Game 132 - Yanks Overcome (A)nother (J)unker From Burnett

The Yanks hit 5 long balls to overcome an Atrocious Job from AJ Burnett in their 9-6 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. Burnett flushed 2 leads in his 5.1 innings of work, blowing leads of 3-1 and 5-3, despite 2 HRs from Jorge Posada and a 2-run shot from the hot-hitting Robinson Cano. Burnett was roughed up for 11 hits and 2 walks while only striking out 2. He's winless in his last 7 starts, going 0-4, and has allowed 31 runs in 42.1 innings of work while watching his ERA climb from 3.53 to 4.29.

Posada gave the Bombers their second lead with his 2nd blast of the game in the 5th inning. Burnett quickly flushed it in the bottom of the 5th when he surrendered a 3-run shot to Luke Scott that barely stayed fair down the rightfield line. Amazingly enough, Joe Girardi allowed Burnett to come out again in the 6th inning after ARod tied the game with an RBI single in the top of the frame - the only run that came in for the Yanks not via the long ball. AJ was pulled after Teixeira made an error on a throw from ARod.

The Pinstripers pulled out in front to stay on a 2-run shot from Nick Swisher and Eric Hinske followed up with a solo shot of his own in the 7th. Swisher now has 13 HRs in 26 career games at Camden Yards. According to Kim Jones of the YES Network, he has 4 HRs at Camden this season and only 3 at Yankee Stadium. Go figure.

Damaso Marte relieved Burnett and tossed a scoreless inning to pick up his first win this season. He's thrown 3.1 shutout innings since his return from the DL. David Robertson, Phil Coke and Mariano Rivera finished out the game, with Mo picking up his league-leading 38th save.

Burnett's performance has to create some concern for the Yankees brass. He's been touched up for double digit hits in 3 of his last 7 starts. Of course, the Yanks can look at his 1-hit performance against the Bosox in the 15-inning marathon and he only allowed 2 hits last start against Texas to feel better about themselves, but they may want to take a long look at Andy Pettitte for the #2 spot in the playoffs if Burnett continues to produce inconsistent performances.

Yankees Record: 84-48

Game 126 - Pettitte, Posada Pace Pinstripers

Andy Pettitte held the vaunted Texas Rangers lineup to 2 runs in 7 innings and Jorge Posada hit a monster 3-run homer to deep center to lead the Yanks to a 9-2 victory. Pettitte only allowed 5 hits while striking out 7. He also induced 3 DPs, including the decrepit Pudge with the bases loaded in the 1st (take notes Joba).

Posada's blast came in the 2nd inning, giving the Yanks an early 3-0 lead. Jerry Hairston, Jr., playing for Johnny Damon, hit a solo shot in the 4th to put the Bombers up 4-0. Pettitte's only problems tonight was David Murphy, who hit an RBI double and a solo shot to bring the Rangers within 2.

The Yanks unleashed for 5 runs in the 7th to put the game out of reach. The Captain hit a 2-run bases loaded single, Nick Swisher doubled in another run and Tex finished off the scoring with a 2-run single. Yankee relievers, Brian Bruney and Phil Coke, pitched 2 scoreless innings to wrap up the victory and even the series. Bruney escaped a bases loaded, 1 out situation when he got the ancient Pudge Rodriguez to ground into his second bases loaded, inning ending DP (Joba, I hope you were taking notes on how to retire this fossil).

Posada injured his catching hand in the 8th on a foul ball and was removed from the game. According to Yankee announcer, Kenny Singleton, he injured his ring finger. X-rays were negative.

In other games, Big Sloppy Ortiz must have made another trip to "GNC" for his "vitamins", because he hit 2 HRs, including the walkoff shot in Boston's 3-2 win over the Chisox. After hitting just 1 HR for the first 2 months of the season, he's swatted 21 since June. Hmmmmm.

