Yanks Hit Their Numbers, Take Regular Season Finale

You know what time it is. Time for the bullet points, Fackers:

• A.J. Burnett pitched fairly well today, giving up two runs (one earned) over 5 innings. Evan Longoria homered off Burnett in the first inning and also came around to score on a passed ball in the fifth. Burnett worked into and out of trouble in third and fifth but escaped largely unscathed, getting Willy Aybar to stirke out to end both threats. He threw 84 pitches and allowed 7 hits, but only walked one batter. It was the 100th win of of his career and the 13th of his up and down first season in Pinstripes.
  
  
• After Burnett, David Robertson, Joba Chamberlain, Phil Coke, Phil Hughes and Mariano Rivera all pitched without allowing a single baserunner between them and recorded a strikeout apiece.
  
  
• The Yanks were held scoreless in 8 out of their 9 frames, but the top of the 6th was a duesy. Ten Yanks crossed the plate, and seven of them were driven in by A-Rod, which is a new American League record. In between the blasts, Johnny Damon added an RBI double and Freddy Guzman scored with the bases loaded when Andy Sonnanstine couldn't handle a tapper from Jose Molina.
  
  
• A-Rod's season ended as spectacularly as it began. The first pitch he saw this year turned into a three run homer and the last one ended up as a grand slam. He came into the game with 28 HRs and 93 RBIs and amazingly, incredibly, rounded out a 30HR, 100RBI effort for the 12th straight season in the 6th inning alone. The salami also tied him for 8th place all-time with Mark McGwire at 583.
  
  
• The Yanks hit win number 103, tying their mark from 2002 and broke and set their single season home run total with #'s 243 & 244 off the bat of A-Rod.
  
  
• The only person who didn't get to a dangling milestone was Mark Teixeira, who was stymied at 39 homers and will end the season tied with Carlos Pena for the AL lead. The Rays walked him in front of A-Rod before the grand slam which seems kind of weak but A-Rod made them pay.
  
  
• George Steinbrenner made a visit to the clubhouse before the game and saw the Yanks play in person for the first time since July 29th.
  
  
• And in AL Central News, the Twins and Tigers both won and will square off in a play-in game on Tuesday. That game should be good theater on what would have been an eerily quiet night in sports and helpful for the Yanks as well.
  
  
• Justin Verlander was dominant until the 8th inning for the Tigers. He gave up three runs in the frame but Fernando Rodney bailed him out and then closed the game down as the Tigers won 5-3.
  
  
• With the Tiger's victory already in the books the Twins came fairly close to gagging away the victory in the 6th inning. Pavano gave up three runs in the frame before getting yanked. Ron Gardenhire burned through three more pitchers to get the final two outs and at one point Kansas City brought the tying run at the plate via a HBP. As they are so adept at doing, the Royals blew the chance and the Twins went on to win 13-4.

See y'all tomorrow, there's more football to watch.

Yanks Hit Century Mark, Sweep Sox, Clinch AL East & Homefield

As Jay laid out in the preview, with a single victory this afternoon, the Yankees had an opportunity to accomplish a great number of things: reaching the 100 victory mark for the first tie since 2004, sweeping the Sox and evening the season series, clinching the AL East for the first time since 2006, and clinching homefield advantage for the duration of their stay in the post-season. Mother Nature delayed things by about an hour, but neither the rain nor the commentary of Joe Morgan and Steve Phillips were enough to put a damper on today.

Andy Pettitte made his second post shoulder fatigue start. Despite allowing ten baserunners in six innings and staking the Sox to an early 2-0 lead, Pettitte's start was an encouraging one. Once again he showed no signs of trouble stemming from the issues that hampered him earlier in the month, and in classic Pettitte fashion, he found a way to work himself out of the trouble he worked into. The Sox extracted some retribution for Jon Lester and Daisuke Matsuzaka by getting Pettite with a Mike Lowell comebacker in the first, but Pettitte survived unscathed.

His offense got him out of the early hole he dug. Melky Cabrera cut the deficit in half with a solo shot to right field in the third inning, and Hideki Matsui delivered a big two out two RBI base hit in the sixth to give the Yankees the lead. Mark Teixeira capped the scoring with a towering solo shot in the eighth, leaving him one short of Carlos Pena for the AL lead.

