Yeah, it’s hotter n July hot today in the Bronx as Hiroki Kuroda looks to stop the bleeding for the Yanks who have dropped the first two games of this series to the White Sox.
Yanks will need a Score Truck Debut today but they’re facing a tough pitcher in Jake Peavey.
1. Jeter SS
2. Granderson CF
3. Rodriguez 3B
4. Cano 2B
5. Teixeira 1B
6. Swisher DH
7. Ibanez RF
8. Martin C
9. Wise LF
Never mind the lotion: Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Credit: Leonard Freed via Je Suis Perdu]
Adam Warren dug in for the first start of his big league career tonight, dealt to Alejandro De Aza, and came up with a satisfying strike out. Let’s leave Adam Warren right there because it was mostly a mess after that and why rub it in?
The Yankees were on the board early and looked to be playing the part of a big brother protecting his younger sibling his first time out at the playground. The Yankees gave Warren a four-spot in the first, but he must have had a hole in his pocket because it was gone before he could spend it.
Girardi mercifully ended his night in the third and handed the ball to David Phelps. Phelps would be a better option than Warren to begin with – he’s been better in the Minors and looks to have better stuff based on their side-by-side comparison tonight – but he’s been in the bullpen all year and is not prepared to throw a lot of pitches. The Yankees tied it at six in the fourth, but Yankee runs seemed to bring out the worst in the pitchers. Phelps gave the White Sox the lead back one batter into the fifth.
Pitching for the White Sox was a Yankees cast-off named Jose Quintana. He had pitched well in the low minors, but he was not in the Yanks plans. They let him walk as Minor League free agent and the White Sox snatched him up.
He’s been great for Chicago so far, but the Yankees bashed him around for four innings and he seemed destined to be on the losing end whenever the runs stopped scoring. He had nothing and seeing him out there in the six was shocking.
But the Yanks went cold and stupid while the Sox tacked on more runs. The lowlight was either Robinson Cano’s brainless pick-off in the fifth or Cory Wade’s lifeless pitch to Alexei Ramirez, sporting a .563 OPS heading into the game, in the seventh. The homer helped Ramirez add .032 OPS points tonight and finished off the Yankees.
The White Sox kept scoring from there and piled up an ugly 14-7 victory. Joe Girardi’s binder must have said “14-7 = time for a position player to do some pitching.” Dewayne Wise got the last two outs so quickly the other pitchers didn’t even have time to take notes.
Photo via Elsa/Getty Images
Ah, the old place. Well, the second old place, anyhow.
It’s hot out there for Adam Warren’s big league debut. The ball should be a-jumpin’, even though the White Sox are throwing a good young pitcher tonight. I keep waiting for Adam Dunn to hit one into the upper deck in right field.
1. Jeter SS
2. Granderson CF
3. Teixeira 1B
4. A-Rod 3B
5. Cano 2B
6. Swisher RF
7. Jones DH
8. Nix LF
9. Stewart C
Stay hydrated and: Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Credit: Laura Powers]
The Yankees arrived in the nation’s capital to play a doubleheader against the Washington Senators, and 31,000 fans showed up to watch DiMaggio’s attempt to tie and pass George Sisler’s record. Pitching for the Senators in the opening game was knuckleballer Dutch Leonard, probably the last type of pitcher a hitter on a hot streak wanted to face. DiMaggio had trouble in his first two at bats, lining out to center in the second and popping up to third in the fourth. In the sixth inning, Leonard made the mistake of trying to sneak a fastball past our hero, and DiMaggio roped a double to left center, tying the record at forty-one straight. In the ninth inning, Tommy Henrich knocked a two-run blast into the seats, capping the scoring in the 9-4 Yankee victory and stretching the team’s homer streak to twenty-four games in a row.
But back to DiMaggio. As he prepared for his opportunity to pass Sisler in the second game, he discovered that his bat had been stolen. In these days before star players had boxes of signature bats at their disposal, DiMaggio suddenly found himself without a sword to enter the afternoon’s battle. Some weeks earlier, however, Tommy Henrich had borrowed a bat from DiMaggio, looking to change his luck. It had certainly worked for Henrich, and now, in this desparate hour, he offered it back to DiMaggio.
