Well, we paid Roger Clemens all of that money to get us to the promised land and he fell on his face last night. Fortunately, the hitters and the pen didn’t and Yankees managed an easy win to turn a near hopeless situation into a more realistic one. Clemens gave up three runs and he left in the third with the Yankees down 3-0.
Johnny Damon put the Yankees on the board in the bottom of the third. He singled home Hideki Matsui before the Yankees exploded for four runs in the fifth to open the game up. Melky Cabrera singled home Matsui to make it 3-2 before Damon struck again with a three run blast to give the Yankees their first, only and last lead of the of the game. The Yankees scored three more in the sixth on a Robinson Cano single/error but those runs turned out to be unnecessary.
Give some props to the rookie Phil Hughes. He relieved Clemens and got the Yankees back on track with 3 2/3 innings of shutout relief. Joba Chamberlain gave up a run in the eighth but by that point, the game was set. It just made the game the 8-4 final that it was. Mariano Rivera continued his post season dominance with a perfect ninth and two strikeouts.
Game four is tonight. It’ll be Chien-Ming Wang going on short rest against the Indians Paul Byrd. At stake is the 2007 season.