Toronto slowed down Tampa Bay's recent hot stretch with a walkoff wild pitch. JP Howell's pitch in the dirt allowed Marco Scutaro to score the winning run. Howell walked the bases loaded after allowing Rod Barajas to tie the score at 2 with 1 out in the 9th. Cheapness is so unbecoming, and the Rays frugal ways with the bullpen are costing them big time. They had an opportunity to put in a waiver claim for Billy Wagner before the Red Sox, but chose not to spend $3.5M to give them a solid shot at the wild card. They'll probably make that amount 10-fold in revenue sharing (they can thank the NY Yankees for that).

Yankees Record: 79-47

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

Game 108 - Beantown 8, Bronx 1

The Bronx Bombers pounded the Beaneaters, 13-6, unleashing 8 games of frustration against their archrivals. After dropping the first 8 games this season, the Yanks finally put 1 in the win column and increased their division lead to 3.5 games. HRs by Johnny Damon, Melky Cabrera, Jorge Posada and Mark Teixeira paced an 18-hit attack as the Yanks smacked around future Hall-of-Famer, John Smoltz. Cabrera's 3-run blast in the 4th led an 8-run inning that put the Yanks a ahead to stay and bailed out a struggling Joba Chamberlain. The Yanks batted for 37 minutes that must have been grueling for the Boston fielders.

Joba was not sharp, giving up 4 runs, 6 hits, and 7 walks in 5 innings of work. Things looked grim early. Yoda Pedroia and Damon swapped fence scraping solo HRs to RF in the 3rd and newly acquired Casey Kotchman gave the Bosox a 3-1 lead with another new Yankee Stadium special to RF. For the game, Yankee pitchers walked an astronomical 12 Red Sox batters. Boston left an astounding 15 men on base, led by Big Fraudy Ortiz, who left 8 by himself. The immortal Anthony Cleggett made his return to the Bronx, after getting shelled in his major league debut in the Yanks embarrassing 22-4 loss to Cleveland earlier in the season. I didn't think I'd ever lay eyes on him again, but there he was in the 9th inning, performing mop-up duty. I'll say it one more time - I'll be surprised if I ever see him grace a Yankee uniform again. 1 inning, 2 walks, 2 hits, 2 runs and he lowered his career ERA by nearly 10 runs!

Damon, Tex and Posada each led the attack with 3 hits. Posada atoned for his hideous non-slide at the plate in the 2nd when he was thrown out for his lackadaisical base running on a Nick Swisher single. If he slid, he would have been clearly safe. His 3-run blast in the 4th put the exclamation point in the big inning. Every Yankee starter had at least one hit. John Smoltz looked every bit the old man who's hung around 1-year too long in what is otherwise a brilliant career. Boston sacrificed ex-Yankee, Billy Traber, in 3.2 innings of relief to save their bullpen. Well played, Terry Francona, well played.

With the win, the Yanks improved to a season-best 24 games over .500 and guarantees a division lead after this series no matter the rest of the outcome. Hopefully, the Yanks saved some runs and hits for AJ Burnett tomorrow, who goes up against Josh Beckett.

Yankees Record: 66-42

Game 95 - Tex and Posada Lead Yanks Past A's

The Yanks waited out a 2 hour, 43 minute rain delay to start the game. The way they started, it looked like someone forgot to tell them the game wasn't called. Things were looking grim early for the Yanks. After 3.5 innings, they were trailing 3-0 to Oakland. The Athletics starting pitcher, Vin Mazzaro, a local kid from Rutherford, NJ, and pitching in front of friends and family, looked unhittable, striking out 6 of the first 10 batters he faced. He struck out 2 hitters in each inning with only Brett Gardner's walk blemishing his line as the Yanks flailed away at his nasty slider.

Meanwhile, Yankee starter, CC Sabathia, ironically from the Bay Area, was getting slapped around by the Oakland lineup. He allowed 3 runs on 6 hits in the first 4 frames. Kurt Suzuki had a double and single with an RBI and run scored. Earlier this season, he took Crooked Cap deep for a 3-run shot. Fortunately for the Yanks, CC settled down and things were a lot different the 2nd time around facing Mazzaro.

