Game 95: Got To Get Better In A Little While

This will be CC Sabathia's second start against the A's wearing Pinstripes, and the last one wasn't particularly pretty. It took place on April 22nd and was a sloppy back and forth affair that took 14 innings and nearly 5 hours to complete. CC went 6 2/3 innings but allowed 7 runs (6 earned) and only struck out two. His opponent that day was Brett Anderson, a rookie from Midland, Texas making his first start against the Yanks. The Yanks got to Anderson as well (5ER in 5 2/3IP), but neither factored into the decision for obvious reasons.

Tonight, another rookie will make his debut against the Yankees in the Bronx, although this one might be a little more familiar with the area. Vin Mazzaro was born in Hackensack and attended Rutherford High School from which he was drafted by Oakland in the 3rd round of the 2005 draft. He started out in low A-Ball in 2006 with less than impressive results. He started 24 games for the Kane County Cougars, averaged fewer than 5 innings per appearance and had an ERA of 5.05. He was promoted in 2007 anyway to High A Ball in Stockon, CA where he produced similar results: a 5.35 ERA and a 1.62 K/BB ratio.

He received another promotion in 2008 (to AA) and took a gigantic leap forward in his age 21 season. Scouts credit his improvement to increases in velocity and swapping a nasty slider for what had been a relatively ineffective curveball. He was promoted to AAA before the conclusion of the year but struggled there, posting an ERA of 6.15 over 33 2/3 innings. His 2009 season began in AAA but picked up where he left off in AA performance-wise, compiling a 2.38 ERA in 9 starts and one relief appearance. He was called up to the Major League club in late May this year, and hit the ground running. He didn't allow a run over his first two starts, totalling 13 2/3 innings, but his ERA has risen steadily ever since. It's now at 4.09 following 5 consective losing outings and his record sits at 2-6.

Sabathia, on the other hand, has been alternating gems and clunkers over his past 5 starts, going 3-2. He's given up only 2 runs in the 1st, 3rd & 5th of those outings while surrendering 11 in the 2nd and 4th. He came back from the All-Star break on a high note with 7 shutout innings against the Tigers and looks to keep that momentum going tonight. As was the case in the Detroit game, Jorge Posada will do the catching.

It might be a little while before the game starts up tonight as rain is already falling on the NYC area. It looks like it's going to pass, but not for a while. Ross from New Stadium Insider's personal Weather connection tells us that the game probably won't start until about 8:30. Check back with him for more updates or stop by Yankees Weather on Twitter.

Hang in there, this rain won't last forever.

Still one thing that you can do;
Fall down on your knees and pray.

It's got to get better in a little while...

It's Linktastic!

So, I don't have anything specific in mind to write about at the moment, probably because winning breeds apathy. Unless of course you are a Red Sox fan (who doesn't read this blog), in which case it breeds douchebaggery. In any event, here it's what's becoming a daily cop out for me: A collection of links to a bunch of things which are interesting but not worth an entire post devoted to them for differing reasons. Enjoy!

-----

Mike from RAB thinks the Yanks should deal for a starter. It doesn't seem like one is necessary at the moment, but by the time the need arises, it might be too late. [Update: Joe looks at the bullpen as well]

I take no pleasure in seeing the Mets fail, but I can't say the same about this. At least God still loves them.

Joel Sherman takes the Mets to task for the lack of order within their organization. He compares it to the earlier versions of the Yankees, when there wasn't a designated power structure and almost anyone could have The Boss's ear, "It might be the GM, a scout, a friend, a cab driver". He sees the recent issues with Tony Bernazard as a manifestation of such structural issues. Don't plan on listening to Joel on 1050 ESPN Radio anytime soon, though. He got streeted yesterday (by no fault of his own).

This is terrible for Donnie Baseball. Upshot? I bet you didn't know the term "Battery By Bodily Waste" existed...

Craig from Shysterball doesn't get the Red Sox number retirement policy. I do, it goes a little something like "Well, he's gawtta be in the HoF, ten yeahs with the Sawx, but nawt if left us fwah the fackin' Yanks..."

Is Jesus untouchable? (Montero that is...)

Who was the last pitcher to throw 300 innings in a single season? The man started 38 games that year, went 24-9, and was part of a World Series winning team. The season included 13 CGs and only 4 starts shorter than 7 innings. And he was 35 years old when he did it. The answer can be found in the tags (or by clicking that link).

1.98/game to 3.25/game. Yes, it would seem that homers are easier to come by in the New Stadium.

