Matt Thornton

It's been several weeks since the Yankees and Matt Thornton agreed to terms on a two-year, $7 million contract. They finally announced the deal Friday shortly after designating Vernon Wells for assignment to make room for Thornton on the 40-man roster.

Thornton will like take over as the late-inning, left-handed reliever for the Yanks next season, replacing Boone Logan, who signed a three-year deal with the Colorado Rockies this winter. He'll also be able to team up with David Robertson late in the game to help ease the transition into the post-Rivera era.

Thornton made a combined 60 appearance with the Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox last season, posting a 3.74 ERA in 41.1 innings. He's got a 9.2 strikeout/walk ratio over 10 major league seasons. He turned 37-years-old in September, and has been very durable throughout his career.

The Yankees have been looking at bullpen arms throughout the offseason, with there being quite a turnover. After Mariano Rivera retired, both Logan and Joba Chamberlain both found new homes this winter, leaving just Robertson, Shawn Kelley and Preston Claiborne as the only sure-things in Joe Girardi's bullpen.

Before signing Thornton, it was looking like Cesar Cabral would be one of the top candidate to take over the lefty-specialist role in Spring Training, but now the Yanks can let him develop a little more. Should he shine during the spring, it would only give the Yanks another valuable bullpen piece.

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Yankees designate Vernon Wells for assignment

The Yankees have designated Vernon Wells for assignment, reports Buster Olney of ESPN.

With Wells now off the roster, the Yankees' 40-man stands at 39, finally making room for them to add Brian Roberts or Matt Thornton to it. Should Alex Rodriguez be suspended, that would make 38, enough room for both of the players that have yet-to-be announced.

The Yankees roster was simply too crowed for Wells, with there being six outfielders on the roster after the signings of Carlos Beltran and Jacoby Ellsbury, and looking to move at least one of them before the seasons begins, Wells, along with Ichiro, figured to be the odd man out.

Wells got off to a good start last season for the Bombers, hitting .300 in the month of April with 6 homeruns and 13 RBIs. But his production dropped badly over the rest of the season, hitting just 5 more homeruns and finishing with a .233 average in 430 at-bats.

Even with Wells now out of the picture, we can still speculate that the Yankees will still be trying to move Ichiro, who is owed $6.5 million in 2014. His market might not be, but finding a place to move him shouldn't take too long.

The Yankees still owe Wells $2.4 million in 2014 while the Los Angeles Angels owe him $18.6 million. That is the final year on the seven-year, $126 million contract he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays back in 2008.

Thank you @Yankees for the opportunity to be a part of such a storied franchise. #Blessed #NextChapter
— Vernon Wells (@VernonWells10) January 10, 2014

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Vernon Wells wants 'one more year' with Yankees

The Yankees made several major splashes in free-agency this winter, including the additions of Jacoby Ellsbury and Carlos Beltran in the outfield. After adding those two pieces, the Yankees' roster now holds six outfielders, leaving both Ichiro Suzuki and Vernon Wells as the two odd men out.

But Wells doesn't want to leave New York, he wants to stay at least one more year after being traded to the Yankees from the Los Angeles Angels at the end of Spring Training last year.

"Hopefully I'll get one more year with" the Yankees, Well said on MLB Network Radio Thursday.

Brett Gardner and Alfonso Soriano also join Wells, Ichiro, Beltran and Ellbury in the crowded outfield. The Yankees have been getting plenty of call on Gardner, but have no intent on moving him. He'll likely be the starting left fielder with Ellsbury in center and Beltran in right field to start the season.

Soriano figures to spend most of his time as the DH, while also swapping in and out in the outfield with Beltran. Both Beltran and Ellsbury have a history of injuries, so the Yankees could decided to keep a fifth outfielder, leaving as Wells would be the top choice to go.

"There's possibly one spot" up for grabs in the outfield, Wells said, "depending on if there are any moves made between here or there. But I've learned not to concern myself with things I have no control over. All I can control is getting ready for spring training and going in, and being ready to help the team in whatever what I can. Whatever role that I end up playing, whether it's there or somewhere else, I have to be ready and ready to produce."

Wells got off to a good start last season for the Bombers, hitting .300 in the month of April with 6 homeruns and 13 RBIs. But his production dropped badly over the rest of the season, hitting just 5 more homeruns and finishing with a .233 average in 430 at-bats.

