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Shawn Chacon pitched a marvelous game last night for the Yankees. He received support from his infield defense, particularly Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez, and stellar relief from Flash Gordon and Mariano Rivera as the Bombers eeked out a 2-1 victory in Baltimore. The Devil Rays beat the Tribe 1-0 (in a game that featured some fine defense of its own–thanks, Johnny Gomes?!?), and Ted Lily mastered the Red Sox as the Jays won at Fenway 7-2. New York is now one game ahead of Boston in the American League East. The Sox and the Indians are tied in the wildcard standings.

Chacon allowed one run–a solo homer off a 2-0 meatball to Javey Lopez–the only run he’s allowed in his last 23.2 innings. The Orioles only managed to get four hits off of the right-hander, all by Lopez (who missed another home run by a few feet and settled for a double instead) and Chris Gomez. Though he walked three, Chacon only threw 91 pitches, and once again, kept batters off balance all night, inducing plenty of soft grounders and harmless pop flys.

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So it’ll be Shawn Chacon, the guy with the sweet smile and baggy pants, squaring off against Daniel Cabrera, the dude with the scowl and the red ass tonight at Camden Yards. As Cliff mentioned to me in an e-mail this afternoon, Chacon would start a one-game playoff if it comes to that, but this may be his final start of the season. He could also wind up as the Game One starter in the ALDS if the Yanks pull this thing out without a one-game playoff. Meanwhile, the Yankee offense has to remain patient against Cabrera, who has a live arm and can be a tough customer.

Only five games left. Every ball and strike, every foul ball, every everything counts, as we sit back helplessly and watch it all unfold.

Keep the faith and let’s go Yanks!

It took four hours and sixteen minutes and 398 pitches, but last night’s 17-9 Yankee loss to the Baltimore Orioles finally came to an end just before 11:30 p.m. EST last night. And in the end, it meant nothing. Yes, despite the fact that the Yankees are in a three way tie for the AL East and the Wild Card with just five games left to play in the season, last night’s loss meant nothing. That’s because the Red Sox, Indians, and White Sox all lost last night as well.

In the end, the evening was a complete wash for the American League save for the Angels clinching the West with a 4-3 win over the A’s. All that happened was that one more game came off the schedule. Thus, despite the Yankees failure to emerge with a victory last night, their Drive For Five is down to four. With four wins the Yankees will win the American League East.

For those gluttons for punishment, the bloody details of last night’s games follow the jump.

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The Red Sox won Game One of their double-header today 3-1. It was a swift, low-scoring affair that took just 2 hours and 23 minutes to play and was dominated by pitching, particularly the pitching of Tim Wakefield (7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 6 K), who didn’t allow a hit through the first four innings. All three Red Sox runs were driven in by Boston’s Big Boys, two by David Ortiz (1 for 4, 2B, 2Ks) and one by Manny Ramirez (1 for 2, IBB, HBP, throwing error). Meanwhile, the Blue Jays wasted the solid pitching of Dave Bush and Dustin McGowan by stranding runners in scoring position in the eighth and ninth against Jon Papelbon and Mike Timlin.

And with that, the Red Sox and Yankees are again tied atop the AL East. Of course. You didn’t actually think the Yankees would get any breathing room, did you? Still, for those in a state of panic over what awaits the Yankees in the coming week, consider this: The Yankees only need to win five games to make the postseason. That’s it. Just five.

Of course, there are only six games left in the season, but if the Yankees win five of them, there is no way the Red Sox can beat them. Of course, part of the reason for that is that a minimum of two of those wins will have to come against the Sox this weekend (if the Yanks sweep the O’s they’ll enter that series no worse than tied and can win the division by taking two of three in Boston, if they drop just one game to the O’s, they can still win the division by sweeping the Sox as they’ll be no worse than a game out come Friday morning). Yes, that sounds daunting when you spell out how those five wins would have to be acquired, but when you think about it as just five wins, five of six for a team that has won 13 of their last 15, it doesn’t sound so bad.