And totally off-topic, but how awesome is this?

Here's the original, and a shot for shot comparison.

“This is not just a stadium for baseball”

That's what Lonn Trost thinks of the New Yankee Stadium:

"This is not just a stadium for baseball," Yankees COO Lonn Trost said. "It's a stadium for college and university football."

To refresh, this is Lonn Trost, the man whose fingerprints are all over the New Stadium and who was more responsible than anyone else for designing it. Got it? Now take a look at this:

See how well the football field fits into the dimensions of the baseball configurat... wait, I'm sorry, what's that? It doesn't fit at all and the dugouts might have to be filled-in during these games just to accomodate the corners of the endzones? Just look at how the stands unnecessarily jut away from from the 50 yard lines! I like what you did there, Lonn. There's hardly a good seat in the house!

You'd think that if someone with Mr. Trost's "appreciation of the history" of the Old Yankee Stadium might have thought of this beforehand, if they truly had wanted to play college football games there. Perhaps the need popped up after the Yankees' revenue projections fell short for this year and they are taking steps to cover their behinds just in case the economic conditions don't improve.

But the fact remains that it IS a Stadium just for baseball, which explains what it was explicity fucking designed for it without taking any other events into consideration. You can try to shoehorn a football grid into it or put a stage for a concert in centerfield, but it's going to be completely awkward because baseball parks aren't meant for anything else. Just like football stadiums weren't meant to house baseball games. Again, historically, this was done out of necessity. Now it's being done out of nostalgia and greed and I'm not sure which of those is worse.

20 Over

[Photos via ESPN/AP]

For the second game in a row, the score ended up 6-4 in favor of the home team. For the second time this season, the Yankees have completed a sweep of the Orioles at the New Yankee Stadium. They've held their opponents to 2 1/3 runs per game on this homestand and have taken each of the six games by the slim margins of either one or two runs. They're now 1.5 games up on the Sox and 20 games over .500 for the first time since 2007.

The Yanks struck early, jumping out to a comfortable lead in the first inning and never looking back. They scored four times against Jason Berken before it was over, with A-Rod and Cano driving in a run each and Swish adding a two out single for two RBIs of his own. Jorge Posada chipped in a solo home run in the third inning to make the score 5-0, where it would stay until the 7th inning. He added an RBI double in the 8th.

A.J. Burnett kept the Orioles at bay by working around two baserunners in each of the first four innings but then settled down in the 5th and 6th allowing only a walk to the illustrious Greg Zaun in between those 6 outs. The O's did managed to scratch across two runs in the 7th. The first one came on a sac fly and the second crossed the plate when Burnett struck out Aubrey Huff on a nasty curveball for what should have been the third out of the inning. Instead, the ball bounced off the plate and rolled far enough away from Posada for Adam Jones to sprint in from 3rd.

Over his 7 innings, Burnett allowed 6 hits, struck out 6 and walked 3. Although his pitch count started to climb in the early innings, he settled down a bit and ended with 104 (68 for strikes). He was seemingly in control at all times, even though he was constantly pitching from the stretch. A.J. was both helped and hurt by Nick Swisher, who made an E6 to start the 3rd but redeemed himself with a running (and run-saving) catch to end the inning and another against the wall in the 5th.

Phil Hughes pitched a scoreless frame in the 8th, and with a four run lead going into the 9th, Joe Girardi called on Brian Bruney to finish the game. He struck out the first two batters he faced before being stopped in his tracks by back to back solo homers from Adam Jones and Nick Markakis. Mo came on to clean up the spill and stuck out Aubrey Huff looking to end the game and picked up a cheapie save. It was win #9 on the season for Burnett and the fourth straight decision that's gone in his favor.

After the game, Bruney flippantly answered reporters' questions saying, among other things “I just wanted to get Mo a save, that’s what a set-up man does". He also said that he has his best stuff of the year and felt like he did back in April. It's seemingly becoming a trend for Yankees' pitchers to react delusionally to their bad outings and refuse to admit their mistakes. Joe Girardi didn't seem to have a problem with it, but giving up back to back jacks in 2/3 of an inning of work isn't "pitching well" no matter how you cut the cake.

The Sox are on ESPN tonight at 8:00 as they look to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Rangers and keep their deficit in the division at 1 and lead in the Wild Card at 3.5. In case you didn't hear, they made some exciting moves today, ones that will surely have a major impact on the pennant race (not really).

How do you like the view from the top?