Yankees GM Brian Cashman said carrying six outfielders on the Opening Day roster isn't ideal, and it wouldn't easy to move Wells to anyone looking for him. He's owed $2.4 million in 2014, and his salary won't count against the luxury tax cap for the Yankees.

When the Angels traded him to the Yanks, they agreed to pay $29 million of the remaining $42 million on his deal. They paid most of the $13 million left last season, and LA will pick up most this season.

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Yankees Show They Still Have Some Fight Left In Them

Just when you though the Yankees might be done for this season, they got back up, chugged down some Gatorade, and sparked their bats back to life to make a four-run comeback in the 8th inning against the Blue Jays Wednesday night in Toronto.

Coming into the night, the talk around the Yankees was that they weren't playing with enough engery. Alfonso Soriano said that after an off-day on Monday, the Yanks weren't at their best on Tuesday when they lost to the Jays 2-0 because they were still a little sluggish after having nothing to do on Monday.

Tuesday night's game gave us the impression tat the Yankees didn't have much left in the tank, and that even the fact of being just a couple games back of the Wild Card spot wasn't enough to will this beat down team to the playoffs.

They entered the 8th inning Wednesday night trailing the Blue Jays 3-0. They hadn't scored a run in their first 16 innings in Toronto, and they were just six outs away from suffering another devastating loss at the hands of the last place Jays.

Having already wasted several scoring chances early in the game, including having runners on the corners with one-out in the first, Brendan Ryan opened the 8th with a ground-rule double off Jays starter JA Happ, who was enter the 8th inning for the first time as a starter since April of 2010. After Curtis Granderson singled to put runners on the corners, hope was coming back once again.

Robinson Cano single to center to score Ryan and put the Yankees on the board for the first time since Sunday in Boston, then Soriano doubled to right field to pull the Yanks within a run.

The, seemingly out of nowhere, Vernon Wells, a man that many Yankees fas wouldn't want up at the plate in that situation, ripped a double down the left field line to score a pair of runs to give the Yanks a 4-3 lead.

Just like that, the Yankees went from scoreless and lifeless, to winning, alive and full on energy.

But, of course, this contest wouldn't be complete without some last inning antics out of the bullpen. David Robertson recorded the first two outs of the 8th, but after a single and stolen base to Brett Lawrie, Yankees skipper Joe Girardi couldn't trust Robertson, giving the ball to Mariano Rivera for a four-out save.

Rivera retired his man in the 8th, couldn't end the 9th without at least making things interesting. He put the first two men on, and then after both runners eventually moved to second and third with two away, Rivera struck out JP Arencibia to end the game, snapping the Bombers four-game losing skid.

"It's fun just to do that," Wells said. "We needed a win. Things had been ugly over the last few days. Guys are still battling. It's obviously frustrating going through periods like that, but hopefully, this is something that can kick-start something special for us."

A kick-start to a winning streak is something that the Yankees desperately need at this point. Andy Pettitte was saying before the game that all the Yankees need to do it go on a little bit of a run in these final 10 games and should be alright.

After the Rays pulled off an extra-innings victory against the Rangers Wednesday night in Tampa, it helped pull the Yankees back to within 2.5 games of a Wild Card spot. I haven't, and I still won't say they will make the playoffs, but at least I know they won't go down without a fight -- kind of like I thought they would have Wednesday night.

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Four-Run 8th Energizes Yanks' Come From Behind Win Over The Jays

There's been a lot of talk around the Yankees lately about their lack of energy on the field.

Entering the 8th inning on a 16 inning scoreless streak, the Yankees' offense was hit by a bolt of lightning in what amounted to a four-run 8th inning that brought the Yanks back from a 3-0 hole to give them a 4-3 win over the Blue Jays Wednesday night in Toronto.

"This team never quits," said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. "We have a pretty mature group. They know what they have to do."

What was on the way to being another bad loss for the Yankees, a two-run double by Vernon Wells in the in the 8th inning gave the Bombers a lead they haven't seen in a long time.

Trailing 3-0 to open the 8th against J.A. Happ, who was entering the 8th inning as a starter for the first time since 2010, Brendan Ryan doubled to start the rally, then after a pitching change, Curtis Granderson singled to set up runners on the corners with nobody out.

