WHY STRIKING EARLY PAID OFF

(Photo: Richard Perry/New York Times)
The Yankees had were on a mission Friday night, striking early and getting the Mets' heads spinning right away. It was the way it had to be, after all, there may be 2 New York teams, but only 1 could win and that had to be the Yankees who were looking for their 6th straight win and their 13th out of 16th since Jeter was put on the DL.

Mark Teixeira has taken over as the leader of the New York Yankees hitting a 2 run double before anyone on the Mets, including Jon Neise, were even warmed up. Robinson Cano also knocked in 1 on a double. Neise gave up 3 runs before being taken out.

Even Eduardo Nunez was 4 for 4 and contributed with and RBI single. "Jeter Who" you ask? No, no, don't diss the Captain yet, expect him back Monday, but good for Nunez to be hitting so well.(Photo: Richard Perry/New York Times)
Ivan Nova gave up 1 run in 5 innings, and handled the Mets quite well but was pinch hit for by Posada. Don't look now Ladies and Gentlemen, but Ivan Nova is 8-4 this year. Pretty nice to see. The big question will be what will happen when Colon and Hughes come back. Colon, it appears will take back his spot in the rotation that Brian Gordon temporarily held but when Hughes comes back, will Ivan Nova be moved out of the rotation? Will the Yankees move Freddy Garcia to the long man role? Will Hughes be put in the pen? A lot of question marks I don't know the answer to.(Photo: New York Daily News)
A few things I liked about the game last night; I like to bunt and Girardi had it happen twice. Secondly, Hustle Martin slid hard into second breaking up a double play. To me, that's baseball; do what you can, play hard and contribute. I said that Martin wanted to be part of the show again in WHY THE YANKEES ARE COMING and slowly but surely, he is. It's the little things that help.

Girardi used 6 relief pitchers last night in the rest of the game. Sounds like the World Series, but it's clear to me, not only does Girardi want to keep winning, he's getting into a rhythm himself. Ironically, even Mariano Rivera came in to get the final 2 outs in a non-save situation. I don't care for that kind of play. I say you bring in Mo only in save situations, but hey, Girardi has a plan and the Yankees have been rolling as of late, so I'm not going to second guess him right now. 16 wins in 20 games...I'd say we're on a roll.

Final Score: Yankees 5 - Mets 1. There's no other way of putting it; The New York Yankees are Monsters on the road to the pennant. I smell 2009 all over again, can you?

Please comment and let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.