Baseball’s Savior

The Red Sox are dead.  Rest in peace.

The Tiges rolled into town this week.  Tuesday ended in a rain out so they played two yesterday.  Game one was masterful performance by Chien Ming Wang who combined with Scott Proctor and Mariano Rivera for a four hit shutout.  Craig Wilson put the Yanks on the board with a solo shot and later that inning, Jason Giambi drove in Johnny Damon on a sac. fly.

Game two didn’t go quite as well.  Jaret Wright actually pitched into the seventh and he left with a 3-2 lead.  The Tigers threatened in the eighth but came up short but in the ninth, Proctor walked two guys then gave up a two out walk off homerun.  They were one out away.  The Yankees were held to three hits and one of them was a two run double by Derek Jeter.

Randy Johnson looked very good today.  He had a three hitter through eight and gave up five hits altogether.  Problem was, three of those hits were homeruns.  He did strikeout eight.  The big shot in this was by A-Rod, who broke out of a horrific slump.  His two run shot made it 6-2.  The Tigers added two in the ninth, but came up short.  Johnny Damon and Alex Rodriguez had three hits a piece.

Next up is three against the Twins, who are fighting it out with the White Sox for a Wild Card spot.  When do the playoffs start?

Man, I hate losing.  If the Yankees could have won say four of six this week instead of two of six, we could have locked up the AL East because the Red Sox are playing even worse then we are.  Regardless, the lead is still 6 1/2 games.

On Friday, the Yankees blew a 5-4 lead and lost it 6-5.  Jaret Wright didn’t even last four innings and the pen did their share of damage.  Jorge Posada had two hits, two walks and a run and he was really the only guy who hit the ball well.

The pitchers followed up Friday with an even worse game on Saturday.  Cory Lidle gave up five runs in less then four innings and each of the four relievers the Yankees used was credited with an earned run.  Johnny Damon went two for four with two RBIs, two runs and a homerun.  Jason Giambi drove in two runs in the 12-7 win.

Finally, the Yankees won yesterday.  Through three innings, the Yankees scored eight runs and busted the game open.  Bernie Williams homered twice and drove in six runs while Derek Jeter homered twice and drove in three runs.  Robinson Cano had four hits, two RBIs and two runs while Jeff Karstens cruised to his first career win.  The final was 11-8.

The Tigers roll in to town today.  They’re the only team in the American League with a better record then the Yankees.  I’m thinking sweep to make a point.

Now this is a drag.  I guess I can’t complain too much after this past weekend and it’s not like the Red Sox are tearing it up.  They did pick up a game on the Yankees so it’s 5 1/2 games in the AL East.  I’ll take it.

The Mariners snapped an eleven game losing streak on Tuesday.  Jeff Karstens made his first major league start and put in 5 2/3 decent innings.  Ron Villone took the loss when he gave up a solo homerun to Adrian Beltre in the ninth inning.  Bobby Abreu and Alex Rodriguez went yard for the Yankees in the 6-5 loss.

Chien-Ming Wang won his 15th game on Wednesday and he’s probably at the top of Yankees who will contend for the Cy Young.  Wang gave up two runs in seven innings.  Robinson Cano drove in three runs and Abreu scored three times in the 9-2 win.

The Yankees couldn’t follow that up with another win though.  Randy Johnson gave the pen a rest and pitched a complete game but he gave up four runs and took the loss.  All the Yankees could muster were two runs.  Johnny Damon hit a solo homerun and Derek Jeter had two hits and an RBI.

Next up is three against the Angels.  Seems the Red Sox are following us around.  They play the Mariners this weekend then the Angels after that.

First off, I want to introduce someone I now affectionately refer to as Slappy.  As in, Red Sox Slappy.  Slappy is the newest writing in the Baseball Historians network, and he couldn’t have picked a better time to start his Red Sox blog, Fenway Fables.

Slappy is a little distraught and couldn’t run down the games in this series.  I have no pretenses, so here they are in minute detail.  This is a big day.  Huge.

Friday, the Red Sox and Yankees played a double header.  The Yankees proceeded to score twelve in the first game and fourteen in the second.  The Red Sox actually put up a fight in game two and scored eleven, but for those of you who are bad at math, that puts them three runs short.

Johnny Damon was the hero in game one in the city where they wouldn’t pay him fair value.  He homered and drove in four runs while scoring three times.  He was a double short of hitting for the cycle.  Bobby Abreu also had a big game.  He went four for five.  Jason Giambi drove in three runs and Chien-Ming Wang won his 14th of the season in the 12-4 blowout.