In the bottom of the 4th, Mark Teixeira hit a 2-run bomb, connecting on a 3-0 count, to get the Yanks on the board. Jorge Posada doubled in ARod and Eric Hinske singled him in for a 4-3 lead, as the wheels fell off for Mazzaro. The Bombers tacked on 2 more runs in the 5th on RBI hits from Tex and Posada. The RBI-phobic Robbie Cano killed any chance of a big inning by fouling out with the bases loaded and one out. You can lower Cano in the order, but you can't hide him.

Sabathia rebounded from his early struggles to toss 7 innings, giving up 9 hits and 3 runs while striking out 4. He became the Yanks first 10-game winner this season, improving to 10-6. Phil Hughes earned his first career save, pitching the final 2 innings, retiring all 6 batters he faced and giving Mariano Rivera a rest.

Notes: Chicago White Sox' Mark Buehrle pitched a perfect game against Tampa Bay. Defensive replacement, CF Dewayne Wise, made a miraculous catch in the 9th inning off the bat of Gabe Kapler. Wise robbed Kapler of a HR as he crashed into the wall. He had to barehand a juggling ball as he fell to the ground. It was the 18th perfect game in MLB history. The Yankees have 3 of them - Don Larsen in the 1956 World Series, David Wells and David Cone. For Buehrle, it was his 2nd career no-hitter.

The Sawx were idle and now trail the Pinstripers by 2.5 games.

Yankees Record: 58-37

Game 94 - Yanks Complete Second Straight Sweep

The Yanks completed a sweep of Baltimore with another 6-4 victory and have gone 6-0 since the All Star break. AJ Burnett shut down the Orioles for 6 innings before surrendering a 2-spot in the 7th. He pitched 7 innings, giving up 6 hits, 2 runs while striking out 6. The Pinstripers were led by Jorge Posada who went 2-3 with a double, homer, walk and 2 RBIs. ARod and Cano each knocked in 1 run and Nick Swisher, in an event-filled day for him, knocked in 2 runs.

Swisher had quite the adventure in RF. In the 3rd inning, he dropped a fly ball that allowed Brian Roberts to reach second. Burnett worked out of trouble, but was bailed out by the man that initially caused the trouble in the first place. Ty Wigginton laced a liner tailing away from Swisher toward the right field line. Swisher made a great running catch at full extension as his momentum carried him up the RF wall. Burnett greeted Swisher at the dugout to share high 5s. Swisher wasn't done in the field, either. In the 6th, he went back and crashed into the wall and robbed Luke Scott of an extra base hit. Something Yankee fans would've never seen with ol' friend Bobby Abreu in the field last year.

Philthy Phil Hughes tossed a scoreless 8th inning and ran his scoreless streak to 20 innings. With the Yanks tacking on an insurance run in the bottom of the 8th for a 4-run cushion, Mariano Rivera sat down and Brian Bruney came into the 9th for some work. Bruney looked great - for 2 batters. He struck out the first 2 guys he faced, but then gave up 2 solo bombs to Adam Jones and Nick Markakis. Manager Joe Girardi quickly gave Bruney the hook and brought in Mo to strike out Aubrey Huff and end the game. It was Mo's 28th save and 510th of his career.

The Bombers increased their division lead to 2 games as Boston got the broom treatment and got swept out of Texas. It's the Sawx 5th straight loss as they dropped to 1-5 since the break while scoring only 13 runs. The Rays also lost, falling 4-3 to the White Sox, and they currently trail the division by 5.5 games. It'll be interesting to see if the Rays make any big moves to help the team or if they will continue their miser ways.

Yankees Record: 57-37, a season-high 20 games over .500

Game 81 - Aceves Restores Order

At exactly the season's halfway point, the Yankees find themselves in good shape. They defeated Toronto, 10-8, today in a slugfest to put them a season-high 15 games over .500 and 1 game back of the Red Sox. Today's game was sort of a microcosm of their season so far - it started with high hopes, followed by a slight setback, and ended with a flourish.

