GARD’IAN ANGEL

Another Brett walk- off extends win streak to 6

It has been an eventful few days for Brett Gardner. The veteran Yankee delivered a bases-loaded, walk-off single Saturday in The Bronx to give the Bombers a 5-4 victory over the Rays, their sixth straight win — just two days after his 11th-inning walk-off homer Thursday (inset).

THERE may be big things ahead for the Yankees in the coming days. There may be another few trades to coax, another few mmaneuvers to make. They are clearly hitting ththeir stride again, and this time it feels differenent than the 21-9 push that opened the season. Then, the Yankees were taking teams by surprprise — or as much by surprise as the Yankees evever can take teams. Then, they hadn’t yet tatasted canvas the way they did for most of late JuJune and early July. “Just because we go through a tough streak,” mmanager Joe Girardi said, “it doesn’t change yoyour opinion of what this team is.” Girardi was saying this in the darkest depths of the losing, when first place was gone and it seseemed like the season might soon follow. While ththe world already was waiting for the Yankees to wwheel and deal, he was convinced, even then, the ananswers already could be found in his clubhouse. On Saturday, as the Yankees won for the sixth titime in a row, beating the Rays 5-4, and the eieighth time in nine games, what was most on didisplay was precisely that unspoken chemistry GGirardi was banking on. Yes, the manager also showed off the staggering dedepths of his bullpen — getting 5 2/3 innings out of AAdam Warren, Dellin Betances, Tommy KKahnle, David Robertson and Aroldis Chapmman. All the arms were rested, and all were neneeded, and if they weren’t perfect individuaually they surely hinted, as a unit, just how fefearsome they can be. Mostly, though, the Yankees won becacause of a few players that an army of ththeir fans would just as soon see disappepear. There was Jacoby Ellsbury, exiled to fourth outfielder for now, maybe to fififth when Aaron Hicks returns, pinch rurunning in the ninth, easily stealing the babase that set up the rest of the inning. There was the guy Ellsbury pinch ran fofor, Chase Headley, who has been an objeject of derision for two years in The BrBronx, who had started hitting well lalately but had still gone 124 at-bats withouout a home run before cracking a goahahead, two-run, pinch-hit bomb off Sergigio Romo in the sixth. And there was BrBrett Gardner, overlolooked and taken for grgranted for so much of his career, a guy wwho has been seen as a place-holder fofor years, a guy inclcluded in just about evevery blockbuster saloon and internenet trade involving the Yankees, who fofor the second time in three games wwon a game with a walk-off hit. “We have a lot of good clubhouse guguys, all pulling for each other,” said HHeadley. “You look at [Ellsbury] he cocomes in after not playing much but hehe’s checked his ego and he’s been trtremendous. That’s a good example of what we have on this team.” So is HeaHeadley. He could have made life uncomfortablef for Girardi when Todd Frazier arrived. It wasn’t like the Yankees were acquiring Mike Schmidt; Frazier was hitting .207 when he arrived. Yet the team wanted to make sure he was comfortable, which meant keeping him at third base, Headley’s natural position. “This is what we want to do,” Girardi told Headley. “Whatever it takes,” Headley said.

There have been other things that have fallen into place from that moment that explain the 8-2 record the Yankees have assembled in the 10 games since the trade, and it certainly has helped that the Red Sox have opted to become a clown show.

But it seems Girardi was right. It seems the Yankees really did have the necessary elements already quartered in the clubhouse. Sometimes it is easy to forget that for every Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera and Bernie Williams who help you win championships, you have to have a couple of Scott Brosiuses and Mariano Duncans and Luis Sojos, too.

You don’t need an All-Star at every position. What you need is a quality teammate in every chair in front of every locker in the clubhouse. The rest tends to take care of itself, eventually. Maybe there are big moves afoot for the Yankees. More and more, as you watch the team the Yankees already have, you start to wonder: Just how big do they really have to be?