With his new old bat in hand, DiMaggio looked uneasily towards the second game. He usually prepared his bats by sanding the handles to the desired thickness, but there was no time for that now. Also, in what was typical of ballplayers then and now, he was quite superstitious, and didn’t like the idea of changing anything in the middle of the streak, especially not his bat, but there was no choice.
For much of the game, it looked as if the bat thief had saved Sisler’s spot in the record book. DiMaggio flew out to right in the first inning, lined out to short in the third, then flied out to center in the fifth. As he came to bat in the seventh inning, it was possibly his last shot at the record. With the crowd buzzing, he lined a 1-0 fastball into left field for a clean single. The Washington crowd, unconcerned about their team’s 7-5 loss to the Yanks, roared in appreciation of DiMaggio’s feat — forty-two straight games. DiMaggio’s response? “Sure, I’m tickled. It’s the most excitement I guess I’ve known since I came into the majors.”
Joe Gordon’s second inning home run pushed that streak to twenty-five straight, and helped the Yankees move a game and a half ahead of second place Cleveland.
Viciedo's ninth-inning homer cooked the Yankees (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
Going into Thursday night, Ivan Nova had a 1.27 ERA in four starts in June. This is good, because Ivan Nova is suddenly much more important to the Yakees than he was supposed to be. A day after CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte both headed to the disabled list, with Adam Warren and Freddy Garcia looming, an authoritative, effective performance from Nova was an oasis of relief — though, speaking of relief, that part of the equation didn’t go so well. The bullpen, specifically Clay Rapada and David Robertson, worked together to take turn a 3-1 lead in the ninth into a 4-3 loss thanks to a three-run homer from Dayan Viciedo. It was not a particularly charming party trick.
Any last-minute loss is a tough one, but this one was particularly so because it wasted a now-precious good start. Stinging even more was Clay Rapada’s ninth-inning throwing error, which cost the team a double play and probably the win, and the question of whether it all could have been avoided if David Robertson had just started the inning. Girardi said afterwards that he was trying to avoid overusing Robertson given his recent injury and use. I think that’s understandable, but of course Robertson ended up pitching anyway, and there’s room to second guess if you’re so inclined. It was hard not to feel for Rapada watching his postgame interview, in which he looked downright haunted, as if he had just accidentally run over Derek Jeter’s dog.
The runs the Yankees did get came from two doubles in the fifth – Alex Rodriguez knocking Granderson home, and then Cano doing the same for A-Rod – and a Mark Teixeira solo shot in the eighth. Chicago starter Dylan Axelrod ended up with a solid line, even though at times it seemed the Yankees were about to crack him wide open: 7 innings, 6 hits, 3 walks, 4 Ks, 2 ER. In fact, it was just about identical to Nova’s except that the Yankee hurler tossed an additional third of an inning, struck out one more batter, and allowed one less run.
This series also gave Yankees fans their first glimpse of Kevin Youkilis in another kind of Sox uniform, which took me aback even though I was of course expecting it. Youkilis’ odd bat-waggling stance still makes me want to yell obscenities at my TV, just because – the guy is inherently infuriating – but I’m nevertheless a bit sad about his unpleasant separation from Boston, where up til just recently I imagined he might stay for his entire career. It’s not one of the world’s tragedies, but seeing him in the Chicago uniform – and whatever other uniforms are to come – will always be odd. He was 0-for-4 on the night.
How much panic is necessary about the Yankees’ sudden pitching concerns is still unclear, and will largely depend on your individual brand of fandom. It doesn’t sound like Sabathia will miss much too much time, though of course you never know and I just reached down to knock on the wood floor after typing that. But we will not see Pettitte again until September, at best, bringing to a crashing halt one of the best stories of this baseball season. I was in upstate New York visiting my dad when the Yankees announced Pettitte’s return; there’s not much reception where he is, and when I checked my phone as we drove through a rare three-bar zone, the news was so unexpected that I wondered if the phone was actually working properly — as if somehow I had just received a delayed tweet from 2007. That he would not only come back, but do so the tune of a 130+ ERA and regularly pitch into the eighth inning, surpassed my dreams of a best-case scenario. Even his injury was caused by a comebacker, a freak accident, not age or rust. But so it goes.
