CC, Cano Steal The Show

The Yankee offense put sixteen runners on base over the course of this afternoon. Yankee pitching allowed just two hits, two walks, and two hitbatsmen. Yet, today's game still managed to be a typical three plus hour Yankee-Red Sox nail biter.

The reason for that was that the Yankees left eleven runners on base and went 1 for 15 with runners in scoring position. That one hit didn't come until the bottom of the eighth, and it provided some needed insurance for what proved to be a tense ninth inning.

CC Sabathia was masterful on the hill: perfect through three and two thirds, a no hitter through four, and just four baserunners allowed while fanning eight through seven shutout innings on just 96 pitches. Yet he wasn't in position for the win until his final frame.

When Robinson Cano came to the plate leading off the sixth inning, it seemed as if his season long troubles with runners in scoring position had rubbed off on his teammates. Through five innings, the Yankees had put 10 runners on base and had left nine of them there, the tenth being erased on a batter's obstruction call against Alex Rodriguez. Of the nine men left on base, seven were left in scoring position. The inning before, the Yankees loaded the bases with no one out, then went down in order without striking out but without plating a run.

With the score still knotted at zero, Cano gave the Yanks the lead they had failed to grab so many times, as he put a 1-1 pitch over the left field wall for his 24th home run of the season.

After Phil Hughes worked a perfect eighth in relief of CC, with some help from a brilliant defensive play by Mark Teixeira, the Yankees added two insurance runs in the eighth using some daring base running from Brett Gardner, a lucky break on a run down, and a broken bat bloop two run single from Johnny Damon.

Mariano Rivera closed it out in the ninth, but not before Victor Martinez ran his hitting streak to 25 games and Kevin Youkilis became the fourth hit batsmen of the game, forcing Mo to face Mike Lowell as the potential tying run. Lowell fanned, giving the Yankees the series win and dropping the magic number to one.

We'll be back tomorrow afternoon as the Yankees go for the sweep, attempt to keep the Red Sox from clinching a post-season berth at Yankee Stadium, and attempt to clinch the AL East for themselves.

Game 155: Guilty Until Proven Innocent

With the magic number for the Yankees to clinch the AL East and the one for the Red Sox to secure a playoff spot both sitting at 3, last night the Yanks took an important step towards preventing the Sox from sullying the visitor's clubhouse with celebratory champagne. With the Rangers' win last night, the Yankees can ensure that the Sox don't pop the bubbly at the New Stadium with two more victories and in the process, wrap up the division for themselves. The Yanks seem to be taking that apporach seriously, as they trot out the "A" line up again, including catching Jorge Posada in a (late) day game after a night game. [UPDATE 2:53 P.M.: According to LoHud, Posada has been scratched with a stiff neck. It's been bothering him since the Jesse Carlson incident nearly two weeks ago]

Unlike last night, the starter climbing the mound for the Red Sox is the one with something to prove. Daisuke Matsuzaka has managed to generate a lot of buzz during the two starts he's made since emerging from his exile in Fort Myers but objective observers still have some questions as to whether he's really "back and better than ever".

His first start was quite excellent but his last one against the Orioles was a lot closer to the old Dice-K: decent results but inefficient with his pitches. He threw 110 of them over 5 1/3 innings, allowing 8 hits and three runs. He walked away with the win, but the myth of the new and improved Matsuzaka took a bit of a hit down in Baltimore.

For whatever reason, Matsuzaka is being discussed as a "weapon" in the postseason, but CC Sabathia is considered more of a liability. CC is 8-0 in his last 10 starts dating back to the beginning of August and the Yankees have won every single one of those games. Over that time he has an ERA of 2.24 and struck out 77 while giving up just 55 hits and walking only 17. You'd think that that people might be making a bigger deal out of this. After all, he just signed a monster contract this offseason and plays for the best team in baseball.

However, just like Zack Greinke's terrible team makes it harder for his great season to be recognized, the fact the the Yankees have already pulled away from the pack means that Sabathia's great stretch gets largely swept under the rug because it doesn't appear to factor into the playoff race either. The problem with this logic is that if CC was pitching poorly, his team would be a whole lot closer to the pack.

Part of the equation is that Sabathia is as pure of a late-season pitcher as there is in the game. His career ERA in September and October regular season games is 2.67 and his next closest month is August at 3.14. His ERA in all other months is 4.01. Maybe writers feel like they've heard the story before. But more likely, it seems that they want to talk about his lack of success in the 5 starts he's made in the postseason. It seems he's a choker until proven clutch; guilty until proven innocent.

Look in my eyes dog, right in my pupils
If I'm your rival, why would I have to do you?
Press try to throw dirt on my name, disturbin' my game,
Seemed happy when they heard he was arraigned.

