Is it just me, or has pitching taken over in Major League Baseball? Averages are down, offensive numbers seem to be down, teams relying on power and the long ball, are struggling to get past .500. It is understood to be a pitching game, over there in the National League, but here in the American League we like our offense(i.e. the DH). The number being put up lately seem to be down. Just ask the Detroit Tigers lineup where that $Yankee Money$ power is at. Heck, ask the $Yankee Money$ Yankee’s where their power is.
Anyways, we had another pitching dual today, Mike Mussina took the mound for the Yankees, and James Shields took the mound for the Rays. Everything looked very similar through the first 3 innings, no runs from either team, and nothing looking like it was about to change. In the 4th and 5th innings the Yankees snuck a couple of runs from the bats of Abreu and Cano.
The Rays responded with a run of their own in the 7th, ending Mussina’s day, and brought in Ohlendorf for his second hold of the season. Then things from there (8th and 9th innings) were just like they should be. It should not matter how many runs we are ahead of our opponents coming into the 8th inning as long as we are ahead. That is because we have Chamberlain and Rivera to close out the game.
That is exactely what happened. Chamberlain pitched a 4 batter, 3 strikeout and a walk inning, for his 10th hold of the season. Then Mariano Rivera enters and does what he does best. He allowed no hits, and struck out one for yet another perfect inning, and the save.
This is how it is supposed to go. Take the lead into the 8th inning, and lights out. This was reassuring to see. The Yankees are now 3.5 games out of first place, behind these Tampa Bay Rays. There record clips one game closer to .500 at 20-21. The last game of the series is tomorrow, and hopefully the Yankees can come away with a split 2-2, after going down 0-2 after the first two games.
