Game 78 Recap

CC Sabathia carried a shutout into the 8th inning and had allow just four baserunners to that point. It was widely assumed that since the Yankees were facing Ryan Rowland Smith, their bats would come to life, but instead Sabathia had only a two run cushion at that point.

The Big Fella walked the light-hitting Josh Bard on four straight pitches to begin the 8th and after getting Michael Saunders to pop out, allowed a single to Ichrio to put the tying run on base. Sabathia induced another very shallow fly to Chone Figgins but with Russell Braynan at the plate, Jorge Posada let a change up slip past him and the runners advanced to second on third. Braynan then pulled a clean base hit to right field and spoiled not only CC's shutout but the Yankees lead as well.

The tie was short-lived, however. Mark Teixeira came up with a one out single in the bottom half of the inning and Alex Rodriguez took a high fastball from David Aardsma the other way and into the short porch in right, thereby stealing back the win Sabathia rightfully deserved.

The Yanks did at least salvage some dignity in this series after losing the first two and they'll welcome Toronto to the Bronx for a three game set starting tomorrow night.