"When Joe Girardi took that walk to the mound to take the ball from A.J. Burnett with two outs in the sixth inning Tuesday night, one of the most satisfying walks the Yankee manager has probably ever made, all he could think about at that moment was... finally.

Finally, in this AL division series, Girardi was in position to use his greatest weapon - the bullpen - with a lead, a 4-1 lead that, of all people, Burnett was now handing over to him. And you know Girardi, at that moment, was fully confident his back-end relief crew of Rafael Soriano, David Robertson and Mariano Rivera would get those last 10 outs to get the Yankees another game, another game in their own ballyard, and very possibly now, another series in this baseball October."