One may be the loneliest number, but it's a great number if you're a Yankee.

Andy Pettitte was masterful, the defense was superb, Hideki Matsui ripped his 25th homer of the season, Joba Chamberlain made his first appearance in the middle of an inning (and recorded a K) and Mariano Rivera picked up his 30th save of the year as the Yanks nipped the Orioles 2-1 at The Stadium.  The Bombers completed the sweep of Baltimore, have won four games in a row overall and moved to within 1.5 games of first place in the AL East (one in the loss column).  The Yankees have also stretched their lead in the wild card to 5.5 games (six in the loss column) over the fading Tigers.

The Good:

Andy Pettitte.  Pettitte was in total command on Wednesday night.  The Yankee offense couldn't manage more than two runs for the veteran lefty, but Pettitte made it stand up.  This was one of those rare times when a 2-1 game really wasn't as close as it seemed.  There was never a time when I felt like Pettitte and the Yankees were going to lose this contest.  Maybe it's just me.  Anyway, if it weren't for Brian Roberts and his two stolen bases in the sixth, Pettitte could have been gunning for a shutout.  In any event, Pettitte improved to 14-8 on the season and picked up career win number 200 with this: 7.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 4 K.  Congrats, Andy.

Hideki Matsui.  Godzilla!  Matsui mashed his second homer in three games in the second inning to give the Yanks a 1-0 advantage.  Matsui looks like he's fighting himself at the plate at times, but he's still able to drive the baseball.  It's just a matter of time before he busts completely out of his rut.  Matsui is now one RBI from driving in 100 for the fourth time in five years.  Not too shabby.  Godzilla finished 1 for 3 with a walk, a run scored and an RBI.

The Bad:

Bobby Abreu.  The Yankees three, four and five place hitters combined to go 0 for 11 with 5 K's on Wednesday, but Abreu had the worst night.  A-Rod made some dandy plays on defense and Posada reached on a walk and a hit by pitch, but Abreu struck out twice and left three runners on base.  Shake it off, Bobby.  Abreu finished 0 for 4 with 2 Ks.

The Ugly:

Quitters.  The Orioles haven't had a winning season since 1997 and they showed why on Wednesday night.  With one out in the fifth and the score 1-0 Yanks, Baltimore's Ramon Hernandez took off from first on a 3-2 pitch to Jay Payton.  Payton struck out looking for the second out and Hernandez basically jogged to second and was tagged out for the final out of the inning.  I realize that Hernandez is a catcher, but he may have beaten the throw if he just ran hard.  Well, he didn't and the inning was over.  Oh, and Payton was tossed for arguing the strike call.  What a mess this team is.

Thursday is an off day for the Yanks and they will welcome in the Toronto Blue Jays for a four game set beginning on Friday night.  The Jays are coming off an impressive sweep of the Red Sox and will look to continue their spoiler role against the Yankees.  Friday night's match-up is a doosey -- Roy Halladay goes for Toronto and Chien-Ming Wang will toe the rubber for New York.  Doc Halladay is 1-0 with a 3.21 ERA against the Yanks in two starts this year.  Wang has struggled against Toronto -- he's 0-2 with a monstrous 9.90 ERA.

This will be the final four games the Yanks will play in the Bronx this season.

Final REGULAR season games, that is.