Alex Rodriguez promptly struck out for the first out of the inning, then Robinson Cano singled past an outstretched glove at second base to put the Yanks on the board, 1-0 -- their first run in 16 innings in Toronto.

Alfonso Soriano followed Cano with a double to right field to score Granderson, pulling the Yankees within a run, moving Cano to third. That set up the chance for Wells to rip a double down the left field line to plate two runs and give the Yanks the lead.

Leading up to the 8th inning comeback, the Yankees had Phil Hughes on the mound, as well as David Huff, and the offense wasted several scoring chances early in the game against Happ -- including the first inning when they stranded runners on the corners.

Unlike most nights, Hughes wasn't even that bad on the mound, although his lease was extremely short in this outing. After three shutout innings, Hughes served up a two-run homerun to Colby Rasmus with one out in the 4th inning to give the Blue Jays a 2-0 lead.

Girardi was quickly out of the bullpen the take Hughes out of the game after giving up two runs on four hits over 3.1 innings. He brought in David Huff, and after retiring the first batter he faced, Ryan Goins took Huff deep for his first career homerun to extend the Jays' lead to 3-0.

"This time of the year, you can't really complain too much," Hughes said. "I know the situation I'm in and I'm trying to embrace it as much as I can."

In 3.2 inning, the homerun to Goins was the only run that Huff gave up, as well as the only hit, while not walking anyone and striking out three on 47 pitches in his near four innings of work.

With the newly given lead, Girardi called upon David Robertson to pitch the 8th inning, but after giving up a two-out single by Brett Lawrie, who would steal second base a couple pitches later, Girardi showed his lack of trust in Robertson by bringing in Mariano Rivera for the four-out save.

Things got really interesting in the 9th inning, though. Mariano let the first two hitters reach base, then a force out at first created the first out of the inning. After a groundout moved runners to second and third with two away, Rivera struck out J.P. Arencibia to end the game, snapping the Yanks' four-game losing skid.

"It looked like things were going in the same direction as they did [Tuesday]," said Wells, "That's what we are capable of doing. We needed a win, things have been ugly over the last few days.

"Hopefully this is something that can kick-start something special for us."

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Soriano A Late Scratch In The Yanks Lineup

About 10 minutes before the Yankees and Red Sox began play on Saturday, the Yanks announced that Alfonso Soriano, originally penciled in as the No. 4 hitter and playing left field, was scratched from the lineup because of a sprained right thumb.

Soriano hurt his thumb while diving for a ball in Baltimore this past week, and it's been bothering him ever since. He had been able to play through it, but decided not to give it a go after going through batting practice this morning.

Since coming over to the Yankees in late-July, he's been arguably their best hitter, as he has more homeruns (15) and RBIs (47) than any other major league hitter over that span.

In the new lineup, Vernon Wells was moved from right to left field, while Girardi added Ichiro to the lineup as the Bombers face LHP Jon Lester.

With Brett Gardner going on the DL for possibly the remainder of the season a couple of days ago in Baltimore  just a couple of days after Derek Jeter went back on the DL -- the possibility of losing Alfonso Soriano for the rest of the season could easily end any hopes that Yankees had of making the playoffs.

While Soriano overall batting average this season is just .253, he's been having a great season, not just with the Yankees, but also combined with the Chicago Cubs, hitting 32 homeruns with 98 RBIs.

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Yanks Rally In The 8th To Beat White Sox 6-4

At a time in the season where every game matters, the come from behind win against the Chicago White Sox is a big win for the New York Yankees.

While Kuroda was the story for the Yankees once again through the first seven innings, the Yankees offense rewrote all the headlines in the 8th when they put together a five-run inning to come all the way back to defeat the White Sox, 6-4.

"It was a great comeback," Nunez said. "We all fought together."

With Chris Sale still in the game to start the 8th, he struck out Brett Gardner, then gave up a single and a two-strike double to Robinson Cano, setting up runners on the 2nd and 3rd with one away. Sale was then removed from the game, then Alfonso Soriano singled to score two runs, pulling the Yankees back to within a run, making it a 4-3 game.

"Sale has been extremely tough on us," manager Joe Girardi said. "He was tough on us there, but Robbie gets that big double that gets him out of the game, and then guys just put great at-bats on the relievers. That's a huge win."