Hopefully, the Yankees have employees guarding Phil Hughes, Hiroki Kuroda and Nova 24/7, preventing staircase trips and cooking cuts and fending off stray meteors, lightning strikes and coyote attacks. I want their best men on it.
The White Sox are in town for a game-game series, led by our old pal, Robin Ventura. No C.C. this weekend, of course. It’s up to Nova, Hiroki, and Hughes to give the team innings and good ones. Tonight gives Nova. Here’s hoping the Yanks can continue their winning ways.
Jeter SS
Granderson CF
A-Rod DH
Cano 2B
Teixeira 1B
Swisher RF
Ibanez LF
Chavez 3B
Stewart C
Never mind the medical bills: Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Credit: US Presswire]
If the opposition has the Yankees seeing red tonight, you really can’t blame them. When the White Sox take the field at Yankee Stadium, their lineup will include Kevin Youkilis, the latest rivalry castoff from the Red Sox whose .942 OPS against the Bronx Bombers is one highest in the long running feud between Boston and New York. However, Chicago didn’t acquire Youkilis before their series in the Bronx just so they could antagonize the Yankees. Rather, GM Kenny Williams jumped at the opportunity to fill one of the most cavernous holes on a major league roster. That he was able to do so with a three-time All Star was icing on the cake.
Best and Worst by Position, 2012
*DH excludes National League teams.
Note: Player in parenthesis has most plate appearances at the position.
Source: fangraphs.com
Other than catcher for the Oakland Athletics, no position has been more undermanned from an offensive standpoint than third base on the South Side. Before Youkilis was acquired, the combination of Brent Morel, Orlando Hudson, and Eduardo Escobar turned the position into the cold corner, so even with a hot start (5 for 12) by the former Red Sox’ star, it will take some time before the team’s woeful production from third base starts to thaw out.
Now that the White Sox have filled their deepest hole, the onus shifts to the Detroit Tigers, who have frittered away the benefits of having sluggers like Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder by giving away outs from two positions on the diamond. In order to keep up with the White Sox, who currently reside in first place in the A.L. Central, Detroit may also need to make a deal. As the trade deadline nears, the Cubs are expected to hold a fire sale, so, who knows, the answer to the Tigers’ troubles may also reside in Chicago?
For the most part, the primary player who has helped their team lead the league in offense at each position also happens to be in line for an All Star Game start (who says the fans don’t know how what they’re doing?), leaving only Jed Lowrie and Carlos Ruiz as mild surprises. It’s also interesting to note that no team has enjoyed top production from more than one position, which speaks further to the level of parity that currently exists in the game. In the past, a team like the Yankees would dominate the “best list”, but these days, the Bronx Bombers are more of a streamlined offense. Other than second base, the Yankees only rank in the top-five at shortstop, even though they have maintained above average production at every position but left field and catcher.
Yankees’ Relative Production at Each Position, 2012
*DH excludes National League teams.
Source: fangraphs.com
Thanks to the revised postseason structure, the period leading up to the trade deadline promises to be unique, if not active. With so many teams now contenders because of the added wild card, buyers could wind up outnumbering sellers, making the cost of a trade increasingly prohibitive. By striking early, however, the White Sox were able to take advantage of extenuating circumstances in Boston to address their greatest needed without paying too high of a price (or, according to some, any price at all). Because of how well Youkilis has performed against the Yankees, fans of the team may rue the White Sox good fortune over the next four days, but with 15 games left against the Red Sox, the Bronx Bombers could also wind up being one of the early winners of the trading season.
The Yankees rebounded from the previous day’s loss by beating the A’s 7-4. In addition to the win, which put the Bombers back into first place, both streaks were also extended. Charlie Keller’s seventh-inning homerun marked the twenty-third straight game the Yankees had homered.
The pressure on DiMaggio, who entered the game just two games shy of George Sisler’s modern-day record (by now Wee Willie Keeler’s 1897 streak of 44 straight had been re-discovered), was increasing daily. Most pitchers who faced DiMaggio during the streak took the match-up as a challenge, and tried desparately to get him out with their best stuff, but Philadelphia’s starting pitcher, Johnny Babich, approached this game with a different game plan. He had made no secret of his intention to give DiMaggio nothing to hit, no matter what the count or game situation.