The Yankee bats rallied for a quick 4-0 lead in the first 2 innings, highlighted by The Captain scoring 2 of those runs and Jorge Posada knocking in 2. Yankee starter, Joba Chamberlain, quickly squandered his early gifts from the lineup, as he was tattooed for 8 runs in the 3rd and 4th innings. In the 3rd, he gave back 3 of those runs with 2 out, including a 2-run shot by Adam Lind. Things got much worse in the 4th. With one on and one out, Cody Ransom, playing for the resting ARod, misplayed a grounder at 3B. Joba retired the next batter. Unfortunately, it would be the last out he'd register for the day.

Raul Chavez, a career backup catcher toting a career batting average of .228, laced his 2nd double of the game to tie the score at 4. Marco Scutaro followed up with a 2-run single. Joba then surrendered his second homer of the game to Aaron Hill, putting the Jays up 8-4. Granted, all 5 runs of the inning were unearned, but Joba had an opportunity to stop the threat with 2 outs. Instead, he got lit up for 3 straight run-scoring hits. He also gave up another single to Adam Lind before manager Joe Girardi had seen enough. Joba's line for the day: 3.2 innings, 9 hits, 8 runs, 3 ER and only 1 K. Terrible.

The Yanks desperately needed Joba to give them length today after their bullpen tossed 6.2 innings in yesterday's extra inning affair. Obviously, he failed miserably. Phil Hughes, Phil Coke and Brian Bruney were all unavailable out of the pen due to their numerous appearances lately. The Yanks brought up Jonathan Albaladejo from the minors in place of the injured Chien-Ming Wang. He tossed 1.1 shutout innings in his return to the big league. In the meantime, the Yanks began their comeback.

In the bottom of the 4th, Hideki Matsui, batting 5th in the lineup instead of the inept Robinson Cano, rocketed a 3-run shot, bringing the Yanks within 1 run. In the 5th, The Captain put the Yanks ahead to stay with an opposite-field 2-run shot. Posada followed up 3 batters later with an RBI double to give the Yanks a 10-8 lead. Both Jeter and Posada finished the day going 4-5.

The Yankees brought in Alfredo Aceves in the 6th, hoping to piece together some innings for the tired bullpen. Aceves' performance today was nothing short of spectacular. Aceves pitched the final 4 innings, giving up only 1 hit while striking out 5 and recording his first save. He threw 43 pitches, 33 of them for strikes. When he retired the side in the 6th and 7th innings, it marked the first time either team went down in order. Not only did he rest the young arms of Bruney, Coke, and Hughes, he also rested Mariano Rivera, who had pitched in 5 of the previous 6 games. I applaud Joe Girardi for sticking with the hot hand and not going to the well again with Mariano. Aceves ended the game in style, too, striking out his final 2 hitters.

Yankee notes: Chien-Ming Wang went on the 15-day DL with a shoulder strain. No word on who will start next Thursday in his place. Robinson Cano ran his streak to 0-21 with RISP. It's the longest streak in the AL this season. Absolutely abysmal. He shouldn't see the light of day in the middle order again if Girardi has any brains. With the Angels and Rangers tied atop the AL West, they both trail the Yanks by 2.5 games for the wildcard. The Rays have fallen 5 back. Maybe they want to stop their socialist ways and spend some money to help that talented team.

Yankees Record: 48-33

Game 80 - Yanks Win Despite Cano's Sabotage

Appropriately, on 4th of July, the mighty Yankees defeated their neighbors to the North, the Toronto Blue Jays, in a 12-inning affair, 6-5. The win came in a game started by their nemesis, Roy Halladay. The Pinstripers touched him up for 5 runs in 7 innings, with Hideki Matsui, Jorge Posada and Johnny Damon all going deep against one of the AL's premier pitchers. Damon's homer tied the game at 5-all in the 7th, setting the stage for 3 innings of "free baseball".

Chien-Ming Wang started for the Yanks and had similar results as his previous 3 starts. However, he left the game in the 6th with an apparent shoulder strain. He is scheduled for an MRI today. He allowed 4 ER on 6 hits in his 5.1 innings before departing. He threw one pitch to Scott Rolen after surrendering a 2-run shot to Adam Lind that gave the Jays a 4-3 lead. David Robertson came in relief and gave up the Jays 5th run.

