BOSTON -- Brett Gardner’s work was finished late Sunday night and as he waited for a postgame interview to start, he playfully fired a wad of gum at Jason Zillo, the Yankees’ director of media relations, who was standing about 15 feet away.

This is not something practiced daily, but it says something about how well Gardner is going right now that his aim was dead-on perfect: The gum bounced off Zillo’s chin. Zillo turned