Mitre gave up 8 hits in his short stint, but limited the Jays to 3 runs. A HR by Adam Lind and single by Lyle Overbay in the 5th sealed his fate and ended his night. Alfredo Aceves picked up his 7th win when the Yanks rallied from a 1-run deficit with 4 runs in the 7th. Blue Jays rookie starter, Marc Rzepczynski, a soft-tossing lefty, kept the Yanks off-balance all game, limiting them to 2 runs and 3 hits through his first 6 innings of work with 7 punch outs.
After Rbcdfghjklmnpqrstvwxyzski (spelling is close enough) retired 11 straight batters, his luck ran out when Swisher led off the 7th with his game-tying dinger. Robinson Cano followed with a double in the gap, ending the night for the guy with the long name, and scored on Hideki Matsui's 1-out, pinch-hit RBI single. Damon and Mark Teixeira hit key 2-out RBIs to give the Yanks a 6-3 lead. After a Marco Scutaro HR off Aceves in the bottom of the 7th, the Bombers tacked on single runs in the 8th and 9th on an Eric Hinske pinch-hit sac fly and Damon's 19th HR of the season. Damon finished the game going 3-5 with 3 RBIs.
Phil Coke got the final 2 outs in the 7th, Phil Hughes pitched a scoreless 8th and David Robertson wrapped the game up in the 9th. I thought Joe Girardi made a couple of odd decisions in tonight's game. He pitched Hughes in back-to-back games, essentially making him unavailable against Boston tomorrow. After Robertson gave up a 1-out single, Girardi had Mariano Rivera begin to warm up with a 4-run lead. Can you say panic button? Geez, Joe, let a run or 2 score before you make your 38-year old reliever, who had to get a 4-out save yesterday, get up and throw in the pen.
Overall, the Yanks did all the little things that help teams win ballgames. Tex busted down the 1B line, avoiding an inning-ending double play to tie the score at 2. Melky Cabrera twice moved Cano over to 3rd with none out. Matsui and Hinske both did their jobs as pinch hitters and each knocked in Cano. Jose Molina, yes the Jose Molina, walked twice! Damon and Tex had their 2-out RBIs and the team was 4-9 with RISP. The bullpen only allowed 1 run and 3 hits in 4.2 innings while striking out 8 and walking no one. The Yanks also played flawless defense. Team efforts like this will lead to nice winning streaks as they ended their road trip 5-4, despite their road bump in Chicago.
The Pinstripers will attempt to end their 0-8 stretch against the Sawx. They have their pitching lined up with Joba, AJ, CC and Pettitte set to pitch in that order. Personally, I'm not feeling confident about the team's chances in this series and would be ecstatic with a split. My worries are these: Joba and Pettitte have pitched great since the break - they're both due for a let down. AJ and CC - which pitcher will show up? The dominant ace or the one who throws the occasional clunker, particularly against teams with winning records this season. Last, but not least, Mo is also due for a let down and came close against Toronto. Historically, he has a tendency to slump in August, and not to mention, Boston has his number.
I shudder to think what will happen if Boston sweeps or takes 3 out of 4. I'm guessing panic in the streets, or the airwaves, of NY.
Yankees Record: 65-42
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