WHY WINNING STREAKS BUILD MORALE

Yes, I know, an obvious statement, but it couldn’t be more true than right at this moment. The Texas Rangers are a great ball club with great pitching and timely hitting, and we beat them 2 games out of 3 this past series which means to me, the New York Yankees played great baseball and are the better team. Yesterday we had an off day which means 1 thing to me; Reflect, practice and keep the line moving. What do I mean? This…

The Yankees are about to play the Kansas City Royals and after 2 big wins in Texas, there are 2 ways of looking at this next Series:

One line of thinking is: You don’t want the day off because players like Jeter and Granderson are hot as hell and you don’t want them cooling off, plus the team can start a winning streak and you want to keep it going.

Second line of thinking is: Take the day off, reflect, study the Royals and come out rested and stronger than the day before.

(Photo: Getty)

Either way, it works, but the Yankees need to be in the right mind set. There is no doubt the Yankees can sweep the Kansas CityRoyals in the next Series, in fact, I would almost expect it, but it all comes down to Freddy Garcia in the first game. Why? Because he needs to set the tone. If he is able to go 7 innings, and the Three Headed Monster comes in the shut them down in Game 1, there is no doubt we win the Series. But, if he’s shaky and the Royals score off of him early and the Yankees need to play catchup, I say we drop game 1 and maybe game 2.

Winning streaks boost morale and the Yankees can get a winning streak going. The clubhouse banter and confidence is high. The Captain is relieved and the team is relieved for him. Right now, he feels invincible and the monkey’s off his back, so, in turn, he will glow and boost clubhouse morale, hence the rest of the Yankees do the same.

A week ago I wrote WHY LOSING IS A CANCER. It rings true. When you lose, you tend to beat yourself up and the next day, you think too much, errors happen, strikeouts happen and it starts to affect the team. Let me tell you something, it goes both ways. Winning is addictive. No one likes to lose, but who doesn’t want to win? When you win, confidence is high and you can't wait to get out on the field and do it again. It’s a morale booster, the clubhouse buzzes and you start to click. What’s my point? 2 big wins against Texas, first place in the American League East and we’re about to play the Kansas City Royals. I say we’re about to click... big time.

So keep it going Yanks, keep the line moving and get us a winning streak, after all, there's no better time than now.

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