Tonight the Yankees look to drop that quasi-magic number (their actual magic number is seven, but any Yankee win against the Sox would take two off of that as it represents any combination of Yankee wins and Red Sox loses that totals seven) to four by sending Mike Mussina back to the hill against Bruce Chen. Last Thursday, Mussina came off the unofficial disabled list to pitch six efficient innings allowing just one unearned run on four hits and no walks while striking out six men. It was the ideal outing for Moose coming off the elbow inflammation that shut him down for more than three weeks. He threw just 76 pitches, 76 percent of which were strikes, mixing in his full repertoire, getting his fastball up to 91 and a nice break on his knucklecurve.

Chen, meanwhile, cruised through the first four innings, retiring twelve straight men after a Derek Jeter lead-off single and a Bernie Castro error started the first. Jorge Posada then led off the fifth with a solo homer and capped a four-run Yankee rally in the sixth with a three-run dinger that drove Chen from the game. Still, it’s worth remembering that, prior to that start, Chen had turned in eight quality start in his nine outings since returning to the Oriole rotation after a brief tune-up in the bullpen in late July, and had posted a 1.84 ERA with a 0.92 WHIP in those nine starts combined.

Mussina reported no discomfort following his bullpen session on Saturday. Obviously, the Yankees hope he will be able to build on last week’s start, stretching out his pitch count in anticipation of Sunday’s season finale against Curt Schilling and the Red Sox. Having Mussina back at full strength would be a tremendous boon to the Yankees playoff hopes. On his career, Mussina has a 2.90 ERA in September, his best mark in any single month save his 0.95 ERA in five regular season October starts (Sunday is October 2). Separating out the past three seasons (2002-2004) that September ERA improves to 2.50. Moose also has a career 3.16 ERA in the postseason, nearly a half-run better than his career ERA during the regular season. This is his time of year, and it’s great to see him back in action. Here’s hoping I still feel that way after the last out of tonight’s game.

“You have to be confident; if you’re not confident, you might as well go home. It was really nice of the fans,” captain Derek Jeter said pointedly, “but it won’t be Bernie’s last game here.”
(N.Y. Daily News)

The Yankees and Red Sox each have seven games remaining and appear to be on a collision course for the final three, which they’ll play against each other this coming weekend in Boston. Yesterday, the Sox completed their three-game sweep of the Orioles, while the Yankees rallied to beat the Blue Jays, 8-4. On an afternoon when Bernie Williams–possibly playing for the last time as a Yankee in the Bronx–received several ovations, Robinson Cano and Gary Sheffield provided the fireworks, as C.W. Wang had another credible outing.

Boston and New York are tied for first place–the Sox play four against the Jays this week while the Yanks play four against the Orioles. I doubt whether either team will be able to build more than a two-game cushion going into Friday night (and maybe that’s a stretch). If their rivalry has taught us anything over the past three seasons it is that things will go to the last moment, the games will be theatrical and almost unbearably tense. What both of ’em have to hope for is that the Devil Rays will give the Indians trouble (the Tribe, one-half-game ahead of both Boston and New York in the wildcard race, has the day off), and that the White Sox will pounce on Cleveland over the weekend.

Otherwise, it is simple: one week of baseball will determine whether New York or Boston moves on. If it does in fact come down to the last three, one fan base gets its dream scenerio while the other faces its worst nightmare. What could be better for Red Sox fans than to illiminate the Yankees at Fenway Park? And what could be worse than losing to them? And vice versa.

Oy and veh, peoples. Pass the pepto.

Mariano Rivera got loose in the Yankee bullpen during the top of the ninth inning tonight but that is as close as he came to contributing to the team’s 5-0 win over the Blue Jays. Shawn Chacon pitched eight brilliant innings (allowing just three hits and walk to go with three strikeouts) and the very flammable Scott Proctor worked a scoreless ninth (around two bases runners). It was the Bombers fifth consecutive victory and their 10th in their last 11 games. Derek Jeter and Robinson Cano hit back-to-back dingers in the first inning, as the team scored four times off of Ted Lily giving Chacon all the support that he would need. Thankfully, it wasn’t a one-run game, and in the process the bullpen got some much-needed rest. Chacon was nothing short of terrific.