True to his word, Babich pitched himself into a 3-0 hole with DiMaggio at the plate in the fourth inning. He then delivered what should’ve been ball four, a pitch several inches off the plate. Instead of accepting his walk, however, DiMaggio reached out and slashed a crotch-high line drive that narrowly missed Babich and then somehow sliced into the gap in right center for a double. The nation now looked forward to the next day’s action, when DiMaggio would have an opportunity to match and pass Sisler’s record in a doubleheader in Washington against the Senators.
[Photo Credit: Alfred Eisenstaedt]
Beautiful day in New York, not too hot, not muggy, as the Yanks looked to sweep the Indians.
What could go wrong?
Well, C.C. Sabathia was placed on the DL before the game with a groin strain. Chad Jennings has the skinny:
“I talked to our doc and he was talking to me about the DL situation,” Brian Cashman said. “(Steve) Donahue was telling him CC was like, ‘Well, maybe miss a start, I don’t know about DL.’ I said, ‘Well start preparing, because I’m going there tomorrow and he’s going on the DL.’ I came in here and it was a one-way conversation. I did all the talking. I know what he wants to do, but this is what we’re going to do. You have to protect players from themselves. He’s a competitor and he wants to be out there. He feels he can pitch with it right now, but we’re not going to mess with it.”
Okay, they are being cautious, it’s not so bad.
Then Andy Pettitte got whacked in the ankle by a line drive off of Casey Kotchman’s bat and before the game ended the word was in and it was not good–a fractured ankle and Pettitte will be lost for a minimum of six weeks. Let’s call it two months. Most us figured that Pettitte would get hurt at some point this summer, perhaps just not this soon. The only blessing here is that he’ll hopefully have the chance to get healthy and return for fall baseball.
Freddy Garcia, who pitched well in relief today, will take his place. I expect that Mr. Cashman will work some sort of deal in the near future as well, though right now it’s like shopping for an umbrella in the rain. Maybe he trades for a decent starter but why not roll the dice and make a boffo move for a guy like Cole Hamels?
Be bold, Mr. Cashman: Be Bold.
In the meantime, today’s come-from-behind 5-4 win, led by Robinson Cano’s go-ahead home run, feels like an afterthought. That despite a tense ninth inning– a bona fide “I Miss Mo” moment–where Rafael Soriano loaded the bases and walked in a run before retiring Assdribble Cabrera to end it.
It is rare when a five-game winning streak felt so somber.
[Photo Credit: Craig Robinson and Frank Franklin II/AP]
DiMaggio and the Yankees took their two streaks into Philadelphia to face Connie Mack’s Athletics and dropped the first game of the series, 7-6. DiMaggio didn’t allow any of the previous day’s drama to repeat itself on this afternoon, however, as he singled on the first pitch he saw in the first inning. With his own streak safe for another day, DiMaggio took care of the team’s streak in the seventh when he launched a shot deep into the left field bleachers. It was his seventeenth of the season, which allowed him to reclaim the American League lead.
Andy’s on the hill this afternoon at the Stadium. Man, it’s an ideal day to play hookey, ain’t it?
Curtis Granderson CF
Nick Swisher RF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Mark Teixeira DH
Raul Ibanez LF
Eric Chavez 1B
Russell Martin C
Jayson Nix SS
Never mind the glare: Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Credit: Megan Cross via It’s a Long Season]
Back in the 1920s a sportswriter for the New York Morning Telegraph named John J. Fitz Gerald came up with a cute little nickname for New York City: The Big Apple. Fifty years later the New York Convention and Visitors Bureau turned that into a marketing campaign, and Gotham City will forever be the Big Apple.
When I was a kid growing up in Michigan in the 1970s, the good people of Cleveland apparently grew tired of simply providing gas for Michiganders on their way to New York City, so they started running commercials on Detroit television based on their spanking new ad campaign: New York might be the Big Apple, but Cleveland’s a plum!
Why drive all the way to New York when you can just go to Cleveland? Right about now Indians fans are thinking pretty much the same thing about their team: Why fly all the way to New York when you could’ve just stayed home.
