Game 113 - Back 2 Back Jacks Lead Yanks

The night began to look a lot like last night. The Yanks went up 3-0 after 2 innings, but Joba Chamberlain allowed the Blue Jays to tie it up in the 3rd on a Lyle Overbay bases loaded double. Joba gave up a solo HR in the 4th to Bronx-born and bred, Randy Ruiz, that put the Jays out in front, 4-3. Jays starter, Scott Richmond, settled down and pitched 6 innings and Jeremy Accardo pitched a scoreless 7th, as it looked like the tying run would elude the Bombers for the 2nd night in a row.

But this year's team is a far cry from the team of last season. The boys from the Bronx would have gone down quietly last year, but this team never thinks of quitting. Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada led off the 8th with back-to-back HRs to put the Yanks out in front. Godzilla hit a bomb to deep right, and Posada hit an opposite field shot that barely cleared the RF wall. The ball landed in a fan's mitt positioned right behind RF Joe Inglett's leaping glove. Replay review confirmed the ball landed over the fence without fan interference. The Bombers tacked on 2 more runs on RBI singles from Melky Cabrera and Johnny Damon.

Joba looked strong for 2 innings, working quickly and appearing sharper than his last appearance against Boston. He ran into trouble in the 3rd, when he walked Inglett, a guy who has spent his career on the minor league shuttle bus. He hurt the Yanks last night, too, with an RBI triple. A single and another walk, Joba's only 2 free passes of the night, loaded the bases with 2 out. But Joba grooved a fastball to Overbay and he drove it into the right-center gap to clear the bags. Another grooved fastball led to Ruiz' shot in the 4th, but Joba settled down to pitch an effective 6 innings.

Brian Bruney, Phil Coke and David Robertson pitched 2 scoreless frames. Robertson picked up the win when the Yanks rallied in the 8th. Mariano Rivera came on in the 9th and allowed a dinger to Edwin Encarnacion to dead center. Good thing Melky and Damon tacked on those insurance RBIs. With Marco Scutaro as the tying run at the plate - Mo's ol' nemesis that beat him with a walkoff blast last season, Mariano struck him out to earn his 33rd save of the season and #515 of his career.

With the win, the Yanks remained 5.5 games ahead of Boston.

Yankees Record: 70-43

Yankees Record since ARod's return: 57-28

Yankees Record since I said they would have to go 60-40 in their last 100 games to make the playoffs: 34-17