The Yanks remain a game ahead of the Red Sox who came back from an early 3-1 deficit (thanks in large part to a careless throwing error by Miguel Tejada) to bury the hapless Orioles, 6-3. Jose Contreras, who has been fantastic recently, pitched a complete-game as the White Sox beat the Twins, 3-1, while the Indians out-lasted the Royals, 7-6. Everything’s the same cause tonight, everbody won.

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Well, I guess we Yankee fans just need to reside ourselves to the fact that each and every game from here on out is going to be dramatic in one way or another. The Bombers seem incapable of playing anything but a one-run contest these days–last night was their sixth in the last seven games as they beat the Orioles 7-6 on a cool and breezy night in the Bronx. But right now the bottom line, more than ever, is the the bottom line: winning. And no matter how uncomfortable or ugly it might be to watch, the Yanks have been winning, not losing and that makes all the difference in the world doesn’t it?

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When a Yankee player crosses home plate after hitting a home run it has become customary for his teammate to raise a finger to his lips in the universal expression of “shhh.” That is very much how I feel this morning after the Yankees edged in front of the Red Sox into first place. According to The New York Times:

“I don’t think it really means anything,” shortstop Derek Jeter said. “We still have to play well. There’s no time to congratulate anyone or walk around and be happy, because we haven’t won anything. If we play well and win our games, everything will be fine.”

Behind a vintage performance by Randy Johnson the Bombers beat the Orioles 2-1 last night in the Bronx–their fifth one-run contest in their last six games–while the Devil Rays came-from-behind to topple the Sox, 7-4 in Tampa. The Bombers are a half-a-game up on the Sox, who have the day off, and remain a half-a-game behind the Indians for the wildcard. Mike Mussina will take the mound for New York tonight (with Senator Al Leiter waiting in the wings should Mussina falter in his return); the Yanks have eleven games left, while the Sox have ten.

Johnson was simply overpowering. He didn’t allow a hit until the fifth inning. In the sixth, the fleet Bernie Castro reached first on an infield single. He slapped a shot down the third base line, a sure double, but it was stabbed by Alex Rodriguez, but there was no way to nab Castro. Melvin Mora then pounced on one of the only mistakes of the night for Johnson–a belt-high fastball–driving it into left center field for a double. After Miguel Tejada flew out to center, Javey Lopez hit another smash to third. This time it was to Rodriguez’s left. The Yankee third baseman slickly picked the ball and threw on to first to end the inning, saving a run in the process.

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The Yankees and Orioles have played a lot of turgid, exhausting games against each other during the past decade, and last night’s unsightly 12-9 Yankee win was no exception. Weighing in at a combined 21 runs, 34 hits, and 345 pitches in 3 hours and 41 minutes, it was an ugly victory for New York, one which left me feeling more frustrated than pleased, but hey, a win, is a win, is a win, and I should not complain. Aaron Small was forgettable as he improved his record to 9-0, and the Yankee relief corps were just as bad, so bad that Mariano Rivera was forced into a game in which the team scored a dozen runs. Fortunately, Rivera only needed eight pitches to retire the Birds in the ninth, but with precious little time remaining in the season, this was not a night where you wanted to see Mo in the game.

However, the Yankees did pick up a game on the Indians who lost to the White Sox in a dramatic, extra-inning affair in Chicago. They are just a half-a-game behind the Tribe and remain a half-a-game behind the Red Sox who battered the Devil Rays 15-2 (David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez were the stars, belting the bejesus out of the ball all night, prompting John Olerud to observe, “Maybe they ought to put out a public address announcement to tell those children out there to be careful.”) The backpage headlines in both the Daily News and New York Post this morning read “Half and Half.”

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Yankee fans have been hollering all year about the team’s propensity for leaving runners on base. Last week, a reader wondered where the team ranks in that category. David Pinto has pointed me in the right direction, and it should come as no surprise that the Yanks lead the American League in runners left on base with 1163. The Red Sox are second with 1149, followed by Oakland (1089), Cleveland (1049) and Minnestoa (1036). However, as Pinto also mentioned to me, the Yanks and Sox score a lot of runs so it is natural that they would be at the top of the league in leaving men on. Boston currently leads the league in runs scored with 838, followed by Texas (816), New York (806), Cleveland (727) and Oakland (724). The team that looks the worst here are the Twins who are dead last in the AL in runs scored (637).

