1. The Yankees loaded the bases in the second inning on singles by Jorge Posada, Nick Swisher and Derek Jeter. With two outs, Nick Johnson worked the count to 3-1 and fouled off three straight pitches before taking a cutter high for ball four and forcing in a run. Mark Teixeira followed that with a broken bat single that just reached the outfield grass between first and second base, putting the Yanks up 2-0. With the bases still loaded, A-Rod swung at the first pitch he saw and flew out to center, ending the inning.2. Scott Feldman ran into more trouble in the third. After getting Robinson Cano to ground out to second, he gave up a single to Posada and a double to Curtis Granderson before Ron Washington had seen enough. Wash called on Doug Mathis to face Nick Swisher.
Swish hit a fly ball to shallow left, not deep enough to score Jorge Posada and the Rangers once again were one out away from getting out of the inning. However, Brett Gardner hit an infield single, scoring Posada and brining Jeter to the plate. With the Captain at bat, Gardner took of for second base and Taylor Teagarden sailed the throw into the outfield and Curtis Granderson took off for home.
Jeter then followed with a rare home run to left, a two run shot that put the Yanks ahead 6-0.
3. A-Rod hit his first home run of the year in the bottom of the 4th, a solo shot that extended the lead to 7-0.
4. Despite getting 8 men on base against him, the Rangers didn't get to A.J. Burnett. The same could not be said for Alfredo Aceves. Nelson Cruz blasted a three run homer off of him in the 8th inning to bring the score to 7-3 Yankees. That was the final.
IFs, ANDs & BUTs
- The Yankees had a host of infield hits today. Gardner picked up three of them, and one each for Granderson, Jeter and Teixeira.
- In the at bat that Teix eventually came up with the RBI single, he took a 0-1 curveball that was clearly low and outside but called a strike. Obviously, 0-2 is worlds away from 1-1 and it looked for a moment like that call might doom the at bat, but alas it did not.
- A.J. Burnett had three 1-2-3 innings but had a runner get to at least second base in the other four, although none of them came around to core. The Rangers loaded the bases in the 5th inning with one out but Burnett got Julio Borbon to pop out to first and Michael Young to fly out to right. His final line: 7 IP, 0ER, 6H, 2BB, 7K.
- Cano's ten game hitting streak to begin the season came to and end, but after a 3-4 effort, Jeter's rolls on.
- The Yanks worked only two walks in the game, both by Nick Johnson. They only struck out four times whereas the Rangers had 10 Ks.
- Ramiro Pena entered as a defensive replacement in the 8th inning, his second appearance of the year.
- After Aveces gave up the home run, Damaso Marte and Joba Chamberlain combined to get the final five outs without giving up a baserunner.
The series - which the Yanks have already won - concludes with a matchup between Andy Pettitte and Rich Harden at 1:05 tomorrow.
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It's really good to see the Yanks get off to a strong first two weeks, Jay. Most of the last few years have been quite the opposite. Hopefully they can keep it rolling today, but have already won their first four series.
ReplyDeleteNo worries about Teixeira from me. He will come around. Great that Gardner didn't get a hit out of the infield, yet proved disruptively productive. He's a big difference maker when on base. Gardner and Thames have combined to go 13-37 (.351) with 9 runs and 4 RBI. I'd like to see a few more extra-base hits from them, but would gladly take such continued productivity in whatever form it comes. They don't need world beaters in left field if the rest of the team is healthy.
Gotta love what Granderson is doing thus far, .326/.370, 6 XBH. Thus far, his transition to the Yankees has been seamless.
Jeter picked up in 2010 where he left off in 2009, batting .380. 19 hits in 11 games is smoking.
Let the home runs continue from A-Rod et al.