After Monday night’s 7-1 loss to the Yankees, the Indians gamely showed up at the Stadium for another beating, and the Yankees obliged, starting things off in the second inning with the oddest thing — a two-out rally. With two outs and Nick Swisher on first, DeWayne Wise rifled a single to right, pushing Swisher around to third. Chris Stewart came up next and flicked a soft line drive towards third baseman Jack Hannahan. Hannahan moved to his right towards the line and directly behind the bag, but then simply dropped the ball, allowing Swisher to score the game’s first run.
I had accidentally recorded the Cleveland feed of the game, so I had the amusing pleasure of listening to announcers Matt Underwood and Rick Manning as they analyzed the play. Manning, in particular, was incensed. Even though he didn’t have the camera angle to support his opinion, he railed against third base umpire Mike DiMuro’s call, saying the ball was clearly foul. He went on to state that many teams have complained that visiting teams have a hard time getting calls in Yankee Stadium, as if this were the NBA.
Birthday Boy Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson followed with singles to score two more runs, and Manning got progressively more depressed. At no point did he mention that Hannahan should’ve simply made the play for the out. (Somehow the official scorer did not hang an error on the third baseman.) After the commercial break, Underwood and Manning revealed that they had seen a replay from the YES camera positioned directly above the third base line, and Manning sheepishly admitted DiMuro had gotten the call right. There would be more indignation later.
The Yanks picked up a fourth run in the fifth inning on a Mark Teixeira sacrifice fly, and that four-run lead looked like more than enough because Phil Hughes was back on the beam. Cleveland has been having some serious trouble scoring runs lately, and Hughes did them no favors over the course of his eight innings. He kept the hitters off balance all night, sometimes starting batters off with a darting 92-93 MPH fastball, other times getting ahead with his 72 MPH curve ball. In all, he threw 111 pitches over eight shutout innings, striking out four while allowing just six hits and a walk.
The Indians rarely mounted anything close to a threat, but Hughes responded when they did. When the first two batters singled in the third, Hughes induced a 4-6-3 double play. After a leadoff single in the fifth, another double play. With runners at first and second and one out in the sixth, Hughes muscled up for two swinging strikeouts. After a leadoff double in the seventh, the Indians went down ground out, fly out, foul out. Or did they?
Hannahan was the last batter of that seventh inning, and he floated a high foul pop towards the point of the stands that juts out close to the foul line midway between third base and the foul pole. Left fielder DeWayne Wise drifted into foul territory, leapt over the rail in pursuit of the ball, and disappeared into the crowd. In the confusion that ensued, the spectators closest to Wise helped him up, but a fan three seats from the action suddenly bent over and produced the ball, holding it over his head for all to see. All, that is, except for that man DiMuro, who called Hannahan out even before Wise emerged from the stands. DiMuro never asked to see the ball, and Wise never produced it. He simply sprinted to the dugout with his glove closed. “What was I supposed to do, run back to left field?” asked Wise after the game. “I saw him looking at my glove so I just got up, put my head down, and ran off the field.” Makes perfect sense.
Needless to say, the Cleveland announcers were at a complete loss. They dissected the replay as if it were the Zapruder film, asking their viewers to watch over and and over again as the ball struck Wise’s glove — pushing it back.. and to the right — before disappearing and then reappearing almost ten feet away. It was some magic pop up.
Alex Rodríguez jacked a home run in the bottom half, widening the lead to 5-0, Hannahan, still upset about being robbed in the top half, got himself kicked out as he headed back to the dugout. This led to more from Underwood and Manning, who couldn’t believe DiMuro would run Hannahan. “Hey, you missed the call. Just own up to it. Just say, ‘Hey, you know what? I’m sorry. I didn’t see it. I didn’t see him drop the ball.’ Instead, he throws him out of the game for telling him exactly what the truth was, which was [he was] wrong.” Makes perfect sense.
The Yanks added a sixth run in the bottom of the eight, and Cory Wade came in to pitch the ninth and made a mess of things, coughing up four runs, three of them on a home run by Hannahan’s replacement, José López. Sound and fury, signifying nothing. Rafael Soriano came in to throw two pitches for the final out, and before you know it his shirt was untucked.
[Photo Credit: Kathy Willens/AP Photo]
It’s Phil Hughes, folks.