Not settling for one win, Johnny Damon came up big in the second game as well.  He had three more hits and three more RBIs and hit homerun number 20.  Robinson Cano drove in three and Melky Cabrera had three hits, three runs and two RBIs in the 14-11 win.  Sidney Ponson was roughed up but Mike Myers picked up in the win in relief.

You’d think after that doubleheader, the Yankees would be sick of scoring and blowing out the Red Sox.  Naw, they did it again on Saturday.  Robinson Cano came up huge and drove in five runs and he homered.  Damon had three more hits and Jorge Posada had four RBIs.  Randy Johnson wasn’t quite his ace self (which has been a problem this year) but he had more then enough for his 14th win of the season.

They can’t all be blowouts and there was definitely some drama yesterday.  Down 5-3, the Yankees scored single runs in the eighth (Giambi sac. fly) and in the ninth (Jeter RBI single) to the game up.  Then in the tenth, Jason Giambi and Jorge Posada both went yard to make it 8-5, a lead that would stand.  Mariano Rivera evened up his record at 5-5 with two shutout innings.

Today’s game was a nice old fashioned pitcher’s dual.  David Wells and Cory Lidle went head to head and once again, the Yankees came out on top.  Bobby Abreu doubled home Melky Cabrera and then Nick Green scored on a wild pitch to make it 2-0.  After six shutout innings, Cory Lidle yielded to the pen and Scott Proctor gave up a solo homerun to Wily Mo Pena.  Fortunately Kyle Farnsworth did the job in the ninth (Rivera had the day off) and the Yankees finished their five game sweep over the Red Sox.

So now the Yankees have a nice, comfy six and a half game lead.  While the Yankees head out west, it’s against the Mariners, who have lost eleven straight games.  What a great time to be a Yankees fan!!!

Those pesky birds.  Just when it looks like we’re going to run away with the AL East, we hit a wall. 

Things went fine on Tuesday.  Mike Mussina kept us in the game and then a late rally led by Johnny Damon won it for us.  Damon went two for five with a homerun, two runs and three RBIs in the 8-3 win.  Scott Proctor got the win and Mariano Rivera the save.

It all went downhill from there.  Cory Lidle gave up three early runs and the Yankees couldn’t their bats going on Wednesday.  Then yesterday the Orioles blew us out.  Jaret Wright had been doing okay, but not this game.  He was gone after three innings.

So now it’s five games against the Red Sox in the shit box.  We have a game and a half lead, so there could be a huge swing by the end of the series on Monday.

2-2 is pretty mediocre.  Throw in the fact that the Red Sox got the job done against the Orioles this past weekend, and the end result is a two run lead in the AL East thanks to the Tigers yesterday.  The only good news out of that is the Yankees have a three game lead in the much more important loss column.

Friday started the lose one, win one routine.  Rookie Joe Saunders held the Yankees in check and Cory Lidle got bounced around.  By the end of five innings, the Angels were up 5-1.  Sal Fasano drove in two runs in the 7-4 loss, and Alex Rodriguez went two for four with an RBI and two runs.  A-Rod hit his 24th homerun of the season.

Jaret Wrighted the ship (horrible pun intended).  He got the Yankees back on track with 5 1/3 solid innings on Saturday.  Johnny Damon hit homerun number 16 and he drove in two. Robinson Cano hit a three run shot in the second inning in the 5-2 win.  Mariano Rivera notched his 30th save.  He’s had thirty saves in nine of the last ten years.

Sunday it was back to losing.  Young phenom Jered Weaver held the Yankees down and Chien-Ming Wang gave up three first inning runs en route to his fifth loss of the season.  Craig Wilson, A-Rod and Jason Giambi all homered in the 5-3 loss.

It’s very nice to see Randy Johnson back on track.  He threw seven solid innings and picked up win number 13.  Every Yankee got a hit with Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada going yard in the 7-2 win.

Next up is three against the Orioles.  Hopefully they’ll lay down like they did for the Red Sox.

The bad news is, the White Sox took two games from us.  The good news is, the Red Sox are really struggling and that one win this week resulted in an extra game lead in the AL East.  Even better, the Red Sox now are down two games in the Wild Card race.  Could be a Red Soxless post season?

