1st-Place Yankees Force Baseball to Take Notice After Heated Fenway Park Sweep

Hey, remember when the New York Yankees were doomed—too old, too tired, too injury-riddled to compete in the American League East?

So much for that.

After defeating the Boston Red Sox 8-5 on Sunday night, the Yankees completed a three-game sweep of their old, bitter rivals at Fenway Park. And more importantly, the Bronx Bombers moved to 16-9 on the season.

That's good enough for first place in the division, three games up on the Tampa Bay Rays and Baltimore Orioles and four games ahead of Boston.

On Sunday, the Bombers banged out 14 hits, including home runs by Mark Teixeira and Brett Gardner, and led 8-0 heading to the bottom of the sixth.

Boston rallied, plating five runs in the sixth and loading the bases in the ninth for David Oritz, who lined out to end the game.

As befits a Yankees-Red Sox tussle, there was a touch of contention. Yankees pitcher Adam Warren hit Red Sox left fielder Hanley Ramirez with a pitch in the sixth, and Red Sox pitcher Edward Mujica nailed Yankees center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury in the eighth, leading to warnings for both benches.

The other two games were also exciting affairs, with New York winning 3-2 on Friday and 4-2 on Saturday.

Mostly, with the sweep, the Yankees sent a clear message to the Red Sox and the baseball world at large: Count us out at your peril.

"I just think we’re playing better baseball," manager Joe Girardi said after Saturday's win, per Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News. "That first week, we didn't look too good, but we sure have turned it around."

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Oh, there's still cause for angst in the Bronx. Ace Masahiro Tanaka is on the disabled list with more arm trouble. And concerns about the age and durability of the club's veteran cast haven't been erased by a strong 25-game stretch.

As NJ Advance Media's Mike Vorkunov put it, "The Yankees look like a $200 million island of misfit toys."

Then there are the rumblings around the team's refusal to pay Alex Rodriguez's bonus for hitting home run No. 660, which he smacked Friday in Boston to tie Willie Mays on the all-time list.

Yet for those, myself included, who attached words like "train wreck" to the Yankees before the season, this weekend's slate of games showed why New York remains a legitimate factor in the American League. This is a talented roster, warts and all.

Even without Tanaka, the pitching has been strong. Nathan Eovaldi got the win Saturday, improving his record to 2-0 and lowering his ERA to 3.81. Michael Pineda has fanned 32 in 31.1 innings.

Even CC Sabathia, whose weight and recent struggles raised eyebrows this spring, turned in a strong start in the Boston series, sprinkling two runs over six innings.

Jim Rogash/Getty Images

On the offensive side, Ellsbury is hitting .351 after a 4-for-4 performance against his old club Sunday night. Gardner, who had two hits, owns a .320 average and 13 RBI. Chris Young is hitting .313 with six big flies.

Then there's A-Rod, who will always be a magnet for distraction but has chipped in four doubles, six historic dingers and 14 RBI in 79 at-bats.

The boos keep raining down away from Yankee Stadium, but right now, the numbers are there.

Can it last? Hard to say, but at the moment, it doesn't appear anyone will run away with the AL East, barring a landscape-shifting trade (like, say, Boston upgrading its shaky starting rotation).

For the time being, New York's goal is simple: Stay hot, stay healthy and play like a team that's the opposite of doomed.

All statistics current as of May 3 and courtesy of MLB.com unless otherwise noted.