On A Day Of Firsts, Yankees Take Sole Possession of First

For the first time this season, the New York Yankees are in sole possession of first place in the American League East.  Yes, I know it's only April 28th, but for a team that many expected to live near the bottom of the division, it's big news--sort of. 

It wasn't the only first that occurred yesterday. Consider the others:

• Before the game Mark Teixeira was named American League player Of The Week, for the first time since 2010. I'm sure that I'm not the only one who totally didn't see this coming. After being historically bad in April for many years, he has done a complete 180, while continuing--for the most part--to pull the baseball.
• Andrew Miller recorded his eighth save last night. With the save, he became the first Yankee with that many saves through the first 20 games of the season. The previous record of 19 was held by Mariano Rivera. That decision not to sign David Robertson doesn't look so bad--so far.
• Carlos Beltran hit a deep double to the right-centerfield wall in the sixth inning last night, and later came around to score. Technically this isn't a first, but I am hoping that it becomes one for Beltran's sake. If he hits just a little bit better than he has hit so far, the Yankees' offense will become a huge strength.

It's the first day of the rest of the season. We'll see how much of it translates to first place for the Yankees.