How good were things for the Yanks this afternoon? With Phil Hughes and David Robertson unavailable, Brian Bruney relieved Andy Pettitte and retired all five batters he faced while throwing two thirds of his pitches for strikes. Phil Coke finished the eighth by striking out David Ortiz. Mariano Rivera came on for the third day in a row, and just as he did Saturday, he brough the tying run to the plate. He worked out of the jam though, and closed out the game to clinch the division, just like old times.

A post-game clubhouse champagne celebration ensued; with any luck it will be the first of four this fall. While the youngsters and new-comers like Teixeira, Nick Swisher, A.J. Burnett, and CC Sabathia enjoyed the moment, the guys that had been there a bit longer were somewhat more subdued. Regardless of seniority, to a man, all recognized that this was just the first step. The team now has the season's final week to get prepared for step two.

(Photos)

Recycling A Thirty-Six Year Old Bad Idea

Except this one somehow worked out...

Something referred to as "Brett Tomko" allegedly threw a complete game, 5 hit shutout last night. Against the Rangers. In Texas, knocking the Rangers 4.5 behind the Red Sox in the Wild Card. Multiple sources have confirmed this outlandish tale, however I remain skeptical and will be reviewing the game via MLB.tv shortly for anything suspicious.

Since picked up by the A's, The Artist has gone 4-1 with a 2.95 ERA in 6 starts with only one poor outing, striking out 22 while walking 6. I guess he had a right to be all bitchy about not being "given a fair shot".

It was his 100th career win, which might be somewhat impressive if he didn't have 102 losses.

Just to review, Tomko gave up 12 earned runs in 20.2 innings (5.23 ERA) with the Yankees, mostly in relief, which is theoretically easier than starting and had a tiny BABIP of .230. But since moving to Oakland and pitching solely in the rotation, 36 year old Brett Tomko, owner of a 92 career ERA+ has also given up 12 runs, but in 36.2 IP for an ERA two and a quarter runs lower. He's won 4 games for a team that has gone 13-13 over that time. Damn you Billy Beane!

If I was John Sterling, I'd say "I'll tell you what, that's why you just can't predict baseball!!11!" but instead I'll just pose the rhetorical question, "What the fuck?".

Yanks Rock Rays, Sweep Twin Bill

The first two and a half innings of the night portion of the doubleheader seemed to indicate that the Yankees and Rays were headed for another pitcher's duel. A.J. Burnett stumbled out of the gate, allowing back to back doubles to Gabe Gross and Evan Longoria to put the Rays up 1-0. However, he then rebounded to strike out four over the next 2.2 IP, working around two walks and a single to keep the Rays lead at one heading into the bottom of the third.

Andy Sonnanstine had faced the minimum amount of batters through the first two frames but not only did the wheels come off in the third, but the car swerved off the road, down an embankment and burst into flames. The Yanks sent 13 men to the plate in the inning, eight of whom came around to score on eight hits and two walks. The game was blown wide open, but there was a lingering sense of a disappointment.

Derek Jeter, the man receiving the loudest cheers of encouragement, made two of the three outs in the inning. He did reach base on a fielder's choice, driving in a run and came around to score. However, the 17 hits tallied by the Yankees tonight will be best remembered not for Mark Teixiera's two home runs or Jose Molina picking up 3 singles, but for the fact that Jeter, still 3 away from Lou Gehirg on the All-Time Yankee hit list after going 0-4 in the first game, didn't pick up any of them. It was reminiscent of the game back on July 31st, 2007 when A-Rod was sitting at 499 HRs and the Yankees bashed 8 as a team en route to a 16-3 win, but Alex went 0-5.

Jeter wasn't as close to his milestone and this game wasn't quite that lopsided, but Burnett went six innings and didn't allow another run and the Yanks added three more as they dominated the fading Rays. A.J. was backed up by Edwar Ramirez, Jonathan Albaledejo and Mike Dunn, who each threw scoreless innings of relief. Dunn's was the least impressive as his control problems continued, throwing only 11 of his 24 pitches for strikes and walking two.

The sweep of the doubleheader in conjunction with a White Sox win over the Red Sox shrank the Yankees magic number from 19 to 16, extended their lead in the division to a season-high 9 games and their record to 39 games over .500 for the first time since September 30th, 2004. There have been ample opportunities for the Yankees to let up since the All-Star break, but they haven't taken any of them, ripping off a 38-13 record (.745) since that point.

Going 11-12 over their final 23 games would give the Yanks their first 100 win season since '04, but there has been nothing to indicate that this team will coast to the finish line in such a manner. This team just gets more impressive as the season wears on.