Morning Round Up

Good morning Fackers. So the Red Sox won last night, keeping the Yankees magic number at five, meaning that the Yanks will need to sweep in order to clinch this weekend.

But the Yankees did get some good news late yesterday. Jerry Hairston Jr saw a hand specialist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital yesterday, and his MRI revealed nothing more serious than tendinits. He was given a second cortisone shot and is listed as day-to-day. Hairston certainly isn't out of the woods yet, but all things considered it's about the best news he could have received. With any luck he'll be good to go come the post-season, because as we explored yesterday and RAB echoed, his versatility would be difficult to replace.

Freddy Guzman would be a potential candidate to replace Hairston if his injury prevents him from being part of the post-season roster. Guzman was added to the 40 man and Major League rosters a week ago at the expense of Anthony Claggett. Claggett became the third young Yankee pitcher to be designated for assignment this season, and yesterday he became third to be claimed by the Pirates, joining Steven Jackson and Eric Hacker. I hope Claggett can get his career ERA under 30, but he may have a difficult time getting to PNC Park thanks to G20 Summit.

At the end of the 2006 season, the Yankees announced they were ending their 28 season affiliation with the Columbus Clippers to move their AAA affiliate to Pennsylvania so that it would be closer to New York. The affiliate is supposed to located in Dunder Mifflin country, but it's looking more and more like it's further west in PA.

As many have pointed out since yesterday's claim, seven men on the Pirates 40 man roster are former Yankee properties: the three aforementioned pitchers, as well as Jeff Karstens, Ross Ohlendorf, Daniel McCutchen, and Jose Tabata - the entirety of the Pirates haul from last year's Xavier Nady/Damaso Marte deal. Also in the Pirates system are Eric Fryer and Casey Erickson, who were acquired from the Yankees system in June in exchange for Eric Hinske. That's enough former Yankee farmhands to field an entire team. As bad as the Bucs have been for the past 17 years they might as well be a minor league team anyway.

CC Deals, Teix Rakes, Yanks Win

[Photos]

The night after the Yankees' third largest offseason acquisition seemed to right the ship, the two most expensive and important pieces added over the winter continued pay dividends, combining to shut down the Mariners and beat them up.

CC Sabathia picked up where A.J. Burnett left off, dominating the M's, allowing six baserunners on 4 hits and two walks while striking out 8. He gave up only one (unearned) run in the fifth inning when the Yankees were leading 6-0, but that was the least of their concerns at the time.

With two outs, CC threw a 1-1 curveball to Franklin Gutierrez, who lined it directly back up the middle. With no time to react, Sabathia tried to block it, but the ball hit him directly in the top of his chest, missing his throat, collarbone and pitching hand by a couple of inches each. The ball deflected to A-Rod at third base who didn't have a play, and the whole infield rushed in to see if their stud pitcher was okay. CC was momentarily stunned but after catching his breath and stayed in the game. Not too many guys could shake that one off. As Joe Girardi said after the game, “He’s a strong man, he took it and he kept on pitching.”

The next batter was Jose Lopez and Sabathia got him to chop to thrid, but A-Rod made a throwing error which took a huge hop, got past Mark Teixiera and rolled around behind first base in no man's land, allowing Gutierrez to score from first. It didn't faze Sabathia, as he retired the final seven batters he faced. The bullpen, despite allowing 4 baserunners in the final 2 innings, didn't allow a run.

It was Sabathia's 9th quality start in a row, but saying that alone sells him short. He's thrown under 7 innings just one of those times and allowed two or more runs only twice. His ERA over that span is 1.79, his record 7-0 and the Yankees have won all 9 of those starts, dating back to August 8th.

Mark Teixeira was the driving force behind the Yanks' offensive effort last night. He notched his third triple in five games, knocking in Johnny Damon in the first inning. He added a three run homer in the 5th, all but ending Doug Fister's night. He singled in the 7th and came to the plate in the ninth in search of the Yankees second cycle of the year in the 9th. Teix blasted one into the gap in left-center but hit it too well, blasting his 37th HR of the season and adding his 118th RBI.

That dinger was off of lefthander Luke French, making it the third time this year that Teix has left the yard as both a righty and lefty in the same game. The Yankees have done that six times in 2009 while all other teams in baseball combined have done it once.

Hideki Matsui also homered and is hitting .439/.511/.659 over his last 12 games, homering thrice and driving in 12.

