How MLB crackdown on sticky stuff may help Yankees

PHILADELPHIA — For more than two months, the Yankees had been unable to string together more than two straight games with double-digit hits. And they hadn’t scored more than five runs in a game in four consecutive games since last September.

Both of those streaks came to an end this week. Over their past four games, the Yankees have put up at least five runs and 10 hits. Three of those games came against the Twins, a team the Yankees have feasted on most of this century. But there’s another, more intriguing, bit of timing that goes along with the Yankees’ recent offensive resurgence: The spotlight of Major League Baseball’s impending crackdown on pitcher’s using foreign substances has been turned up in the last week.