After Alex Rodriguez singled, moving Soriano to third base, Curtis Granderson, pinch-hitting for Vernon Wells, singled to center field to score A-Rod and tie up the ballgame. Mark Reynolds struck out for the second out of the inning, then Eduardo Nunez earned his pinstriped by lining a two-run double into the left field corner, giving up the Yankees a 6-4 lead.

The five-run 8th inning go Kuroda off the hook, who gave up four-runs in 6 1/3 innings. The White Sox jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead off Kuroda in the 1st inning on an RBI single by Adam Dunn. Nunez was a big part of the inning after letting a double play ball knocked off his glove.

Kuroda escaped with the bases loaded in the 1st, letting only one run score in an inning that could have been much worse. From there, he began to settle down a little, but lost it again in the 5th when a two-run triple to Alexei Ramirez gave the Sox a 3-1 lead.

Alejandro De Aza extended Chicago's lead with a solo homerun off Kuroda in the 7th, ending his night after 6 1/2, permitting four runs on seven hits, while walking two and striking out seven on 95 pitches.

"I thought his stuff was better tonight," Girardi said. "The top of the order has been tough on him, and they were tough on him again tonight. But I thought his stuff was better, and that's a good sign for me."

True story, the Yankees first run of the game came in the second inning, when , with Wells on third and Nunez on first, Nunez took off towards second, with Wells breaking towards home and reaching safely to score, stealing home in the process.

Mariano Rivera entered the game in the 9th, and he shut down the White Sox in order, striking out Leury Garcia to end the game for his 40th save of the season -- the 9th time in his career that he's recorded at least 40 saves.

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Yanks Last Rally Stopped Short, Lose To The Angels

Through the first three games of this series, the Yankees have had the Angels numbers, winning that first three games and putting at a combined 25 runs in the last two game along. But the tables were turned on the Yankees, when Chris Nelson's grand slam in the 8th broke the score open, leading to a 8-4 Angels win.

Phil Hughes has been known to pitch very poorly at Yankee Stadium in his career, and this season especially, but Thursday's game in the Bronx fared a little better for Hughes.

"It was obviously better. It was hard to pitch much worse than I had been," Hughes said. "It felt like the results weren't exactly what I wanted, but I felt like I threw the ball OK. But at the end of the day it's a loss, which is not what we set out to accomplish today."

Hughes gave up an early run to the Angels, giving up an RBI single to Josh Hamilton that scored JB Shuck to put Anaheim in the board.

A couple innings later in the 4th, Hank Conger brought homerun the Angels second run on a sac-fly to left field, then a couple batters later, Chris Nelson, yes, the Chris Nelson that once played for the Yankees, hit a solo homerun to right field, his first of two homeruns in the ballgame.

Alfonso Soriano was the hottest hitting player coming into the game with 13 RBIs on his last two contests, coming off a 7 RBI game last night with a pair of homeruns, and he continued to streak, driving in the Yankees only run of the game in the 3rd on an RBI single to left field, to, at the time, tie game.

"Sometimes you have a good week," Soriano said. "I feel good at home plate. I'm seeing the ball good. I hope I continue hitting like this and help the team to win."

Unlike CC Sabathia and Ivan Nova, Hughes didn't get much run support to help put the decision in his favor. Overall, he didn't pitch that bat, giving up just the three runs on six hits over six innings, while also walking one and striking out five.

"Overall, it's progress," Hughes said. "It's certainly not the way I'd like to progress; I'd like for it to kind of turn around quick. But it's a battle, and I'm going to keep doing whatever I can to stay on the right track."

The Angels didn't start to break things open until the 8th when Nelson came up against with the bases loaded and launched his second homerun of the game to left field, a grand slam off Boone Logan that put the Angels up 7-1. Shuck added another run a couple batters later on a single off Joba Chamberlain, making it a 8-1 game.

"We're trying to keep the game close, and I let a guy like that hit a grand slam off me," Logan said. "I probably could have hit that slider I threw up to him."

But the Yankees made interesting in the 9th, trying to came back from being down seven runs with three outs left to play. With runners on the corners and one man down, Robinson Cano singled to center to drive in a run.

After Alex Rodriguez struck out with runners on first and second, Vernon Wells, who had come up with big chances earlier in the game, lined a two-run double past a diving Mike Trout in right-center field to pull the Yankees within four runs.