“I’ve never hit a walk-off homer, ever, in my whole life, not even in Little League,” Crosby said. “To do it at Yankee Stadium, this time of year, when it counts, it just doesn’t get any better than this.”
(N.Y. Times)

C.W. Wang pitched his best game since returning from the DL last night, holding the Orioles to two runs over eight innings. He was a little shaky in the first three innings but after that, he cruised, getting Baltimore to hit ground ball after ground ball. I can’t recall him throwing harder either. The YES broadcasters said his fastball was hitting between 93-96 mph. Wang had nine assists himself (two shy of the League record). He left the game after eight fine innings with the score tied at two. The Yankees blew a scoring opportunity in the third inning (Gary Sheffield, depleted of his power, grounded into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded) and left nine men on base in total for the night. However, they managed to score two runs in fifth (RBI single by Alex Rodriguez, RBI ground out by Sheff) to tie the game at two.

Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth. After striking out Jay Gibbons (check swing) for the first out, Javey Lopez popped out to Tino Martinez. Actually the ball was in foul territory up the first base line. Crosby raced in from right and Cano motored over from second. Cano almost collided with Tino, who was once again called on as a defensive replacement for Giambi, but Martinez held onto the ball for the out. B.J. Surhoff followed and hit the first pitch in virtually the same spot. Actually, this play was even easier for Martinez but an overeager Cano bumped into him and the ball dropped out of Tino’s glove. (Martinez shot Cano a look that said, “Now, listen here, son, lemme ‘splain something to you…”) Surhoff worked the count full before lining out to Hideki Matsui in left.

Bubba Crosby, who already had two hits, led off the bottom of the ninth and plastered a 1-0 breaking ball deep into the right centerfield bleachers. Crosby, who hasn’t hit a home run in well over a year, knew it was gone immediately, and went into style-mode. He practically froze at the plate, like he was doing a dance move, admiring his unlikely moment in the spotlight.

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Doity, filty, stinkin’ boids. C.M. Wang squares off against the Orioles’ talented southpaw Erik Bedard tonight in the Bronx. Yanks must to take at least three of four against Baltimore, both this week and next week. Hopefully, they come out on the good foot and nab a “w.” Whatta ya say, let’s go boys!

Every loss hurts more. The Yankees fell to the Blue Jays on a bright sunny afternoon in Toronto 6-5 leaving Yankee fans to grind their teeth for the rest of the day. Although the team went 5-1 on their road trip, this was a sour ending as they blew an opportunity to move to within a half-a-game of Boston. They did, however, lose a game in the wildcard standings to Cleveland, who crushed Kansas City. It wasn’t so much that the Yanks lost, it was they way they played: tight and sloppy. After two important wins on Friday and Saturday, this was another example of a game they let slip away.

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The Yankees have won six games and already taken the weekend series against the Blue Jays. Funny to think that they could start the week having lost ground on Boston and Cleveland should those two teams win today and the Yanks lose. Our old friend Ted Lilly will square off against Jaret Wright this afternoon in Toronto. Wright tends to get hurt early, but the Yankees desperately need him to make like Shawn Chacon and give them some length. More to the point, they need the offense to put up at least a half-a-dozen runs, which is possible, though no lock against Lilly, who can be nasty when he’s on. Jorge Posada is showing some signs of life, and Robinson Cano has been hot. Let’s see who can step up today. Got to drive ’em in when they are on, boys. Let’s see youse guys get them ducks off the pond.

One more pin Rodney. Just win it. Any which way you can.

The last two victories for the Yankees are just the kind of games that could make you start to believe. Then again, if you are an Indians fan, I’d think you are feelin’ the faith pretty strong right now too. The Yankees won 1-0 yesterday afternoon putting pressure on Cleveland and Boston, who in turn both won one-run games last night as well. It was the Yankees league-leading 13th shutout on the year (go figure that), a nail-biter that featured some timely defense. I counted seven fielding plays over the course of the game (two by Jeter–including his John Stallworth over-the-shoulder routine, two by Cano–one featuring a nice pick by Jason Giambi, one by Matsui, another by Ruben Sierra, and the icing-on-the-gravy by Rodriguez-Cano-Martinez). Vernon Wells also robbed Bernie Williams of extra bases with a basket catch in right-center field that was the definition of smooth.