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Nick Swisher RF
Raul Ibanez DH
Dewayne Wise LF
Chris Stewart C
Never mind letting up now: Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[This amazing picture was taken by our pal Bags]
By now much of the nation was following DiMaggio’s streak on a daily basis through radio updates and newspaper reports. In addition to the fans, DiMaggio’s teammates were acutely aware of what was going on, as evidenced by the drama of this thirty-eighth game. DiMaggio flied out to left in the second, but his fourth inning at bat was more eventful. He hit a sharp grounder which shortstop John Berardino booted for an obvious error. (The twenty-four-year-old Berardino, by the way, would have a forgettable eleven-year career with a handful of baseball teams, but a forty-year career as an actor. Soap fans might remember his thirty-year stint as Dr. Steve Hardy on “General Hospital”.) As DiMaggio crossed first base safely, his Yankee teammates gathered on the top step of the dugout, peering into the pressbox and awaiting the official scorer’s decision. When the error sign was given, the players were furious. DiMaggio was 0 for 2.
After another groundout in the sixth, this time to third, the pressure began to mount, and this is where things got interesting. The Yankees led the Browns 3-1 as they came to bat for what would likely be the final time in the bottom of the eighth inning, and DiMaggio was due up fourth. The first batter, Johnny Sturm, popped up for the first out, but Red Rolfe came up next and managed a walk. With DiMaggio on deck, Tommy Henrich stepped up to the plate but realized that all would be lost if he were to hit into a double play. He had homered earlier to extend the home run streak, but now he was more concerned about DiMaggio’s streak. He called time to consult with Yankee manager Joe McCarthy and suggested that maybe he should lay down a bunt. Even though the score and game situation clearly dictated otherwise, McCarthy gave the okay. Henrich dropped his bunt and advanced Rolfe to second, avoiding the double play and bringing DiMaggio to the plate for one final shot. At this point in the streak, DiMaggio had become more aggressive than usual at the plate, prefering to jump on the first hittable pitch he saw rather than put himself in a two-strike hole or accept a base on balls. In this final at bat, he took the first pitch he saw and roped it past the third baseman and into the left field corner for a double. Both the crowd and his teammates gave him a prolonged ovation. Thirty-eight straight.
As further evidence of the crowd’s focus on DiMaggio, Yankee starting pitcher Marius Russo took a no-hitter into the seventh inning, but no one seemed to notice. The Yankees won the game, 4-1, and remained in a first place tie, but on this day at least, that didn’t seem to matter.
[Photo Credit: Alfred Eisenstaedt]
My wife is reading “Charlotte’s Web” to my soon-to-be Kindergartner, one chapter a night before bedtime. The younger guy doesn’t have the attention span for that yet, so we read picture books while they visit with Templeton and get ready for the fair.
When it’s time to say goodnight, one parent stays in the room while they drift/wrestle to sleep. Allegiances from story time carry over. The little guy demands that I stay in the room; my older son wants my wife. Tonight it was my turn and it was a disaster. My older son wailed for Mommy for a long time. I pleaded half-heartedly, but basically was just hoping he was going to run out of tears.
Finally I got up and and calmly walked to the kitchen, snatched the iPad from the wall socket and, just as calmly, re-entered the room. I said, “I know you want Mommy, but I if I stay I can tell you the baseball scores.” He jumped into bed like Jack Flash and the “tears,” if there ever were any, dried up before his head hit the pillow.
In the dark I whispered updates and he counted runs the way some people count sheep. By the time the Yankees got to six, he was asleep and the Yanks were on their way to an easy victory.
The Yankees won a game tonight the old-fashioned way. By kicking Cleveland’s ass up and down; by having all the best players on the field and dominating every aspect of the game. Hiroki Kuroda’s splitter dug into the dirt around home plate with such precision that I wouldn’t be surprised to find out he was writing a message down there – “Sit Down” or something to that effect. The Indians swung over it again and again and Kuroda racked up seven strikeouts.
The Yankees scored two runs in each of the first three innings. Everyone’s noticed that Robinson Cano is, suddenly and by far, the best hitter on the team? He drove in three on a ringing two-run double and a solo homer. Dewayne Wise knocked in another three runs – two with a homer and one with a triple.
