Game 129 - Mitre Makes Mince Meat Out of Chisox

The much-maligned Sergio Mitre held the White Sox to one hit in 6.1 innings and the Yanks mounted a 14-hit attack for a 10-0 beatdown. Mitre was perfect through 4.1 innings before Jim Thome ripped a shot down the right field line for a double. He only allowed 1 more runner on with a walk in the 7th before he had to leave the game when AJ Pierzynski lined a shot off his forearm. Mitre bounced off the mound to throw Pierzynski out, but the Yanks removed him for precautionary members. He had only thrown 73 pitches to that point and may have had an excellent shot at completing the game. He induced 12 ground ball outs in his spectacular effort

Chad Gaudin was pressed into emergency relief and finished off the 1-hitter, tossing 2.2 scoreless innings while walking 1 with 4 strike outs. The Yankee hitters jumped on ex-Yankee, Jose Contreras, for 4 runs in the 2nd inning and another 4-spot in the fourth. Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano led the way with 3 hits apiece. Johnny Damon, ARod, Cano and Jerry Hairston each finished with 2 RBIs. ARod capped the scoring with a solo shot in the 8th, the only HR of the game as the Yanks used a steady barrage of hits to score the first 9 runs. Tex and Jose Molina were the only Yankee starters who didn't join the hit parade.

The Yanks send out Joba Chamberlain out for the sweep. The Red Sox, who have really begun to heat up, once again beat the hapless Blue Jays to remain 6 games back and 2.5 games in front of Texas for the wild card.

Yankees Record: 81-48

Game 125 - Joba Brutal After Week Layoff

The Yanks came out smoking for 4 runs in the bottom of the first, but the Rangers had the last laugh, crushing Joba and holding on to beat the Yanks 10-9. Joba Chamberlain allowed 7 runs in 4 innings, all after he retired the first 2 batters of the inning. He allowed 2 runs in the 2nd and 5 in the 4th, as the bottom of the Rangers batting order chewed him up. In both rallies, he allowed Pudge Rodriguez, Chris Davis and Elvis Andrus to reach base both times against him.

Pudge was absolutely useless in his short stint with the Yankees and his best days are long behind, but Joba found a way to allow a single and walk a guy who's only walked more than 40 times in a season twice in his whole career. Davis has been so bad, he was sent back down to the minors after he was on pace to shatter the strikeout record, but he touched Joba for 2 singles. Andrus came into the game with 23 RBIs all season, but he knocked in 3 runs. Pitiful performance as Joba continues to go full count to way too many hitters.

The mysterious 2-out run scoring rallies continue to haunt the Yankee pitching staff and it certainly cost them tonight. 9 out of Texas' 10 runs came after 2 outs were retired. Chad Gaudin relieved Joba and wasn't much better. He allowed 2 HRs and 3 runs. He did break up the monotony of 2-out runs when he allowed a 1-out, solo shot to Nelson Cruz. He almost allowed more runs with 2 outs when he escaped a 2-out bases loaded jam. All runners reached after he got 2 quick outs. This epidemic began in the White Sox series in Chicago and has gotten worse. According to a post by River Ave Blues, the Yanks have allowed over 42% of their runs to come with 2 out. The league average is near 36%. It appears the pitching staff is not buckling down or focusing on ending innings without further trouble. Trends like this could hurt the Yanks against playoff-caliber teams, especially a team like the Angels who have players that make contact and force things to happen.

The Yanks made one last charge in the 9th, plating 4 runs before Texas recorded an out. But with runners on 1st and 2nd, Joe Girardi inexplicably had Nick Swisher bunt. He fouled out to 3rd. Why in the hell would Girardi have Swisher bunt against a reliever who was clearly struggling and hadn't recorded an out? Swisher was up in the count 1-0 and he could work out a walk, take him deep or perhaps hit a fly out to move the runner to 3rd. But a bunt? Terrible managing, absolutely terrible. The next batter, Melky Cabrera, lined into a double play to SS to end the game and dreams of another miraculous comeback.

Jorge Posada and Robinson Cano both went deep in the losing effort. Cano's HR was his career high 20th, as he became the 6th Yankee this season to hit 20 or more. That tied a team record set in 1961 and 2004. Posada and Derek Jeter have outside shots to be the 7th player for 20 or more HRs. Speaking of The Captain, he continued his hot streak, going 2-3 and ended his Cano-like walkless streak at 114 plate appearances. In fact, he walked twice.

The Bosox defeated the Chisox and now trail the Bombers by 6 in the division. They were able to complete a trade with the Mets earlier in the day for Billy Wagner. This season is far from over.

Yankees Record: 78-47

Blown Game: 7

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