This game, though, probably never should have gone to extra frames. Robinson Cano's well-documented struggles with RISP took on a whole 'nother level today. He stranded an unheralded 10 runners on base. T-E-N! I thought when he left 8 men on last week would be the pinnacle of his troubles, but this has become an epidemic of unprecedented proportions. Joe Girardi has to banish him to the bottom of the order. Has to! Cano left ARod at 2B in the first, runners at first and second in the 3rd and the 5th, and he hit into a DP in the 7th. He had a chance to redeem himself in the 9th. ARod was intentionally walked, putting runners on 1st and 2nd, again, but Cano grounded out to end the threat.

In the 12th, Mark Teixeira led off with a double and the Jays intentionally walked ARod again. Girardi must have seen enough of Cano's troubles (not to mention Yankee fans), which includes his high propensity of hitting into DPs. He gave Cano the bunt sign. After working the count to 3-0, Cano inexplicably bunted without taking a strike, which appeared to confuse Tex as he was forced out at 3rd. Posada ended the drama, knocking in ARod with a walk-off single. For the game, Cano went 0-6, and is now 0 for his last 20 with RISP. It's impossible for Cano to continue hitting in the 5th hole. Right?

I'd be shocked if Girardi doesn't move the hot-hitting Matsui behind ARod. Matsui, at least, has a long history of hitting in that spot with the Yanks and has come through in many clutch situations. Anyone at this point would be better than Cano.

The Yankees bullpen continued their exceptional pitching, only allowing 1 ER in 6.2 innings. After relieving Robertson in the 7th, Brian Bruney wiggled out of a bases loaded jam. Hughes retired the side on 8 pitches in the 8th, and he was followed by Mariano Rivera for 1 inning, Phil Coke for 2, and Brett Tomko pitched the 12th for his first Yankee win. With Wang's injury, will Hughes go back to the rotation?

The Sawx 3-2 loss to the Mariners, the Yanks now trail by 1 game. Imagine if they had beaten Boston at all this season - hopefully things will change in August.

Yankees Record: 47-33

Game 52 - Yanks Take Texas Behind the Woodshed

The score was tied 3-3 in the bottom of the 4th, when Texas pitcher, Vincente Padilla, plunked Mark Teixeira in the buttocks.  It was the second time in the game he hit Tex, and you could see Tex shout at him "(Bleeping) throw the ball over the plate".  Unfortunately for Padilla, he woke the sleeping giant and he was very angry.  

With ARod at the plate and the bases loaded with one out, Padilla still had a shot to get out of the inning.  All he needed was a double play ball and it looked like ARod would oblige Padilla when he hit a grounder to second.  But Tex went in hard to the base with a vengeance, upending SS Elvis Andrus and allowing ARod to just beat the throw, avoiding the DP.  Robinson Cano and Jorge Posada would follow with run scoring singles and Hideki Matsui hit a 3-run blast, completing a 7-run outburst for a 9-3 lead.  Tex loved every minute of it, as he shed his usually calm and stoic persona and showing, dare I say, true emotion and fire.  I can only hope the Yankees will continue to show any kind of emotion and passion, which seemed to have disappeared with O'Neill, Brosius, Knoblauch and others of the 90's dynasty as they took on the boring, business-like persona in the latter years of Joe Torre's regime.  

AJ Burnett pitched well, despite nearly collapsing in the 3rd inning.  For the first 2.2 innings, he was in cruise control, until he walked a batter.  That was followed up by a double and 3-run jack by Nelson Cruz that gave Texas a brief 3-2 lead.  Burnett gave up 2 more hard singles and a long drive to deep center that finally getting him out of the inning, but he looked very shaky.  However, he would settle down again and pitch 7 strong innings with 8 Ks and one walk.  He even defended his teammate, Tex, nearly decapitating Nelson Cruz with a high inside fastball.  Both teams received warnings from the ump and it will be interesting to see if this bad blood will carry over tomorrow night. 

The Captain, Derek Jeter, banged out another 3 hits tonight and scored his 15ooth run of his career.  He collected his 2600th hit of his career yesterday, and with the 3 more tonight, has an excellent shot at passing Lou Gehrig for the all-time Yankee hit record later this season.  Gehrig had 2,721 hits in his career.  Posada also had 3 hits, including a 3-run blast and 4 RBIs, although his throwing error brought an end to the Yankees consecutive errorless streak at 18 games.  