But this 7-1 win is best summed up by the three outs of the top of the eighth. Girardi tried to squeeze the eighth out of Kuroda, but he was over 100 pitches and Sin-Soo Choo’s double put Indians at second and third with no outs. Clay Rapada replaced Kuroda and faced three Indians. None of them were especially turned around by his sidewinding delivery and all three slashed dangerous looking drives into right field.
Nick Swisher, breaking on balls like he was Carnac the Magnificent, tracked down all three. He raced in and towards the line to make an excellent sliding grab on the first ball. He went back toward right center to stab the second. And he ran deep into the right field corner to haul in the third. It’s not so much that any of the catches were difficult, it’s that he covered a ton of ground each time. And he did it with an ever-expanding grin. By the time he caught the third ball right in front of the fans in the right field corner, his smile was epic.
He led off the next inning and I was kind of glad he struck out. Had he hit his second homer of the game, he might have pulled the muscles in his face.
Photo by Elsa/Getty Images
Should the thunder and lightning easy up Hiroki Kuroda and the Yanks will host the Indians tonight at the Stadium:
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Raul Ibanez LF
Eric Chavez 3B
Dewayne Wise CF
Chris Stewart C
Never mind the letdown: Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Credit: Drew Medlin]
DiMaggio didn’t wait nearly as long as he had the previous day to keep his streak alive. He smashed a two-run homer to left in the fourth inning, extending the team streak to twenty straight games with a homerun and moving his number to thirty-seven in a row. He was now only four games shy of George Sisler’s 41-game streak. The homerun was DiMaggio’s 16th long ball of the year, and it moved him into first place in the American League in that category. Building on this early lead, the Yanks went on to top the Browns, 7-5, and moved into a tie with Cleveland for first place in the American League.
[Photo Credit: Carl Mydans]
R.A. Dickey’s scoreless streak ended in the third inning tonight when Mark Teixeira’s sacrifice fly score the first run of the game. Nick Swisher followed with a three-run home run and with C.C. Sabathia on the mound, things looked good for the Yanks.
Nobody, however, had the good sense to alert Robinson Cano that there was a ball game going on. He botched a throw from Chris Stewart that led to a run and Cadillaced a routine ground ball into an error with one out in the sixth. The Yanks were ahead 5-2 but by the time the Mets were retired, Sabathia was on the bench and the score was tied.
Cano knew better than to smile.
If you are looking for a cheesy redemption story, Cano was happy to oblige. He hit a long solo home run against Miguel Bautista to lead off the eighth inning. It proved to be the difference.
David Robertson worked around a two out base runner–and a balk–in the eighth, and Raphael Soriano did the same in the ninth (his strike out against David Wright to start the inning was a tense, exciting confrontation).
By that point, the rain poured on the field. The Yankees appeared to have the game in hand, then to blow it, but Cano–who was partially responsible for squandering the lead–came through with the biggest hit of the night.
Final Score: Yanks 6, Mets 5.
Yanks take the season series, 5-1.
[Photo Credit: Elsa/Getty Images]
C.C. vs. R.A. ‘Nuff said. Terrific match-up.
1. Jeter, SS
2. Granderson, CF
3. A-Rod, 3B
4. Cano, 2B
5. Teixeira, 1B
6. Swisher, RF
7. Ibanez, LF
8. Stewart, C
9. Sabathia, LHP
Never mind that damn knuckler: Let’s Go Yank-ees!
[Photo Credit: N.Y. Daily News]
The St. Louis Browns, one of the worst teams in baseball, came to Yankee Stadium for a three-game series, and the Yankees took advantage immediately, taking the first game in a walk, 9-1. Red Rolfe homered for the Bombers in the second inning, keeping the homerun streak alive, but DiMaggio made the fans wait a bit longer to see if he could extend his hitting streak. He grounded out in the first, popped out in the third, and then fell victim to the dimensions of the Stadium as he smashed a long fly to left center, only to have it hauled in some 457 feet from the plate for a long out. Finally, in the eighth inning, the Clipper ended the suspense and came through with a clean single over the head of the shortstop. Elsewhere, Ted Williams was “slumping.” He was hitless for the second game in a row, and his average plummeted to .403.
