Game 96 - Joba Pitches Yanks to 8th Straight Win

Oakland traded it's biggest weapon, Matt Holliday, earlier in the day, and Joba Chamberlain took advantage of their depleted lineup in the Yanks 8-3 victory. Joba tossed 7 solid innings, limiting the Athletics to 1 run on 2 hits while striking out 6. He improved his season record to 6-2 as he settled down after giving up a run in the 1st inning on an Orlando Cabrera double, stolen base and a sac fly. After Ryan Sweeney's single in the second, Joba didn't allow another hit in the game.

For the second straight night, it appeared the Yankee batters might be in for a long night. Last night, Vin Mazzaro dialed up 6 of the first 10 Bomber hitters. Tonight, Oakland starter, Brett Anderson, struck out the side in the first inning and retired the first 6 hitters. Coming into the game, he had a 21-inning scoreless streak, including a complete game, 2-hit shutout against Boston. In the 3rd inning, the Yanks ended Anderson's scoreless streak and scratched out 2 runs on RBIs from Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon. They tacked on single runs in the 5th and 6th on RBI groundouts from Damon and Hideki Matsui.

Last night, Phil Hughes picked up his first major league save. In the 8th, the other half of the Philtys, Phil Coke, came in to bail out Joba who walked and hit a batter to put runners on 1st and 2nd with none out. Coke sandwiched a fly out with 2 strike outs to escape the inning. The Yanks broke the game open when they put up a 4-spot in the bottom frame. Jorge Posada deposited a shot deep into the night to left field. They scored their other runs on an error and singles from Jeter and Damon. Jeter and Damon combined for 5 RBIs in the game.

In the 9th, there was a David Robertson sighting, though it wasn't pretty. He allowed 2 runs, 1 earned, but on a positive note, he did throw strikes, getting the ball over the plate on 15 of 20 pitches.

Now an ex-Athletic, Matt Holliday went 4-5 with an RBI and stolen base in his St. Louis Cardinals debut tonight. His 4 hits were 2 more than his old team had against Joba Chamberlain. According to the baseball experts, the A's brought in a good haul for Holliday, including a first rounder from last year's draft, Brett Wallace. It must be hard being an Oakland fan with such a high player turnover. I don't know why they print t-shirts with players names on the backs. I can't count the number of former players' names I see on shirts and jerseys when I attend games in Oakland - Zito, Harden, Haren, Mulder and Swisher, just to name a few. It looks like all those Eric Chavez jerseys should be a safe bet - chances are his playing days are numbered.

Yankees Record: 59-37