Mariano Rivera has been so good for so long, it’s hard to blame him too much when he blows a game.  The Yankees had this one in hand and 99 times out of a hundred, we walk away with a win.  It just wasn’t Rivera’s day though as Paul Konerko took him deep to tie the game up.  Sox then won it in the eleventh.  Alex Rodriguez homered and drove in two runs and Bobby Abreu had two hits.

Wednesday was another game where the trade for Bobby Abreu paid some big dividends.  He drove in a run in the first inning on a single then hit a two run homerun in the fifth.  Derek Jeter scored two runs in the game and Randy Johnson picked up his twelth win.  Johnson had a no hitter going through six innings until the White Sox finally got to him in the seventh.

Yesterday, the White Sox took a big early lead and while the Yankees picked away, they came up just short.  Abreau singled and he now has an eight game hitting streak.  In fact, he has a hit in every game since becoming a Yankee except for his debut. Jason Giambi hit a two run shot and Melky Cabrera went yard as well.  Mike Mussina dropped to 13-5.

Next up is four against the Angels in a wrap around series.  The Angels are fighting for a piece of the AL West so this is a pretty big series for both teams.

Bet you didn’t know this, but I’m part of a network of blogs.  It’s not a really formal network, but the ring leader has been Brian, who writes at Tigerblog and The Hardball Times.  He recently put together a centralized site that picks up all of the feeds from the various sites.  So in between innings while the Yankees pound the White Sox, you should go check it out at Baseball Historians. 

The common link is all of the blogs also do historical stuff.  I’ve been dropping the ball there lately.  Haven’t done a World Series retro in a while, nor have I started my Joe DiMaggio prospective.  I do have something very cool planned for next year though, which I’ll keep a secret for now.

There will be original content on Baseball Historians on occassion.  Brian is supposed to do a top 10 best World Series teams of all time and I’ll be doing all ten because they’re all Yankee teams.

The Yankees rolled into Baltimore and left with a series win.  In the meantime, the Red Sox looked very mortal against the lowly Devil Rays.  The net result is, the Yankees are now in the process of running away with the AL East.  You heard it here first.

Jorge Posada hit a solo homerun in the top of the ninth to give the Yankees the win on Friday.  Miguel Cairo drove in two runs in the 5-4 win and Posada finished with three hits.  Randy Johnson threw six mediocre innings   Scott Proctor picked up the win and Mariano Rivera saved his 27th game of the season.

Yesterday was ugly.  Some rookie named Adam Loewen and a couple of relievers held the mighty Yankees to a single hit.  Mike Mussina dropped the game in a so so start and he’s now 13-4.  Bobby Abreu had the only hit of the game for the Yankees.

Jaret Wright is looking very solid of late.  Today was no exception as he improved to 8-6.  It’s his second nice start in a row and hopefully this is a trend.  Jason Giambi went three for three with a homerun and two RBIs in the 6-1 win.  Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon and Melky Cabrera all homered as well.

Next up is a pretty big series against the White Sox.  The Red Sox play the Royals, so the Yankees will probably have to win to keep their lead. 

Regardless of whether the Red Sox win or lose, the Yankees will remain in first place by mere percentage points.  Bobby Abreu appears to be the Yankees good luck charm.  Or maybe it’s Cory Lidle or Craig Wilson.  Or maybe the Red Sox inability to get a deal done (outside of the laugher that’s being reported with Javy Lopez) at the trade deadline is our good luck charm.  Maybe Theo should have called it quits after all.

Jaret Wright looked pretty sharp on Tuesday.  One run on five hits and one walk with five strikeouts in five innings.  It was good enough for the win.  Alex Rodriguez went two for four with two RBIs and Abreu walked and scored in his Yankee debut.  Derek Jeter continued to rake and he scored two runs.

It’s hard to believe Chien Ming Wang has become our most consistent starter, but that’s been the case so far this year.  He now stands at 13-4 and he threw eight shutout innings yesterday.  He gave up four hits and three walks.  Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada went yard and A-Rod had three hits and two RBIs.  He appears to be hitting out of this so called slump rather nicely.  Final in this one was 7-2.

This afternoon was more solid pitching and good hitting.  Cory Lidle made his Yankee debut and just like that, he’s a better pitcher.  He gave up one run on four hits and two walks with five strikeouts in six innings.  The pen did their job and three relievers combined for three shutout innings.  Jason Giambi homered and drove in four runs in the 8-1 win.

Next up is three against the lowly Orioles.  They’re a step below the Blue Jays, so I forsee a sweep and the Yankees distancing themselves even more from the Red Sox.