Curtis Granderson followed with a two-out walk to put a pair of runners on for Eduardo Nunez, who would ground out to first base to end the game, handing the Yankees a 8-4 loss, snapping their four-game winning streak.

The Yankees had a ton of chances early in the game to do damage off Angels starter CJ Wilson, but just weren't able to get anything but a single run across the plate off him. Wilson got the win after giving up just one run on 11 hits in 6 2/3 inning, throwing a season-high 124 pitches.

Now the Yankees head off to Boston to start a three-game weekend series against the Red Sox, who lead the Yankees in the AL East by a whopping nine games. Being swept would do a ton of damage to the Yanks playoff hopes, while sweeping Boston could put them back into the AL East race.

"It's playoff baseball for us right now. I think the guys enjoy the challenge, I really do," manager Joe Girardi said. "They understand what we have to do. We have to win a lot of games, we have to win series and we have to play extremely well. I think our guys look forward to that. Baseball is meaningful for us. And it's very meaningful right now. As players, that's what you want."

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Mid-Season Yankees Awards

We're half-way through the 2013 season and for the Yankees, it hasn't been the best of years, but it also hasn't been the worst. While injuries have plagued the Yanks at every position imaginable, including even Brian Cashman, who broke his ankle while sky-diving during Spring Training.

But before the Yankees kick-off the second half of the season with a huge series in Boston, I thought I'd give out my midseason Yankee awards.

Most Valuable Player: Robinson Cano

Absolutely no surprise here. Cano is the on regular position players from the Yankees last season that hasn't landed on the disabled list at some point. With Jeter, Teixeira, A-Rod and Youkilis all on the DL, there hasn't been much competition for Robbie.

Cano leads the Yankees in batting average (.302), homeruns (21), RBIs (65), on base percentage (.386) and OPS (.917). Apart from Mariano Rivera, he was the teams only All-Star, and he's inclined to get paid big time this offseason.

The Yankees enter the second half at six games behind the Red Sox in the AL East, and if they have any hope of making the playoffs, then Cano will be a huge part of the process.

Cy Young: Mariano Rivera

Now this decision was a little more tough because there was a couple pitchers deserving of taking home this hardware. But edging out Hiroki Kuroda by the slightest of margins, I've decided that Mo has been the best pitcher on the Yankees roster this season.

At 43-years-old, and in his final season, Mariano is having a season that even the biggest and best Hollywood writers couldn't come up with.

Mo's 1.83 ERA is the best among all Yankee pitchers, and his 30 saves in 32 chances is almost beyond what many would have expected from a guy coming off major knee surgery. He baseball's greatest closer, he's having a great season and he's the top pitcher on the Yankees.

Best Moment: Mo's All-Star Entrance

Now I know this isn't specifically tied to the Yankees and the games that they've played, but Mariano 8th inning entrance into the All-Star Game Tuesday night was one of the most spectacular moments I've ever witnessed as a baseball fan and as a sports fan.

In New York, in his final Midsummer Classic, it was a moment that could only be applied to a player as respected among his peers like Rivera is.

For about a minute, Mariano stood alone on the field as over 45,000 Citi Field spectators, joined by all players from both sides, cheered and paid their respects to arguably the greatest closer in the history of Major League Baseball.

Best Walk-Off: Vernon Wells vs the Orioles

The Yankees haven't exactly been known to be the comeback over the past couple months since the offense flew south, but on July 5th against the Baltimore Orioles, the Yankees turned in one my favorite moments from the season thus far.

It wasn't that a walk-off single from a cold-hitting Vernon Wells is why this wins the award, but because of the context of the situation.

Trailing 2-1 in the bottom half of the 9th inning, facing one of the game's best closers in Jim Johnson, the Yankees pulled off a comeback that not only won the game, but gave Ivan Nova that he so desperately deserved for his rock solid pitching performance.

Nova was making a post start for Kuroda, who was skip because of some concern over his hip-flexor, and didn't fail to make the best of his opportunity. Nova held the O's to only two runs on three hits, the only runs came off a two-run homerun by Matt Wieters, while striking out 11 in the complete game effort.

I look forward to covering the rest of the season and hope you continue to read along. Follow @GavinEwbank2013 on Twitter.

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Wells Walks Off For A 5th Straight Win

Ivan Nova, hands down, wins the award for "Best Performance From A Yankees Starting Pitcher This Season." Making only his 6th start of the season, Nova brought us back to 2011 when he went 16-4 in his breakout rookie season for the Yankees.

