Game 121 - Yanks Take Series in Oakland

In a low hit, low scoring affair, the Yanks defeated the Oakland Athletics 3-2. In all the games I've watched at McAfee Coliseum it appeared to be another typical contest, whether it's because of the spacious foul territory or the damp air from the Bay Area fog. Both teams only mustered 6 hits apiece. Mark Teixeira accounted for all the Yankee runs with an RBI groundout to score Derek Jeter in the 1st and a 2-run HR in the 4th, his 31st of the season.

Yankee starter, Chad Gaudin, only allowed 1 hit in 4.1 innings, but his wildness and high pitch count earned him an early shower as he left the game with the bases loaded. Holding on to a 3-0 lead, Alfredo Aceves saved the game on his second pitch. He induced Kurt Suzuki, who's killed the Yanks all season, into a ground ball back to the mound for an inning-ending double play (pitcher-to-catcher-to-1B). Despite those heroics, Aceves nearly blew the game in the next 2 frames.

Aceves allowed a solo shot to Jack Cust in the 6th. It was Cust's first blast in nearly a month. In the 7th, after striking out the first 2 batters, he allowed 3 straight singles as the A's trimmed the Yanks lead to 3-2. Joe Girardi brought in Phil Coke to bail out Aceves. Then Girardi forgot to manage. Instead of having Coke go out for the 8th to face the switch-hitting Landon Powell and lefty masher, Cust, Girardi brought in his "8th inning" guy, Phil Hughes.

According to Girardi, there are no labels on his relievers, because he prefers matchups, but this move appeared otherwise. Hughes, for all his success out of the pen, does not handle lefties well. He walked Powell and Cust followed with a hard single to right, putting runners at 1st and 2nd with none out. In a curious move by the A's, they didn't bunt the runners into scoring position, and they paid for it. Rookie Tommy Everidge grounded into a double play to ARod, who stepped on 3rd and threw a one-hopper to Tex. Hughes retired the next batter to set the stage for Mariano Rivera.

Mo only needed 7 pitches to retire the side in the 9th, barely enough time for me to snap a picture of the great one, as he picked up his 36th save in 37 opportunities. The Yanks maintained their 7-game lead over the Red Sox as they conclude their 10-game road trip in Boston this weekend.

In the past 2 seasons, I've chosen my Yankees-A's games wisely, or more realistically, I've been lucky. I've been to 4 of the 6 games they've played each other in Oakland, and fortunately, the Yankees have won the games I attended and lost the 2 games I have not. My wife, a huge Oakland A's fan, gets pretty chapped, but I think I deserve this good run, especially after watching Marco Scutaro hit a walkoff, 2-run HR off of Rivera in 2007, after Rivera walked the abysmal Jason Kendall and had Scutaro down 0-2 in the count. It was the most painful loss I've ever seen in person.

Yankees Record: 76-45