Posada hits another grand slam as Yankees move into tie for first

The Yankees did exactly what they were supposed to with the soft part of their schedule.

And as a result, they share first place in the American League East for the first time in nearly two months.

The Yankees beat the Astros, 9-5, Sunday afternoon in front of 46,832 at the Stadium to complete a three-game sweep.

The Yankees (40-23), in a tie with the Rays in the East with the best records in baseball, went 12-4 in a recent 16-game stretch against Cleveland, Baltimore (twice), Toronto and Houston. Three of the teams were in last place when the Yankees faced them.

Next up: the defending National League champion Phillies with Roy Halladay taking on CC Sabathia in the headliner matchup Tuesday.

"I like the way we're playing," said Joe Girardi, whose team trailed the Rays by six games after a Sunday night loss to the Mets on May 23. "But I don't care who you're playing, you look at this club [the Astros]; they were 8-2 their last 10 games. They were playing extremely well, so everyday's a new day, everyday's a tough game in my mind. We've been winning series and that's what I want to continue to do."

A shaky Phil Hughes improved to 9-1 but he received plenty of run support.

Jorge Posada provided the bulk of the support, hitting yet another grand slam.

Posada, catching for the first time since he returned from the disabled list, hit his second slam in two days, a two-out shot to right in the fifth inning off Casey Daigle that made it 7-1.

Asked when he considered the feat of hitting a grand slam a second straight day - the first Yankee to do so since Bill Dickey in 1937 - Posada said not when he made contact. But soon enough. "You see the ball landing in the stands, then I [did]," Posada said

The Astros (25-39), in an eventful top of the sixth, scored four runs with two outs to pull within 7-5. The big blow came off the bat of former Yankees catcher Kevin Cash, who hit a two-run homer to left, just his second blast of the season.

But the Yankees tacked on two in the bottom of the sixth to push their lead to 9-5, getting RBI singles from Nick Swisher and Brett Gardner, who had two of the Yankees' nine hits.

Ramiro Peña, getting the start for Alex Rodriguez, who missed his third straight game with tightness in his right groin, delivered a two-out, two-run single in the Yankees' three-run fourth that made it 3-1.

Earlier in the inning, the Yankees tied it at 1 on Robinson Cano's 100th career homer, and 13th of the season, a solo shot into the Yankees' bullpen in right-centerfield.

The Yankees got a good performance from their bullpen as Damaso Marte replaced Hughes after Cash's homer and struck out Michael Bourn. Chan Ho Park, Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera each pitched a scoreless inning thereafter.

"We've played pretty good baseball," Brett Gardner said. "We didn't score [a lot] of runs a few games in a row in Toronto . . . but we've swung the bats pretty well, we've been scoring runs. Our pitchers have been giving us a chance to win. That's all you can ask for."