Lots to Dislike, Except Yankees Win

Yankees are sloppy enough to lose, but wind up 12-8 winners

If Wednesday night's 12-8 Yankees win happened at another point in the season, it would be easy to treat it in much the same way that you'd treat a loss.

You'd gnash your teeth about the two errors and other statistically unpenalized defensive miscues -- Mark Teixeira has had much better innings -- that helped open the door to a Tigers comeback in the seventh inning. The Yankees went from cruising to an easy win when they were up 7-0 to holding on for dear life as the Tigers closed the score to 8-7.

Joe Girardi's decision to yank CC Sabathia after 94 pitches because he was worried about a matchup with Delmon Young in that seventh inning is the kind of thing that would have sports radio callers screaming and yelling as if their family had been harmed by Girardi's choice. Girardi wound up calling on David Robertson, which brings us to the next troubling moment.

Robertson allowed two runs on a collection of singles -- some defense-aided and some not -- to fully let the Tigers back into the game and then allowed a home run in the eighth after the Yankees put some more distance between them and the Tigers on the scoreboard. It was the kind of performance that would normally lead to worry about how the Yankees bullpen will hold up the rest of the way.

It didn't lead to worry when the night was over, though. It led to a giant sigh of relief that they didn't blow the whole thing.

Holding on for one win doesn't change the things that have gone wrong for the Yankees during their recent stretch, but it's certainly a nicer way to end a day than with another frustrating loss. The offense was much livelier, although we fall more on the side of them being due for a big night than we do on the dropping Curtis Granderson down in the order jolted him back to life side.

But that's the nitpicking about a win that one should just accept cropping its ugly head again. Granderson homered and drove in four runs and that played a big part in a much needed Yankee win.

Just as learning to take yes for an answer can be difficult for some people, learning to take a win on its face can be difficult for some Yankee fans. Now is not the point in the season when you look for anything more out of a victory than more runs than the opposition after the final out.

It's the destination, not the journey, that matters come August.

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Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City. You can follow him on Twitter and he is also a contributor to Pro Football Talk.

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