"THE PLAN NOW IS FOR ALL OF US TO CLICK AT THE RIGHT TIME."

9 games back. 

But things are taking a turn.  The addition of hitting coach Sean Casey will prove significant, and the addition of Andy Pettitte offers hope for Yankee fans everywhere.  It shows a true effort to surround an unqualified manager with smarter, more qualified former players are now in the mix. The Yankees decision making just got better. Pettitte and Casey will help pump up players, offer approach strategy, and hopefully show the fans that Yankee brass is serious about improving this team.  Will it work? I think seeing guys like Casey and Pettitte shows the Yankees are throwing everything at the problem without disrupting the clubhouse with major trades, firings or demotions.  There's no doubt that things are starting to change for the better.  Not we just need everyone to contribute.

That title above is actually a Giancarlo Stanton quote.  The New York Post writes:

"After DJ LeMahieu and Giancarlo Stanton crushed key home runs on Saturday, Anthony Rizzo ended a two-month homerless drought among his four hits on Sunday as the Yankees completed a three-game sweep of the Royals...

They will face a more formidable test Tuesday night in three-time Cy Young winner Justin Verlander, who has posted a 1.74 ERA over his past five starts for the Mets.

“It doesn’t matter who they have going, we have a job to do and we gotta be ourselves and do what we have to do,” Stanton said Sunday. “Good at-bats, tough outs, that’s what builds four-, five, six-run games. … The plan now is for all of us to click at the right time.”

It's simple thinking, but that's the kind of thinking you need to have when you're a ballplayer.  Us fans treat these losses like it's the end of the world. I cannot believe how many times I hear from fans that the Yankees "suck".  Yea, on paper we're better than we're playing, but 9 out is not as bad as saying "last place" and it's a mindset.  I really think the Yankees have a shot this year. I hate thinking this way, but they're only 2.5 out of the wildcard.  My point is, it's not as bad as Yankee fans make it out to be. And the Yankee press has been pretty bad as well. It just plays to the baseball insiders favor, throwing possible trades against the wall... all guesses, but helps their readership.  Everybody calm down.

But what Stanton says is key. All of the Yankee players have to click at the right time.  There are winning streaks, losing streaks, hot streaks and slumps.  We got the worst of all of that recently, but we're turning a corner.  

It's July 25th. Not August 25th. That too is a significant part of it.  We need to be patient, but we need to turn it up now!  It's a hard approach when you think about it.  But I have no doubt that guys like Casey and Pettitte will be influential with this latest winning streak.  The bottom line however is that we just need to keep going.

We got this.