The Red Sox won and the Angels lost, putting the Yanks up 6.0 and 6.5 games up on those two teams, respectively, with 13 left to play. The Yanks magic number to clinch a playoff spot is down to 2 and to win the division and thereby homefield advantage is 9. Today's game will be played at a more reasonable 4PM but it will fall during the second slate of NFL football games. Have your remote controller handy.

Game 143: Hey Ninteen

After a late night, things return to normal for the Yankees. Although he'll be setting a new record with every hit that he collects, hype and hoopla surrounding Derek Jeter's ascent up the Yankees all-time hit list will have subsided. The game today won't take on the added feel of importance that has been palpable since the beginning of the homestand, it's just going to feel like another September game against a team that doesn't have anything left to play for.

A.J. Burnett takes the ball today and looks to build upon his last outing. He went six innings and allowed one run against the Rays and with 99 pitches under his belt at the time, might have been asked to go a little deeper had the Yanks not been leading 11-1 at the time.

That outing sprung Burnett from a stretch of 7 starts that brought his ERA up from 3.53 to 4.29 and gave him his first win since July 27th. That span was Burnett's worst of the season, but it had been immediately preceded by his best. The Yankees don't desperately need the games, but it would be awfully reassuring to have Burnett pitching well heading into the postseason.

The only benefit of being out of the picture for so a long time for Orioles fans is that it has allowed them to get a look at some of their young talent. Today, the O's serve up the Yanks with the 10th pitcher to make a start against them this year, Brian Matusz. Drafted out of the University of San Diego with the 4th pick of the 2008 draft, the tall lefty started at high A-ball this year, striking out 75 in 66 innings with a 2.16 ERA and then made the jump to double-A. Despite a drop in his strikeout rate in AA, Matusz was even better in the Eastern league, posting an ERA of 1.55 and averaging 6 2/3 innings per start. The O's called him straight up to the Big Leagues in the beginning of August and he's made 7 starts to a 5.26 ERA since then.

Like Chris Tillman who the Yanks saw yesterday, Matusz's marginal numbers this season with the Big League club doesn't mean much. He's only 22 years only and this two month stint in the Majors serves to get him some big league experience before he most likely begins next year down in AAA. Both Tillman and Matsuz are scheduled to be shut down for the season after one or two more starts.

With 19 games left in the season, the Yanks magic number is down to 14 while the O's have already been eliminated from Wild Card contention. Hopefully the Yanks can chip away at the latter figure while the O's continue to slide on down.

Hey nineteen,
No we got nothing in common,
No we cant talk at all,
Please take me along,
When you slide on down.

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.

Yanks Roll On

About the worst thing that can be said about tonight's game is the spot starter Chad Gaudin failed to make it through four innings of work. That's a short outing even when taking the Canadian exchange rate into account. Still, that's not a whole lot to complain about, and even with the Red Sox beating the Rays tonight, the Yankees didn't lose even a metric game off their AL East lead and reduced their magic number to 22.

Pretty much everything else was gravy for the Yankees tonight. They had a 4-0 lead before a Blue Jay even picked up a bat. When the Jays cut the lead to 5-3 in the bottom of the fourth, the Yankees responded with two more in the top of the fifth. When the Jays pulled within two again later on, the Yanks answered with their second ninth inning rally in as many nights, putting things out of reach and making the continued unavailability of Mariano Rivera much easier to stomach.

Jorge Posada was the offensive star of the night, going 4 for 5 with a double, a homer, and four RBI. The longball was his 20th of the year, making him the seventh Yankee to reach that mark this season. Too bad the pitchers all hate throwing to him.

Alex Rodriguez and Melky Cabrera had two hits apiece, with A-Rod adding a homer of his own and a sexual assault on an unsuspecting Toronto police officer. Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui both drew a pair of free passes, and Damon, Mark Teixeira, A-Rod, and Matsui all scored twice.

Gaudin allowed four hits, three walks, two hit batsmen, and three runs in 3.2 innings of work, leaving the bullpen to throw 5.1 innings with Joba Chamberlain and Sergio Mitre pitching two of the next three games, followed by a day-night double dip on Monday. For tonight at least though, the pen was up to the task, allowing just four baserunners and two runs - only one earned - on the night, while whiffing eight Jays.

Both runs were charged to Alfredo Aceves, who recorded three of his seven outs via the K. David Robertson's only baserunner allowed came on an HBP and he added two more Ks to his already impressive total. Brian Bruney worked a perfect eighth inning before walking the leadoff man in the ninth, and Damaso Marte continued his impressive post-DL run by sitting down three in a row - two by strikeout - to finish it out.

It was another satisfying night in Yankeeland. They'll look to keep it going tomorrow night with Joba Chamberlain on the mound. We'll see you in the morning to take you through to the final holiday weekend of the summer.

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