Yankees rolling with sweep of the O's

The Yankees woke up today in sole possession of first place, and they will go to bed still atop the Red Sox in the AL East. The Yankees won 6-4 at the stadium today, behind another strong effort from A.J Burnett (9-4). The righty went seven innings, allowed just two runs and struck out six. He went into the seventh inning with a shutout, and is now 7-2 with a 2.31 ERA in his last 10 starts.

The bombers never looked back after scoring four runs in the first inning off of Orioles' starter Jason Berken (1-8). Alex Rodriguez and Nick Swisher each had two run singles that accounted for the four runs. Jorge Posada tacked on a run in the third inning, with a solo homerun, his 13th off the season. Posada also brought in the 6th Yankee run, when he doubled in Rodriguez in the bottom of the 8th.

The Orioles tried to stage a rally in the 9th, when Adam Jones and Nick Markakis hit back-to-back homeruns off of reliever Brian Bruney, but then Mariano Rivera came in for a one out save. It was Mo's 28th save in 29 opportunities this season.

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The Yankees seem to be playing their best ball of the season, as they have opened up the second half of the season having won six games in a row. Even Sergio Mitre, who was called up from AAA and hadn't won a game in two years after undergoing Tommy-John Surgery, got into the mix yesterday with his 6-4 victory. Manager Joe Girardi shared those sentiments, saying this after the game:

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"It's the best we've been and we need to continue that. We need to continue to grind out these games," Girardi said. "It has been very professional the way these guys have gone about their business. Every day you come in and expect to win."

The Yankees are now 20 games over .500 at 57-37. They are 1 1/2 games ahead of the Red Sox in the AL East. New York opens up a four game home series with the Oakland Athletics tomorrow. C.C. Sabathia (9-6) will take the mound. In his last two starts against the Orioles, Sabathia is 2-0, has allowed one run in 16 innings, and has struck out 15 batters.

(AP Photo/Kathy Willens)