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.

Game 139: Workin' Man Blues

Every team wants a split at worst heading into a double header, so in a sense, the Yankees are playing with house money as they wrap up their first twinbill since the final day of last season. A.J. Burnett goes against Andy Sonnanstine in the night cap of this Labor Day double dip.

Burnett needs to right his ship as the post-season approaches. After getting touched up in Boston on June 9th, Burnett went on a remarkable run of eight consecutive quality starts, during which he went 6-1 with a 1.68 ERA, culminating with seven innings of two hits, two walks, and one unearned run against the Rays on July 27th. Since then though, Burnett has struggled, going 0-4 with a 6.58 ERA is his last seven starts. Technically, he has four quality starts in that stretch, but his only impressive performance was his seven and two thirds of one hit shutout ball against Boston on August 7th. He'll look to right himself today, and thankfully for Burnett, he's 2-0 with a 2.14 ERA and 0.76 WHIP in three starts against the Rays this year.

For the Rays, Andy Sonnanstine is also trying to straighten himself out. After a respectable sophomore campaign in 2008 (13-9, 4.38 ERA), 2009 has been unkind to Sonnanstine (6-8, 6.62), so much so that he spent June 26th through September 1st in AAA. Even with his two month demotion, Sonnanstine has made three starts against the Yankees this year, two of which were pretty good, one of which was pretty bad. For the season, he's 0-1 with a 4.19 ERA and 0.98 WHIP against the Yanks. In his three year career, he's 2-2 with a 5.23 ERA in seven starts against the Yanks, but with a very respectable 1.09 WHIP.

As you likely noticed, Brett Gardner was activated in time for the afternoon game. Shelley Duncan was also recalled pushing the Yankees' roster to 33. For the Rays, Carlos Pena is done for the season after breaking two fingers during his lone at bat in game one.

If the goal for a team in a double header to work a split, the axiom for a player, as Ken Singleton has so often pointed out, is to get three hits. Derek Jeter took an oh-for in the opener, so he'll need his twentieth three hit game of the season to fill his quota. If he can accomplish that, he'll tie Lou Gehrig as the Yankees all-time hits leader.

Baseball's regular season is a six month long daily grind. On a day when most of us get a much-appreciated holiday, the Yanks have to play two for the first time all year. Thanks to big leads in the division and home field races - leads that both grew by a game this afternoon - and one game already under their belts for the day, the Yankees can afford to give a few guys a holiday tonight. Alex Rodriguez, Jorge Posada, Brett Gardner, and Eric Hinske will get the night off. But the Yanks still have to send nine men to the field, so Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Nick Swisher, Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera get to pull a double shift and put their noses right back to that grindstone. Here's hoping they can help A.J. Burnett solve his recent stretch of the blues.



It's a big job gettin' by with nine kids and a wife
Yeah but I've been a workin' man dang near all my life
And I'll keep on working as long as my two hands are fit to use
I'll drink a little beer that evening
And sing a little bit of these workin' man blues.

Well I keep my nose on the grindstone; work hard everyday
I might get a little tired on the weekend, after I've drawn my pay
But I go back to workin, come Monday morn I'm right back with the crew
I drink a little beer that evening
And sing a little bit of these workin' man blues.

Game 57: Serial Killa(z)

Since dropping both halves of a two game set against the Rays back on May 6th and 7th, the Yankees have won seven out of eight series against their opposition. The only one they lost was against the World Champion Phillies and all three of those games were closely contested. A win tonight could make it eight out of nine.

They done it every which way, dropping the first game of three against Toronto, taking all four against the Twins by a grand total of 5 runs, blasting the Orioles in each of the three games in the Bronx, and taking 2 out of three from Texas both in Arlington and at the Stadium. The Twins and O's were the only two sweeps, the other five have gone 2-1 in favor of the Yanks.

Those three walk off wins against the Twins seem like the obvious turning points in hindsight. Dramatic wins and whipped cream pies in the face have a way of galvanizing teams and making them think they should win every game (or at least every series). Momentum is a fickle mistress, but the Yankees appear to be doing a hell of a job of keeping her around at the moment.

The one player with the most influence on whether the Yanks can notch another series victory tonight will be Andy Pettitte. The 37 year old eclipsed the 2800 innings pitched mark in the fifth inning of his last start, which is a hell of a lot when you think about it. The only problem was that he didn't come out for the sixth. He only allowed one run in the outing before that in Cleveland (where his back problems first surfaced) but that outing was only 5 innings as well. Pettitte went deeper into his previous two but allowed 4ER in each. His last quality start was on May 13th and before that you have to go back to April 26th to find another. It's not to say that Pettitte has been horrible, he's pitched well enough to pick up five wins, but we've come to expect a little more from our lefty.

For the Rays, Andy Sonnanstine will toe the rubber. His two starts against the Yankees this year are the only two in which he has not received a decision. One was a 4-3 victory for the Yanks back on April 15th, and the other was a 4-3 win for the Rays on May 6th. In 11 starts this year, Sonnanstine has a decent 4-5 record but a hideous 7.07 ERA. He's been good against the Bombers so far this year, allowing 2 runs in each of his starts, going 5IP the first time and 7 1/3 the second. He's been decidedly more cold than hot against the rest of the league, however. The other Andy has given up 2 or fewer runs just as often he's given up 5 or more (5 times each), so let's set the over/under at 3.5 and see what happens.

Game 27: In The Evening

With the Rays in town, I felt like a Ray Charles tune was the way to go. It's a bluesy number, which is also fitting because the Yankees have lost three straight. 

They are 3-8 within their division and tonight seems like as good of a time as any to start pushing that record in the right direction. Girardi will hand the ball to A.J. Burnett at 7:07, the fifth time in six starts this has happened following a loss. Four times it resulted in a Yankee victory. One of those times was on April 14th, when Burnett carried a no-hitter into the 7th inning against the Rays. 

Sitting at 12-16, the Rays actually make the 13-13 record the Bombers have accumulated look pretty good. Since they play in Tampa and have no fans, however, no one seems to be pushing the panic button on them yet. This is New York, so not only is the team under a magnifying glass, it's a sunny day and the media is trying to angle it juuuuust right.

If you want to read doom and gloom about the Yanks, you're probably in the wrong place. There's enough of that out there and there's really no use getting all bent out of shape over something that's supposed to be fun. We can only offer you level-headed analysis, immature photoshops, drinking advice and a look on the bright side. 

Game 9: Stop That Train

The rubber match in this series pits Andy vs. Andy, Pettitte vs. Sonnanstine, Veteran vs. (Somewhat) Young Gun, Lefty vs. Righty. You get the idea...

Pettitte was brilliant in his first performance (7IP, 1ER, 6K) while Sonnanstine was less so (4.2IP, 5ER, 8H).

It's also a classic getaway game, with the Yanks wrapping up the 9 game road trip with which they began their season. Sitting at 4-4 right now, in the middle of an upside down-looking division, this game determines whether they enter their new digs with a winning or losing record.

Also, if you are stranded at work, be sure to check out the [Update:] comment thread to fill up on some good natured John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman fun-poking, along with up-to-the-moment overreactions to whatever happens.

Yeah, this game brings another Marley song, but it's a live version of one you that you might not have heard. I promise not to use more than one per series.

So I got to say,
Stop that train, I'm leavin' (oh, baby now!)
Stop that train, I'm leavin' (don't care what you say!)
Stop that train, I'm leavin' (and I said)
It won't be too long, whether I'm right or wrong,
Said, it wont be too long, whether I'm right or wrong

[Update: Apparently, there is some sort of crazy power-related delay going on...]