NEW YORK - False hope and missed opportunities have defined this Yankees season, so it's understandable if their victories these days are met by fans with a roll of the eyes.

So feel free to take the following statement for what its worth: there was a sense of optimism inside the Yankee clubhouse after their 7-6 win over the Twins Thursday, a feeling that maybe this team still can turn its mediocre season around.

Because when the game began Thursday afternoon, they could have easily been distracted.

For the first time all season their home run and RBI leader - Alex Rodriguez - was not in the lineup. He was en route for an MRI on his injured hamstring, and it was not yet known how bad his hamstring injury was.

It had a what's-next feel to it.

But the Yankees on the field didn't get down. Instead, you might even make the case they were a more inspired than usual.

Hideki Matsui's two-run homer in the eighth off normally lights-out reliever Pat Neshek snapped a tie at 5 and gave the Yankees the lead for good. Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera also hit homers and every starter except Jorge Posada had a hit. Maybe the fact that the Yankees won without A-Rod will be just the morale boost they need to finally get this going.

“We don't want to leave everything on A-Rod's shoulders, let him to do it all the time,” Cano said. “We need guys like me, Melky Cabrera, Matsui, Abreu ... we need everybody to do something.”

The Yankees would absolutely love to hit the All-Star break on a positive note, and winning three of four from the Twins - their first series victory since mid-June - was certainly a good start. They close the first half this weekend by hosting the Angels, a team that always gives them fits, and Manager Joe Torre is stressing to his players not to think about their big deficit.

“We dug a hole for ourselves, and we need to remedy that,” Torre said. “And we cannot concern ourselves, cannot get caught up in, how far behind, what we need to do. We just need to win games. That's the mentality we have to have.”

The Yankees certainly showed some resolve Thursday. Down 2-0 before they even came to bat, the Yankees grabbed the lead with an impressive five-run, two-out rally in the second. Cano started it with a homer to right, then Andy Phillips lined a double to right and Miguel Cairo drove him in when he lined the ninth pitch of his at-bat off the left field wall.

After Johnny Damon walked, Cabrera hit a 0-and-2 pitch into the right field stands for his first homer in 108 at-bats.

Kei Igawa couldn't hold the 5-2 lead - the Twins tied it with three in the fourth - but the next three Yankee pitchers out of the bullpen were all impressive. Luis Vizcaino, Scott Proctor and Kyle Farnsworth, who have all struggled this season, each threw a scoreless inning. That gave the Yankees bats enough time to finally come through.

The Twins started the ninth by putting men on the corners with none out in the ninth against Mariano Rivera, making it rather easy to wonder if once again the Yankees were about to ruin what had the makings of a good day. But this time, for once, was different, and Rivera got three straight outs, including two strikeouts.

Might this, finally, be the start of something positive?

“We know we're better than the results have been, and we certainly need to be consistent,” Torre said. “We need to be consistent. That's the whole thing.”

Yankees 7

Twins 6

Up next

Yankees vs Angels, 7 p.m., YES