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Last night, the Yankees won a game by the skin of their teeth, a game that felt like they were going to lose seven different ways even though they held an 11-3 lead at one point. It’s just the kind of game that could mean the difference between them making or missing the playoffs and in the end, they won it. Good thing too as both Cleveland and Boston were victorious as well.

“That’s why the Yankees are the Yankees,” Rays DH Jonny Gomes said. “The buffoonery they had earlier, that was something else. But they’re the Yankees and they’re here now. They mean business. And they’re not taking no for an answer.” (N.Y. Daily News)

Welp, Cliff was right: neither pitcher was pretty last night. But that didn’t stop the Yankees from winning their fourth straight game. Down 5-1, the Bombers scored seven runs in the top of the sixth inning, giving Aaron Small all he would need in order to up his record to an improbable 8-0. The final score: Yanks 9, Rays 5. According to the YES broadcast, it was the tenth time this season that the Yanks have come back from a deficit of four or more runs, a team record. Robinson Cano hit a huge grand slam and Alex Rodriguez made like David Ortiz with a tie-breaking two-run blast which gave the Yanks the lead for good. New York inched to within a half-a-game of the idle Cleveland Indians and a game-and-a-half to the Boston Red Sox who lost to Oakland last night at Fenway Park.

Aaron Small had two bad innings. In the second, he allowed two doubles and hit a man as the Rays jumped to a 2-0 lead; in the fifth, he gave up two singles and a long home run (which hit the catwalk) to Johnny Gomes (hey, the dude can hit the high fastball, ‘specially when it ain’t that fast). He also retired the side in order three times. The most important work for Small came after his offense reclaimed the lead in the top of the sixth. He retired the next five men, throwing strikes, and keeping the aggresive Rays hitters off-balance with his breaking pitches, throwing them slower rather than harder.

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Tom Verducci thinks that the AL MVP award is Alex Rodriguez’s to lose. While he appreciates the fact that David Ortiz is the most dangerous late-inning hitter in the league–and possibly the game–he notes that Rodriguez hasn’t exactly been chopped liver in the clutch either. But the telling difference between the two players comes down to this:

Ortiz doesn’t play defense. There is no way to understate this. The guy is half a player. He is a specialist. He can devote his entire energies to his at-bats. There is a good reason why no position player ever has won the MVP with fewer than 97 games played in the field (Don Baylor, 1979). A DH would have to be miles better than the next best player who actually contributes to his team in both halves of the game. Is Ortiz having that kind of a season over Rodriguez? No. Meanwhile, Rodriguez, after a shaky start, has provided Gold Glove quality defense at third base, once running off the longest errorless streak among all AL third basemen over the past seven years.

Cookie Monster is an outstanding hitter, Alex Rodriguez is an outstanding player.

Um, now that is more like it. Heppy boitday Bernie (Silly Carl, don’t you know my man’s got a hose?).

I’m sorry that I haven’t gotten around to mentioning it sooner, but Matt McGough’s charming memoir about being a bat boy for the Yankees in the early nineties is a light, engaging read. It is particularly compelling if you are a Yankee fan 35 and under. It’s not that the book won’t appeal to you if you are older than that, but I think “Bat Boy” will really resonate with fans who grew up during the Matt Nokes dog days in the Bronx (as it turns out, Nokes is one of the nicer players that McGough encountered, along with Jim Abbott, Bernie Williams and Don Mattingly). McGough’s prose is simple and direct and he tells a good story. It is the perfect holiday gift for a young fan–even a fan who is too young to remember that era. If you are interested, you can check out excerpts of “Bat Boy” over at The Hardball Times (Part One and Two)and at The Futility Infielder. In addition, Peter Handrinos, who has conducted a series of interesting interviews this summer at All-Baseball.com, spoke with the author (again, in two parts–one and two.) McGough was also interviewed on The Baseball Savant blog.