July 18 Sider -- "Confidence building for Yanks"

By Caleb Breakey/MLB.com


NEW YORK -- Take a look at these second-half Yankees. Notice the grit, the grind and the momentum of late.
It comes in the later innings. It's that dogged style of play that characterized the Yankees during the dynasty. Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada experienced it up close. Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens likewise had front-row seats to that magic.
No matter the score, no matter the circumstances, no matter the anything -- they would make the game interesting someway, somehow. That's what made them the Yankees. That's what made them the most storied franchise in sports history.
And that feeling might be back.
"You sense it in the stands," manager Joe Torre said. "I think the fans are getting back into it now. Earlier in the year, with the struggles we had, they were empty. ... It does have a good feel right now. It does. Guys are really just busting their gut out here. Every single one."
Andy Phillips described the emotions in Yankee Stadium much like Torre.
"Even in games where we get behind, guys think we're still in the game and we've got chances to win it," Phillips said. "That's the most important thing. You feel like you've still got a chance with this team and this lineup."
While Rivera said the feelings around the 2007 Yankees don't compare with those felt during the dynasty era -- "I don't want to say it feels like that because it doesn't," he said -- the mystique, once again, might be alive.
The mystique may have been present in an eighth-inning rally on Sunday. It grew stronger with a bloop hit on Monday. Then it revealed itself in a walk-off single in the 10th inning on Tuesday.
And finally, it spoke through a crowd of 52,147 in a six-run outburst in the seventh and eighth innings on Wednesday in the Yankees' 6-1 win over Toronto.
"Even if we're down late, we feel as though we're capable of coming back," Jeter said. "Any time you've done something before, it gives you a little confidence when you're in that situation again."
Coming into the seventh on Wednesday, the Yankees had two hits. When the last out popped into Phillips' glove, however, the Bronx Bombers had out-hit the Blue Jays, 11-10.
"We don't get frustrated, we don't get impatient," Torre said. "We're sort of sitting there, knowing what we have to do and just tending to what we need to do as far as staying focused and being patient."
The victory closed the gap between the Yankees and Red Sox to seven games in the American League East. As for the Wild Card, the Yankees sit six games behind the Indians.
Through all the emotion, sentiment, feeling or whatever it may be, Torre acknowledged there's no sure bet that it will stay with the team for the rest of the season.
"Now, are we going to be able to sustain that or are we going to get worn down?" Torre said. "That remains to be seen."