TORONTO -- They ran around the clubhouse with bottles of Henkell Trocken champagne and cans of Labatt Blue, spraying each other in the face and ganging up to douse those silly enough to turn away from the crowd.
Securing a 15th trip to the post-season in 16 years offered good reason to celebrate for the New York Yankees, and the defending World Series champions traded their business-like on-field handshakes for a goggles-recommended party behind closed doors.
"I'm all for it," manager Joe Girardi said after a 6-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays ended a week of dithering and guaranteed his team at least the wild card. "We've been going at it since Feb. 15, grinding and grinding, and guys have been playing hard, a tough schedule in a tough division.
"Let them let loose a little bit. It's nice."
The road felt tougher than in some other years for the Yankees (94-64), who remain a half-game behind the Tampa Bay Rays (94-63) for first place in the American League East.
They have questions in the starting rotation behind hulking ace CC Sabathia, who settled down a team that had lost five of its past six games with 8 1-3 dominant innings, and their players are somewhat on the beaten up side.
Though it took longer than expected, they can now use the remaining four regular-season games to position themselves up as best they can for a run at a 28th World Series championship.
"It's really just the first step, no one in here is satisfied with the season, everyone knows it's World Series championship or bust," said first baseman Mark Teixeira. "This year has been a struggle, we have four really good teams in this division.
"Toronto, put them in another division in baseball and they might win it, it's that good of a team, so if you make the playoffs in this division, you deserve it."
The Yankees scratched out three runs off phenom Kyle Drabek before breaking things open in front of a Rogers Centre crowd of 18,193, hopeful that one day soon their Blue Jays (81-76) will be celebrating a similar achievement.
Travis Snider provided the lone moment of joy for the home fans with a solo shot that was his team's 244th homer of the season, matching the franchise record established in 2000. But Cito Gaston, managing his penultimate home game before his retirement, had his night cut short when home-plate umpire Mark Carlson ejected him in the sixth inning for arguing an interference call.
He wouldn't have enjoyed watching the way things finished up, as Sabathia (21-7) ate up his lineup while the Yankees order added-on against his bullpen.
"I don't want talk about it, but I didn't say anything to get run out of the game, trust me," Gaston said of his ejection. "That's the end of that. I've said a lot worse."
Sabathia, the six-foot-seven, 290-pound left-hander, has been a steadying force in the New York rotation of late and has been particularly valuable with A.J. Burnett struggling badly and Andy Pettitte working his way back from a groin strain.
Add in that Phil Hughes has logged far more innings than planned and that Javier Vazquez may not even make the post-season roster, it was obvious the Yankees were struggling to the finish line.
"I feel like last year everything came a little easy," Sabathia said. "This year we've been grinding and I think that makes for a lot of character on the team. Hopefully it will help us in the playoffs."
Pettitte, scheduled to start Wednesday, will pitch during the weekend in Boston instead as Girardi begins sorting out his rotation with the playoffs in mind. Vazquez is expected to start against the Blue Jays in Pettitte's place.
"I've got to make sure our guys are strong," said Girardi. "That's the first thing. I still want our division and I still want homefield advantage but I can see there's some tired bodies out there, there really is. ...
"I've got to pick my spots to rest guys. You think about Derek Jeter and Robbie Cano, they've played the last 12 days in a row. Alex (Rodriguez) has played the last nine in a row."
Drabek (0-3), making his third and final start in a brief September audition, acquitted himself well and was unlucky to have surrendered three runs in his six innings. He walked one and struck out four, showing flashes of his potential against one of best lineups in baseball.
"I think he's got a chance to be a one or two starter once he learns how to really use that sinker that he has," said Gaston. "He throws 95-96 but he has that really good sinker. His breaking ball was so good tonight nobody could catch it. He's just going to get better."
A wild pitch that struck out Nick Swisher allowed Derek Jeter to move into scoring position in the first, and eventually come in on a Rodriguez sacrifice fly to make it 1-0.
The Yankees went up 2-0 in the third when another wild pitch again allowed Jeter to move to second and after a Swisher sacrifice bunt, score on Teixeira's sacrifice fly.
After Snider's milestone homer in the third cut into the lead, the Yankees extended the gap in the fifth on a controversial fielder's choice by Jeter. Third baseman Edwin Encarnacion fielded his chopper and threw home to try and cut down Brett Gardner, who slid around catcher John Buck's tag to be called safe.
Gaston came out to argue vehemently with Carlson, who kept his patience and didn't run the manager. That patience, however, disappeared quickly in the sixth, when J.P. Arencibia was called out for interference after Sabathia fielded his grounder and hit the runner trying to throw to first.
Gaston popped out immediately -- with the crowd chanting "Cito, Cito" -- and was tossed as he was heading back to the dugout. It was Gaston's third ejection of the season, and came one day before a planned "Thank You Cito" night to fete him Wednesday.
The Yankees added two more in the eighth on Rodriguez's bases-loaded walk and a Robinson Cano sacrifice fly, and another in the ninth on Swisher's RBI groundout.
Sabathia was pulled with two on and one out in the ninth, having allowed three hits and two walks while striking out eight. Mariano Rivera got the final two outs, leading to business-as-usual handshakes on the field, and the wild party afterwards.
"I think you have to celebrate it and honour it," said Rodriguez. "Look, we play in a nasty division and it's going to get better. ... Not only that, there's a lot of good baseball being played in the American League right now. There's no freebies.
"You can't say you're too cool for this first step, you have to celebrate it and really celebrate the season. But this team is very focused and has its eye on the prize."
Notes: Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos said his manager search may last into November but hopes to have someone in place before the winter meetings in December. He also expects the new manager to retain some members of the current coaching staff. "I've talked to all of them one on one and I've told all of them that, one way or the other, they'll have jobs in the organization," he said. "I just don't know how the off-season is going to play out. Every single coach on this staff deserves to be here." ... Jays great George Bell threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Jose Bautista before the game. Bell spent 25 minutes chatting with media before the game, talking about cigars, Bautista and manager Cito Gaston. "You know two guys who have to pay the interest money they have in the bank to Cito?" Bell asked. "Kelly Gruber and Buckethead." Who? "Fred McGriff" Bell cracked up. "Cito was constantly on those guys, stay back, stay back." Bell also said Gaston taught him how to be a good hitter, not just a power hitter, by being more selective. "If you be in the big-leagues, as a pitcher you've got to throw strikes," he said. "So why do we swing at balls?" ... Gaston decided to give DH Adam Lind the day off with CC Sabathia on the mound. He said he'd like to rest 1B Lyle Overbay in the coming days, with Lind likely to get another start at first to make it happen.
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