NEW YORK _ The idea that the acquisition of Zack Greinke gives the Houston Astros a starting rotation that will guarantee a World Series championship is amusing to Yankee reliever Zack Britton.
Britton's point of reference is the 2014 ALDS when the Baltimore Orioles, with Britton as their closer, challenged the Detroit Tigers, whose staff was headlined by Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander and David Price.
"And we beat them 3-0," Britton said and laughed.
So if you expected the Yankees, after their 7-5 comeback win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday, to overreact to Greinke's change of address, and the Yankees' inability to add a starting pitcher before the trading deadline, you don't understand the Yankee way.
"Nothing changes," said manager Aaron Boone. "We've got everything we need to be a championship club."
He may prove to be right. In addition to all their power hitters, the Yankees have developed fill-in players who have a knack for the dramatic.
Like Mike Tauchman and Austin Romine.
Tauchman wasn't on the team's Opening Day roster and Romine is Gary Sanchez's backup at catcher. But Tauchman hit a two-run homer off Greinke in the second inning, before Greinke left the game after five innings as his trade to the Astros was finalized during a 36-minute rain delay.
In the seventh inning, with the Yanks behind 3-2, Tauchman hit a two-out double, which set up Romine's two-run, go-ahead homer.
"We joke about it all the time," Romine said. "We say we're the best 8-9 hitters in the league."
Or as Tauchman adds: "We pump each other up, sort of 'You get one, I've got to get one.' We try to feed off each other's energy."
It's contagious. A ground-out by Didi Gregorius and run-scoring hits by Gleyber Torres and Cameron Maybin padded the Yankees' lead to 7-3 in the eighth inning. They needed the extra runs because Nester Cortes Jr. gave up a lead-off homer in the ninth and Aroldis Chapman allowed another run before securing a shaky 27th save.
A "strange" year, as Boone calls it, keeps getting stranger. The Yankees went into the trading period determined to obtain pitching help, but general manager Brian Cashman was turned off by outlandish demands by potential traders.
So these Yankees hope that their veteran starters, who've stumbled lately, can regain their early July form or a couple of pitchers with pedigree will return from the injury list to produce more miracles.
For now, the Yankees either truly believe in themselves or are putting up a brave front.
Guess which option the always optimistic Boone turns to?
"We're ready to move on," he said. "We know we can beat anyone."
After striking out in his first three at-bats, Aaron Judge singled to start the Yankees' eighth inning (and later scored), ending his slump of 0 for 17.
His last previous hit was a double on Friday night in Boston. In the four-game series with the Red Sox, Judge was 1 for 19, with six strikeouts and no walks.
