Yankees finally gain peace of mind against Angels

There are times when you're watching the Yankees play at Angel Stadium and all you want to do is change the damn channel.

And so you do.

You surf around in anger, until you realize that it's past midnight and Dharma and Greg reruns or Late Night with Carson Daly aren't better options, only an alternate form of torture.

You keep surfing, wondering why your pitching and defense can't execute, why your fly balls always seem to die at the warning track, why Major League Baseball allows Chone Figgins to bat 12 times a game against the Yankees.

This is not fun. I might actually rather watch Dharma and Greg try to figure out if they should risk their amazing and hilarious friendship for something more.

But in the end, you do return to the Yankees. You keep coming back, hoping against hope that this team can face down its fears in a place that has become a house of horrors.

The last two days served as a beautiful reward to the faithful masses.

Tuesday was one of the biggest Yankees wins of the year. It had all the makings of a classic meltdown in Anaheim; the Yankees kicking away a five-run lead as the Rally Monkey plotted its way into my nightmares once again. As I sat on my couch, I began thinking of not if, but how, the Angels would finish it off.

But Brett Gardner proved the value of his bat and legs once again and A-Rod continued to be, dare I say, clutch. The Yanks won, 6-5, all but clinching the AL East and home-field throughout the postseason.

From the soon-to-be-departed PeteAbe, this stat on Rodriguez: Of his 89 RBI, 33 of them have come from the seventh inning on with 14 of those either tying the score or giving the Yankees the lead.

I'm still not exactly sure how the Yankees won on Wednesday. If someone were to tell me that A-Rod, Posada and Swisher were on the bench, A.J. Burnett didn't last through the sixth and Kennedy and Albaladejo were used in place of Aceves and Hughes, and the Yankees won, I would contact your family to get you into a rehab clinic as soon as possible.

I mean, seriously. Shelley Duncan was prominently involved here! There's mailing it in, and then there's mailing it in. Joe Girardi should have been wearing a postal uniform in the dugout.

And yet, they pulled it off. It was a strange series ... and an important one.

The Yanks have won three-of-four games against the Angels, aka their personal demons, this month. As the playoffs inch closer, that right there is a heaping slice of peace of mind, my friends.

And to that I say, screw you, Rally Monkey. You shan't be causing any night terrors on this evening.