But other things went well for the Yankees tonight, so well that even Brett Tomko and Jose Veras pitched a scoreless frame each, as the final score was 12-3.  They also didn't issue any free passes.  To Veras' credit, he won a tough battle against Ian Kinsler for the last out of the game, repeatedly challenging him on a full count after Kinsler fouled off numerous fastballs, instead of walking him.  Hopefully, Veras can build on this performance.  The Yanks need him till Brian Bruney and Damaso Marte return from their injuries.  

Yankees Record:  31-21 - best record in AL

Game 50 - Yanks Rally All For Naught

The Yanks rallied from a 4-0 deficit to tie the game at 4-all, only to lose it late due to the inability to execute and questionable bullpen choices by Joe Girardi.  For most of the game, the Yanks were being haunted by Carl "American Idle" Pavano, who robbed the Yanks of nearly $40M the past 4 years due to his numerous, too many to count, trips to the DL.  He shut down the Yanks offense, which has been clicking on all cylinders lately, through 5 innings.  

Down 4-0 going into the top of the 6th, Mark Teixeira finally put the team on the board with a 2-run swat.  This came after Derek Jeter was wrongly called out on a close play at first and Johnny Damon singled.  The Yanks still trailed 4-2 going into the 8th.  Jorge Posada, who was given the day off following a night game, pinch hit and struck out.  Jeter singled, knocking Pavano out of the game, as Indians manager, Eric Wedge decided to go with matchups.  As usual, this failed miserably.  Damon followed with a double and Tex brought both runners in with another double to tie the game.  ARod and the clutchless Robinson Cano both stranded Tex to end the inning.  

In the meantime, Chien-Ming Wang, who relieved Yankee starter, Phil Hughes, kept the Yanks in the game with 3 shutout innings and 3 Ks.  He lowered his ERA four whole runs down to 16.07.  Hughes wasn't as sharp as his last start, but he was effective and kept the Yanks in the game.  He gave up 4 runs in 5 innings while striking out 6.  The 3rd inning was his downfall, when he gave up 3 runs - 2 coming from a bloop single and a sac fly.  His 4th run wasn't all his fault, with Brett Gardner misplaying a fly ball into a leadoff double that came around to score on another sac fly.  

Going into the top of the 9th, all tied up, Hideki Matsui led off with a walk against Indians closer, Kerry Wood.  Girardi had Nick Swisher bunt over pinch runner, Ramiro Pena, to 2nd.  Brett Gardner then followed with an infield single, giving the Bombers runners on 1st and 3rd, 1 out.  Posada, who stayed in the game after pinch hitting, represented the Yanks best chance to put them up by 1 and give the great Mariano Rivera a save opportunity.  Mo never got the chance.  For reasons unknown at the time, Brett Gardner inexplicably never took a chance at swiping second to stay out of a potential double play with the slow-footed Posada at the plate.  Of course, Posada couldn't do what the Indians were able to do all game - hit a sacrifice fly.  He banged into the 4-6-3 double play to kill the rally.  

In the bottom of the 9th, for some strange reason, Girardi opted to go with Phil Coke.  Bad choice.  Coke promptly walked rookie, Trevor Crowe, who came into the game hitting .171 with an OBP of .237.  After a sacrifice bunt, Robertson relieved Coke, finally stepping into a game at a big moment.  Robertson failed, walking Ben Francisco and giving up the game winning single to Jhonny Peralta on a 3-1 count.  In the meantime, the Yanks best reliever, Mo, never came in.

During the post-game press conference, it was discovered that Gardner was given the steal sign and just failed to execute against Kerry Wood, a righty with a slow move to the plate.  If he's not going to utilize his greatest asset, his speed, what is he doing?  Wang was removed after 3 scoreless innings because he may still be used to spot start for Andy Pettitte, who is nursing a stiff lower back.  The question of why Mo never came in was never answered (maybe it wasn't asked?), but most, if not all, managers stick to the book of not using their closer on the road in a tie game.  Personally, I think it's a bunk call by teams - the team can't use the closer when they lose, so what are you saving him for?