Game 94: Don't Look Back

For the first time since June 9th, the Yankees begin a game with sole possession of first place in the AL East, and once again they have the best record in the AL to boot. The last time, the lead was short-lived as they lost to Josh Beckett and the Sox 7-0 that night and were 5 games back within two weeks.

That night at Fenway, A.J. Burnett lasted only 2 2/3 innings and was tagged for 5 ER before taking his frustrations out on the water cooler on the way back to the dugout. Since then, he's made 6 starts and held the Yanks' opponents to a 2.04 ERA over 39 2/3 innings, striking out 36 and picking up 4 wins. His last start was the least impressive of the bunch, allowing three runs over 6 innings and walking 5 to just one strikeout. He took a no-decision but the Yanks went on to win anyway.

Today as the Yanks go for their second consecutive home sweep, they hope to enjoy a much longer reign at the top and leave Boston behind.

Burnett faces Jason Berken who has had limited essentially no success (one quality start (which he lost)) in Baltimore's rotation since being called up in late May. The White Sox just hit him up for 6 runs in 4 1/3 IP coming out of the All-Star Break. Berken is sitting on a portly 6.44 ERA, a bloated WHIP of 1.649 an unsightly 1-7 record (with that win coming in his first outing of the season). In 10 starts he's pitched only 50 1/3 innings and has walked 19 while striking out only 29.

Between him and Rich Hill, the Yanks have been set up to feast on the weakest part of Baltimore's awful rotation. However, he's never faced the Yankees so there's probably still going to be some hand-wringing if he puts together a few scoreless innings to start the game.

Matt will be happy to hear that Brett Gardner will be back in CF for the second time since the All-Star Break, replacing the fading Melky Cabrera. Jorge Posada will (interestingly) be catching a day game after a night game while A-Rod returns to third base. Behind Alex in the lineup will be Hideki Matsui at DH and everything else is as you would expect.

No live chat today, but feel free to stop by the comment section as I'm sure a couple of Fackers will be loitering around.

It's a new horizon and I'm awakin' now,
Oh I see myself in a brand new way,
The sun is shinin',
The clouds are breakin',
Cause I can't lose now, there's no game to play.

Link Lineup

Here are a couple of links to help move you towards gametime in an orderly manner:

Tim Marchman identifies that Joba Chamberlain is actually a better pitcher when he is inducing more flyballs. He wonders if the Yankees could try to teach him to pitch that way, but I don't think that would be the wisest move for a right hander pitching in the New Yankee Stadium.

Is Yogi Berra a "Black Swan" of baseball? (h/t BBTF)

You probably already knew that Tony Bernarzard was batshit insane, but this really takes the cake...

The Binghamton Mets clubhouse nearly turned into a scene out of WWE Raw recently, when VP for player development Tony Bernazard removed his shirt and challenged the Double-A players to a fight during a postgame tirade, multiples sources told the Daily News.

Cliff from Bronx Banter told you "the Serg might work".

Brett Tomko is upset by his demotion:

"I don't think I got a fair shot," he said. "I pitched great in spring training and didn't make the team. I pitched great in the minors, got called up and didn't get much of a chance. I understand other guys are pitching great. But it could have been different. I can't see the point in coming back."

Obviously, Matt was not.

Ever wonder what the differences between John Dewan's +/- system and UZR are? Get it from (one of) the horse's mouths.

The Shyster wonders about the potential ramifications of DNA testing in the Dominican are, and once you read a couple of them, it might make rethink whether or not it's such a good idea.

It's "probably unliklely that Roy Halladay will be dealt"? Shocker. Thanks for nothing, Rosensquirrel.

"A-Rod"... "Clutch"... in the SAME HEADLINE?!??1!?

More details on the epic 1926 tilt between the Hebrews and the Klan.

"Pro Surf Championship to be held in Hal Streinbrenners hair in 2010"

A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Mop-Up Man

Good morning Fackers. We have much to be thankful for this AM: another day on planet Earth, the wonder that is Mo, a one game lead in the AL East, a five game winning streak, a victory in a game started by Sergio Mitre, daytime baseball on the horizon to carry you through the afternoon, and a potential second consecutive series sweep.

But here's what I'm most jazzed up about today: to make room for Mitre on both the 40 and 25 man rosters, Brett Tomko was designated for the assignment. Not only am I happy about this because it was best move for the team, but also because it's a progressive move. Though both David Robertson and Mark Melancon have options, the organization rightly decided they both offer a better chance to win than Tomko. That may not seem like such a revelation, but it didn't appear that decisions were being made like that earlier in the year. For the most part, the dead weight that cluttered the roster at the end of May is now gone.