Nova may have lost his starting job to David Phelps when he went down with an injury in late April, but after tonight, there's no way that Joe Girardi can't give him more chances.

His only blemish throughout the entire game came in the 2nd inning when he started things out by hitting the dangerous Chris Davis. It was followed up by a homerun off the bat by Matt Wieters that managed to just barely slip it's way over the left field wall.

From there on out, Nova was unhittable. He held the Orioles hitless for the rest of the game, issuing only a walk to Wieters in the 7th inning, going to full nine innings for the first time in his career. He gave up two runs on three hits, while walking one and striking out 11 on 102 pitches.

"He gave up the one home run early then just was really, really good," manager Joe Girardi said. "You've got to give him a lot of credit."

The only problem was that the Yankees had only given Nova one run of support through the first eight innings, making it very possible he could take the loss after throwing an absolutely stellar performance.

"I was positive the whole night. I knew that we were going to win at some point," Nova said. "I told a couple of the guys, 'It's impossible that I can pitch that way, the first time, and lose the game.'"

Baltimore's starter Miguel Gonzalez did his best to keep up with Nova, holding the Yankees to only one run on four hits, walking five and striking out four through six frames.

His only permitted run came in the 4th inning when Vernon Wells shot a two-out single to left, followed by a walk to Lyle Overbay, then new Yankee Luis Cruz picked up his 2nd RBI with the team, singling the left field to get Wells in from 2nd base.

After that, it was up to only the best picture the win the game for their team. Throughout the night, Nova was that pitcher. The O's bullpen had done a good job holding the Yankees to only one hit off of O'Day in the 7th and 8th innings.

Needing only three outs to win the game, the Orioles brought on baseball best closer from a year ago, Jim Johnson. Yet, for the 6th time this season, he failed to get the job done.

David Adams began the inning by singling to right field off of Johnson. Attempting to move the runner over, Brett Gardner laid down a sac-bunt that Johnson couldn't handle, fumbling the ball, giving Gardner the base, and giving the Yankees runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out.

"Holy mackerel," Adams said. "It was kind of a line-drive bunt, so my initial reaction was to freeze. As soon as I see it down, I'm going as fast as I can. In my mind, I'm just, 'Oh my God, just get there, get there.' Thank God he fumbled the ball."

Ichiro followed up with a another bunt, moving Adams to 3rd as the tying run and Gardner to 2nd as the winning run. But with 1st base open, O's manager Buck Showalter took no chances pitching to Cano, walking him to load the bases for Travis Hafner.

Still pitching with a one-run lead, Johnson lost all of his composer, walking Hafner on four pitches to force home a run and tie the game at 2-2. Then Wells, with already a hit on the night, slapped a 2-2 fastball from Johnson into left field to send everyone home, in walk-off fashion.

"Those are fun. Anytime you can jump around, get punched a little bit after doing something good, it's a good time," Wells said. "Those are times, like when we turned the triple play, when you see the kid come out in us. That's the great part about this game. You forget that we do this for a living and just brings us back to when you're a kid."

Saturday's matinee will feature Andy Pettitte taking the mound against the Orioles best starter this season, Chris Tillman. That contest kicks off at 1:05 EST from Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

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Bats Big Again, Yankees Sweep The Twins

Nothing is more American than baseball. And nothing is more New York Yankees than winning. Searching for their fourth straight win, the Yankees sent David Phelps out to the mound hoping he could give them that win, and he delivered.

Phelps looked nothing like he did in his last outing against the Orioles, when he gave up nine runs in 2 2/3 innings, holding the Twins to only four runs over 6 2/3 innings and was also given much support from the his offense to lead the Yankees to a 9-5 win.

"It was good -- the offense picked it up a lot, which was great to see," Hafner said. "The important thing was getting four wins, which is tough to do. Overall, we played well. Hopefully, now offensively we can keep it going."

The Yankees jumped all over Twins starter Kyle Gibson early in the game, scoring three runs in the 1st inning and two more in the 3rd.

Ichiro doubled off the right field wall to open up the ballgame, then Zoilo Almonte, batting second for the first time, single to right to set up runners on the corners with Robinson Cano up. Cano drove a fly ball to deep left field, giving Ichiro enough to tag and score from third.