Despite Gardner's gaffe (or gaffes counting his defensive lapse) and Girardi's management of his relievers, Posada is still the man to finger this loss on.  He literally took the day off, striking out and hitting into a double play in his 2 plate appearances.  I don't have any stats in front of me, but to watch this team day-in and day-out the last couple of years, it appears to me they struggle mightily in being able to hit a simple sacrifice fly and it continues to haunt them in 1-run ball games.

Other notes:  Alert!  Alert!  There was a David Ortiz sighting today.  He went 1-5 with a double.  He's still blistering the cover off the ball at a .185 clip.  My preseason pick for Cy Young, Jon Lester, finally looked sharp, struck out 12 Blue Jays in 6 innings.  He's only 4-5 this season with an ERA of 5.65.  I picked him for the this year's Cy and Big Nugget Youkilis for the MVP award.  Lester has been less than stellar and Youkilis was DL'd earlier this season.  Perhaps I should continue to "hex" the Sox players every year with my picks.

Yankees Record:  29-21

Blown Games:  4

Game 48 - Yanks Hang On For Win

For the first time since the 2006 season ended, the Yanks find themselves alone at the top of the AL East.  Last night, Andy Pettitte, Alfredo Aceves and Mariano Rivera clamped down on the vaunted Cleveland Indians offense, winning 3-1.  Pettitte would leave the game in the 6th inning after battling lower back stiffness.  He tightened up in the 4th, but hung on through 5+ innings.  It was a typical Pettitte performance, not overly sharp, but crafty enough to work in and out of trouble when he had to.  His improved his record to a team best 5-1.

Aceves relieved Pettitte with 2 runners on and a 2-0 count on Cleveland's Jamey Carroll.  Aceves would walk him (walk charged to Pettitte) to load the bases with none out.  He struck out Kelly Shoppach on a knee-bending curve, gave up a sac fly, and induced an inning-ending ground ball to Derek Jeter.  Mark Teixeira made the play of the game by ranging to his right and picking the terrible throw from Jeter which might have led to a second run and 2 runners in scoring position if the throw had skipped by.  Aceves pitched 3 shutout innings with 3 Ks, limiting the Indians to 1 hit.  Mariano pitched around a leadoff single, striking out 2, including the overhyped and overrated Grady Sizemore.  

The Yankee hitters nearly had Cleveland's Cliff Lee on the ropes in the first inning, loading the bases with 1 out.  However, Robinson Cano continued to follow his career trend of being terrible with runners in scoring position, particularly with the bases loaded.  He struck out on 3 pitches and is now 20-83 lifetime with the bases jacked.  Jorge Posada, back from the DL, followed up with a tough at-bat, having some good cuts, but looked a little rusty, and eventually struck out as well.

The Bombers, however, kept the pressure on Lee in the 2nd, and this time, broke through for 2 runs.  Jeter and Tex knocked in the runs to put them up 2-0, and Nick Swisher would hit a rarely seen sac fly in the 3rd.  I say rarely seen, because the Yanks appear to be the most inept team to hit that lazy fly ball to knock in the run.  But things have been different on this run, particularly with ARod's return, as the team improved to 15-5 with him in the lineup.  Last night marked the first time this season that ARod and Posada were in the lineup together, and it lengthens the lineup considerably.  Swisher, who has been struggling mightly in May, was knocked down to the 8th spot in the order.  As for Posada, he rebounded from his 1st inning strikeout to go 2-3 with a double and a walk.  

For the Yanks, everything's clicking and tonight, Crooked Cap faces his old teammates in a matchup against Fausto Carmona.  

Other notes:  The Big Sloppy has officially become the Big Floppy.  Another 0-4 performance in the Sox 6-3 loss to Toronto and now hitting an inexplicable .189.  The Blue Jays win snapped a nine-game losing streak.  Great timing, Toronto!   

Yankees Record:  28-20, first place by .5 game over Boston