The question remains though, how did Brett Tomko, he of a career ERA+ of 92, manage to last on the New York Yankees roster for two and a half months? Some have suggested a conspiracy theory: does Brett Tomko have compromising pictures of someone in the front office?

Well we at the Fack Youk Action News Investigative Reporting Team have been trying to crack this case for weeks and now, just as Tomko is leaving town, we have a major breakthrough.

Tomko's skills as an artist have been well documented. Earlier this season, Phil Hughes commissioned him to paint an action portrait of him. Last week, loyal reader and commenter A-Train suggested that either Brian Cashman or Joe Girardi may be a fan of Tomko's art work. Turns out the A-Train was on to something.

Fack Youk has learned that a member of the Yankees front office employed Tomko to paint an erotic portrait of him as an anniversary gift for his spouse. The employee ensured that Tomko remained in the Yankees' employ until the work was finished. Now that it is complete, Tomko has been let go, becoming the second artist to be evicted from Yankee Stadium in the last week.

Interestingly enough, this is not the first time that high ranking Yankee front office member has been ensnared in such a scandal.

I can only hope such a photo surfaces of Mrs. Tomko. I'll miss her far more than Brett.

Up Top

Although they have seemingly faced a lot of borderline journeymen or unfamiliar rookie pitchers this season, the Yanks haven't had to send too many to the mound. And when it finally came time to do so, Sergio Mitre did what was necessary for the Bombers to walk away with the victory.

By this time last year, the Yankees had already asked Kei Igawa, Darrell Rasner, Dan Geise, Sindey Ponson, Ian Kennedy, Phil Hughes and even Brian Bruney to start games for them. Last night was only the 9th start they needed from outside their Opening Day rotation this season, with seven of those coming from Hughes. Having only one pitcher nearly incapable of recording a victory in the early going this year (Wang) as opposed to two last year (Hughes and Kennedy) is a big reason that the Yankees just took over sole posession of first place in the AL East.

It wasn't a dominant outing for Mitre, and it got off to a rocky start in the 1st when Brian Roberts doubled to lead off the game, advanced to third on a groundout and scored when Nick Markakis singled to center. Roberts made his way around the bases again in the 3rd, via a single, stolen base, thorwing error (by Mitre) and finally came home on a one out dribbler to Jeter.

The Yanks did their damage in the second through fourth innings, starting with a manufactured run by A-Rod. He walked to lead off the 2nd, stole a base, advanced to third on a fly ball and scored on a sac fly. Alex was the one driving in the runs in the third inning, with a two out, bases loaded single that scored Cody Ransom, and Jeter. Robby Cano added a two run homer to the home bullpen in the fifth inning and Ransom scored again on a single by Johnny Damon later in the frame.

Mitre faced the minimum 6 batters in the fourth and fifth but ran into trouble in the 6th. He gave up back to back singles to Markakis and Aubrey Huff, who both came around to score two batters later on a single by Melvin Mora. The Serg got Nolan Reimold to strike out before Girardi replaced him with Alfredo Aceves.

The Marlins' cast-off and Tommy John rehab case didn't exactly impress with his performance last night, but when he left the game, he could only win, not lose it. He gave up 8 hits but only one was for extra bases - the double in the first to Roberts. The O's worked just one walk off of the sinkerballer and he threw 57 of his 91 pitches for strikes. After Aceves, Phil Coke and Mariano Rivera each pitched a scoreless inning to lock down Mitre's first Major League win since 2007.

It would seem that Mitre has earned himself another go 'round in the rotation and will be enough to keep Phil Hughes and Alfredo Aceves in the bullpen, at least for now. Mitre has already matched Chien Ming Wang's win total for the season and with the news that Wang might not be back for a while, this outing is enough to to cast aside concerns about the thinning rotation for the time being.

Game 93: Solsbury Hill

The path that leads to playing Major League Baseball can be quite winding and treacherous, as both of tonight's starting pitchers (and former Cubs prospects) could probably tell you, although for very different reasons.

Despite being one year younger than Rich Hill, Sergio Mitre reached the Major Leagues two years earlier. Mitre enrolled in San Diego City College in 1999 and was taken in the 7th round of the 2001 Draft by the Cubs. He was the second player in the organization to reach the Big Leagues out of that draft, behind only the highly touted Mark Prior. He made two starts and a relief appearance in 2003, after being called up from Double-A West Tennessee and actually began the 2004 season on the 25 man roster before being sent down to Triple-A Iowa.