Travis Hafner followed with a double to down the left field line, then Vernon Wells, playing in place of Brett Gardner, who was given the day off, didn't disappoint his manager, singling into center field to bring home a pair of runs to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead.

Wells was at it again in the 3rd inning, doubling into the left-center field gap to plate Hafner. Wells finished 2-for-4 with three RBI's. Luis Cruz singled to left field a couple batter later, picking up his first hit as a Yankee and driving home Lyle Overbay in the process.

Minnesota threatened to score in the first few innings, but didn't get onto the scoreboard until Justin Morneau uncorked his first of two homeruns on the game, a solo shot to right field.

The Yankees answered that homerun in the 6th inning when the managed to put up four more runs on the Twins, including a two-run double by Ichiro, who went 3-for-5 in the game, batting in Gardner's normal leadoff spot, and was a homerun shy of the cycle.

The Twins tried there best to make a late comeback in the 7th inning when they put together a couple base hits and score a pair of runs off of Phelps to knock him out of the game with two outs in the 7th. He finished with four runs on eight hits, while walking none and striking out five.

"I thought his location was better; I thought his curveball was a little bit better," Girardi said of Phelps. "He used his changeup. I thought he was a little bit better with his cutter, too."

Joba Chamberlain was brought in, but gave up a single to the first he he faced and was quickly lifted by Joe Girardi. Boone Logan replaced Joba and he, too, gave up a couple hits and a run.

In another jam in the 8th, Girardi lifted Logan in favor of Shawn Kelley and he quickly struck out the first two hitters he faced, then was able to induce a ground out to end the inning. David Robertson tossed a 1-2-3 9th inning to seal up the Yankees win.

"We were glad to see June go away and July start," Wells said. "The important thing is scoring runs and adding runs on, taking advantage of mistakes. We're getting pitches up in the zone, and we're not missing them. This is obviously a good thing heading back home, where we can obviously do some damage in our park."

Next up, the Yankees will head back home for series against the Orioles starting on Friday at Yankee Stadium. Ivan Nova will be making Hiroki Kuroda's scheduled start and he'll be facing off against Miguel Gonzalez at 7:05 EST from the Bronx.

"We're going home for a long stretch and we're bringing some momentum with us," Phelps said. "It would have been real easy to just take what happened in Baltimore and carry it into here, but we've got a good group of guys and we put it behind us."

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Yanks and Mets battle in the Subway Series.

The Yankees weren't able to capture a rare sweep of the Rays Sunday in Tampa, so now they'll pack their bags an head back to the Empire State for an inter-league battle with the New York Mets.

With the new scheduling format this season the Subway Series will endure a new twist. The first two games of the series will take place in the Queens at Citi Field on Monday and Tuesday. Then the two team will move on to the Bronx for the final two games on Wednesday and Thursday.

The Yankees will send out Phil Hughes in the series opener on Monday as he hopes to continue to build off his last outing in Baltimore when he allowed only two runs over six innings.

Jon Niese will take the hill for the Mets, coming off a start on Tuesday in which he took the loss even after not allowing an earned run in the game. But that's just the way things have been going for the Mets starters this year.

"I'm looking forward to it," said Vernon Wells, as he prepares for his first Subway series. "Obviously, being in New York now, you're either a Yankees fan, a Mets fan or you just hate the Yankees, period. It'll be a fun atmosphere."

Mariano Rivera will be making his final appearance to Citi Field during this trip. Against the Mets Mariano has encountered many memorable moments from recording the final out of the 2000 world series, to notching his 500th save on June 28th, 2009.

"It's more for the fans," Rivera said of the Subway Series. "They've become like another team in our division because we play them every year. It becomes another division game for us. It's good, no traveling. Twenty minutes travel, and we have an escort. Fans love it. I think they get good joy out of it."

Even if the Mets claim a sweep this week they'll still have quite a ways to go before catching up to the Yankees, who lead the all-time series, 54-36.

Probable starters:

Mon: Hughes (2-3, 5.51 ERA) vs Niese (3-5, 4.80 ERA)
Tues: Kuroda (6-3, 2.67 ERA) vs Harvey (5-0, 1.93 ERA)
Wed: Phelps (3-2, 3.96 ERA) vs Hefner (0-5, 4.76 ERA)
Thur: TBD vs Gee (2-6, 6.34 ERA)

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