A Biased Look at the New York Yankees, the Greatest Franchise in the History of Sports
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Those pesky Red Sox won again last night so the Yankees are still sitting on their one game deficit. Still, at 50 wins, the Yankees are in the drivers seat (4 1/2 game lead) for the Wild Card and while that would be the backup plan, it’d still be nice to pass up the Red Sox here before the All Star break.
Yesterday’s game was a nice one as the Yankees took care of the Twins for the second straight night. A.J. Burnett had a really nice start and he improved to 8-4. He gave up two runs on seven hits and four walks with two strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings. Phil Hughes threw an inning of shutout relief and then Mariano Rivera got the final four outs to pick up his 22nd save of the season.
Three of the four Yankee runs came in 4-3 win came in the second inning. The big hit was a two run single by Brett Gardner. Jorge Posada went two for three with a run while Derek Jeter went two for five with a run.
The Yankees go for the sweep this afternoon. It’ll be Alfredo Aceves going up against Francisco Liriano. Liriano’s been solid his last few starts but hopefully we can give Alfredo some runs to help him improve to 6-1.
Those pesky Blue Jays knocked the Yankees down a notch today in a game where Andy Pettitte was roughed up. The Yankees were down as much as 7-1 but they scored five unanswered runs to make it tight but they couldn’t quite pull this one out.
Pettitte gave up six runs in six innings before yielding to the pen. David Robertson shined out of the pen and he struck out two and he didn’t allow a hit in 1 1/3 innings. Brian Bruney gave up the other run and that pushed his ERA up above 4.00.
Eric Hinske belted his first home run since joining the Yankees. Nick Swisher went three for four with a double and a pair of RBIs while Robinson Cano doubled twice and scored two runs.
The loss puts the Yankees a game and a half back of the Red Sox but that should be a single game by the end of the night because they’re losing to the Athletics 5-0. Now the Yankees hit the road. They play three against the Twins before heading to the West Coast.
This is the kind of roll I like. The Mariners have been in town for two games and they’ve lost them both, and that’s pushed the Yankees winning streak to seven. One more tomorow and it’s a nice little sweep. And it was another nice start by Andy Pettitte. He’s going to be hard pressed to retire after this season the way he’s pitched. He improved to 8-3 and he gave up just two runs on six hits and a walk with five strikeouts in seven innings. That gives him 222 career wins versus just 130 losses. His ERA and WHIP are nothing special this year, but he’s getting it done. Mariano Rivera picked up save number twenty with a shutout ninth.
Three Yankees homered. Alex Rodriguez went yard, as did Johnny Damon and Melky Cabrera. A-Rod drove in two while Mark Teixeira went two for four with a run.
CC Sabathia gets the turn tomorrow as we go for the sweep. Jason Vargas throws for the M’s.
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