Daily Archives: September 19, 2007

Andy Pettitte came up big last night, holding the Orioles to one sixth-inning run in 7 2/3 innings on his way to his 200th career victory. It wasn’t easy, however, as Brian Burres was nearly as good, striking out seven in 7 1/3 innings while limiting the Yankees to two runs on five hits and three walks.

The first Yankee run scored in the third inning on a Hideki Matsui solo homer into the old Yankee bullpen, his second tater of the series. The second scored in the fifth when Doug Mientkiewicz led off with a single and came around on a Derek Jeter single, a Bobby Abreu groundout, and a wild pitch that Burres threw on a fly to the backstop with Alex Rodriguez at the plate. The O’s got their tally in the top of the sixth when Brian Roberts drew a one-out walk, stole second and third, and was plated by a Melvin Mora single.

In the eighth, Joba Chamberlain made his first mid-inning relief appearance, coming in with two out and none on to strike out Melvin Mora on four pitches, two of them nasty sliders. Mariano Rivera pushed things to the limit in the ninth. Nick Markakis doubled on a flare to no-man’s land down the line in right. Then, after Kevin Millar flied out, Mo pitched carefully to Aubrey Huff and Ramon Hernandez, walking both of them to load the bases before finally retiring rookie pinch hitter Scott Moore to deliver the 2-1 win.

While Mo was making things interesting in the ninth, the news came across the out-of-town scoreboard that the Blue Jays completed a sweep of the Red Sox with a 6-1 win, the big blow being a Russ Adams grand slam off Jon Papelbon in the eighth that padded their own 2-1 lead. As a result, the Yankees are now just 1.5 games behind in the East, and only one game back in the loss column, while the Red Sox have slipped a half game behind the Indians and Angels for the best record in the American League. The only bad news there is that the Yankees have to play the Blue Jays next.

In other news, Melky Cabrera went 1 for 3 with a single and a walk, making him 2 for 6 over the last two games. Alex Rodriguez went 0 for 4 with a pair of strikeouts, but did cream one ball to the wall in left, where Brandon Fahey (in for Jay Payton who got tossed after tossing his helmet after a third strike call) made a great running catch. Rodriguez also made a great play by charging and bare-handing an infield dink by Brian Roberts in the eighth to keep the tying run off base. That play was assisted by an impressive stretch by Doug Mientkiewicz, who made three such plays on the night in addition to scoring the winning run. The first of those plays came on a double play, the first of three the Yankees would turn behind Pettitte on the night. Shelley Duncan made his first start since September 5, drawing a walk and striking out in three trips as the DH while Johnny Damon got the night off. Finally, Jason Giambi had an MRI on his right foot, which was hit by a Daniel Cabrera slider in Monday’s game. The test came back negative and Giambi is expected to return to the lineup once the soreness from the bruise subsides.

The Indians completed their sweep of the Tigers this afternoon, giving the Yankees a five game lead (six in the loss column) in the Wild Card race with eleven left to play. Meanwhile, the win gave the Indians a half-game lead on the Angels for the second seed in the American League.

As for the division, even if the Yankees go 8-3 over the rest of the season (which essentially means they have to take three of four from the Blue Jays best pitchers and sweep one other series, though a win tonight would count for that sweep), the Red Sox will have to go 5-5 for the Yankees to take the division via the tiebreaker of their head-to-head record. That’s not impossible, but it is unlikely.

Curiously, this is all beginning to feel like a replay of 2005 when the Yankees rallied from a poor start of the season behind an MVP season from Alex Rodriguez to take the division from the Red Sox via a tiebreak in the final two days of the season. That year, the Yanks, Sox, and Angels all finished with 95-67 records, while the Indians, who were ahead of both for the Wild Card with six games left, finished just out of it at 93-69. Of course, all of that late-season drama was for naught as both the Yanks and Sox got bounced in the ALDS and the White Sox went on to sweep their way to a World Championship.

Tonight Andy Pettitte looks to bounce back from his rough outing in the opener of the Boston series and hand the Yanks a sweep of the Orioles. As great as Andy has been in the second half, he has a 5.94 ERA over his last three starts and has allowed 27 hits in those 16 2/3 innings, nine of them going for extra bases. The Yankees need Pettitte to pitch the way he did in August (6-0, 2.36 ERA) in order to have a chance in the ALDS, no matter how the matchups shake out. Andy will make one more regular season start after tonight, after which he’ll be in line for Game One of the Division Series. He needs to use these starts to sort things out.

Opposing Pettitte is Brian Burres, who has split time between the rotation and bullpen for the Orioles this year. Burres has been far more effective as a starter, the role he filled in the minors each of the last two years. He’s also handled the Yankees well this year, limiting them to a run on four hits and three walks while striking out eight in 7 1/3 innings between one start (6 IP) and one relief appearance. In Burres’ last start, his first since August 4, he held the Blue Jays scoreless over seven frames.

Derek Jeter passed Bernie Williams on the all-time Yankee hit-list two nights ago. I’ve been thinking a lot about Bernie recently. What is he doing? (He’s actually playing at a benefit concert this Saturday night) Does he watch the games? That kind of thing. Some of my questions were answered in this piece by Wayne Coffey in last Sunday’s Daily News.

Alex Rodriguez was supposed to get a day off a month ago when the Yankees were in California. It’s understandable why he hasn’t, though it now seems time to give him a breather. He’s had bad at-bats for the past few games. Last night, in particular, looked ripped out of the 2005-06 playoff handbook–missing fat pitches, chasing poor ones. Let’s hope Torre rests him soon. Moreover, it’d be nice to see Posada get some time off as well.

Speaking of Jorge, I was e-mailing with Joe Sheehan last night and he posed the question: Has Posada ever had a great post-season? Not a fine isolated series–he was good last year against the Tigers–but a real strong couple of series?

Finally, here are a couple of things to check out: Joel Sherman’s post about filling-in for S. Waldman on the radio last week; Jonah Keri on 100 players you love to hate, and John Heylar on Dr. James Andrews.