Hill, meanwhile, attended the University of Michigan and was chosen in the 4th round of the 2002 Draft, also by the Cubbies. A left-hander born in the Boston area, Hill was always known for his devastating curveball and gaudy strikeout rates, boasting double digit K/9 ratios at every level of minor league ball before being called up to the Bigs in 2005.

The two pitchers were briefly teammates on the '05 Iowa Cubs, when Mitre was being shuttled between Chicago and the farm team to fill in gaps in the rotation and Hill was a highly regarded prospect, striking out 190 batters in 130 2/3 innings between A, AA and AAA that year.

The following offseason, Mitre was part of a package sent to the Marlins, along with Ricky Nolasco and Renyel Pinto, in exchange Juan Pierre who had only one year left on his contract. Mitre made decent contributions to the Marlins, but both Nolasco and Pinto have outperformed expectations and became solid contributors at various times.

Hill spent the 2006 season between AAA and the Majors, throwing 95 innings to a 4.17 ERA, but seemed to truly break out in '07. Over 195 innings, he struck out 183 and had a WHIP of 1.195, compiling an 11-8 record. He began the 2008 season with the team, but after walking 18 batters in 19 2/3 innings, he was sent back to Iowa. Rich never made another appearance with the Cubs and was finally traded to Baltimore last offseason for the ever ubiquitous "player to be named later".

Mitre's issues can be traced back to one major injury, which lead to Tommy John surgery last year, after which he was released by the Marlins. On the other hand, Hill blames his struggles on a host of smaller things:

It's been incredibly frustrating. It just seems like I had all of my injuries all at once and there were little things. There were no tears or problems that required back surgery but just little things that messed with my delivery and my mechanics. I've also made some adjustments.

Mitre had his surgery just over one year ago, but has seemingly made a quick recovery. He's needed only 9 starts to ascend from Trenton to the Bronx. The sinkerballer issues few walks and doesn't collect many strikeouts either, but has had better results than ever since coming aboard with the Yanks.

The same can't be said for Hill, who has had a rough go thus far with the O's. He's walked 33 while striking out 43 in 52 1/3 innings (11 starts) leading to an ugly 7.22 ERA. His most recent start was solid, however, lasting 6 innings, giving up two runs and walking only one batter. Hill has never faced anyone in the current Yankee line-up.

Mitre hasn't pitched in the Big Leagues since 2007, and has never faced the Orioles. So it would seem like a good opportunity for each climb the hill and get a fresh start.

To keeping silence I resigned,
My friends would think I was a nut,
Turning water into wine,
Open doors would soon be shut.

So I went from day to day,
Though my life was in a rut,
'til I thought of what I'd say,
Which connection I should cut.

Wang's Nightmare Continues

Yesterday, Chien-Ming Wang was scheduled to play catch for the first time since leaving his July 4th start with a sore shoulder. His throwing session was cut short due to pain, either in his biceps or shoulder depending upon whose account you're reading. He's now shut down until at least Friday.

This is just the latest in a series of professional misfortunes for Wang, starting with his torn lis franc ligament in Houston last June. Then came the less-than-ideal off-season rehabilitation instructions from the Yankees. After a shaky spring training, Wang opened the season with three historically awful starts. The Yanks found questionable cause to place him on the DL, then completely, totally, and utterly botched his rehab assignment, recalling him in a panic after Joba Chamberlain lasted just two thirds of an inning in his May 21st start, after taking a liner off the leg.

From there, Wang wallowed in mop-up man limbo for two weeks, not effective enough to justify giving him regular work and not working regularly enough to pitch himself back into effectiveness. Placed back into the rotation on June 4th with neither the stamina nor the confidence to do the job properly, Wang turned in six starts that ranged from bad to lackluster, going 1-3 and lowering his ERA to 9.64.

As I said after his shoulder injury, anything the Yanks get from CMW this year has to be considered gravy now. 2009 is a lost cause for him. Even Mr. Optimistic himself seems doubtful of Wang contributing this year, and that may be more telling than any medical report or release point analysis.

Just before the one year anniversary of his initial injury, Jay pondered if that 2008 Fathers' Day game marked the peak of CMW's career. At the time I part thought and mostly hoped that it was premature to even consider that. Now, I think there may be more merit to it.

Sergio Mitre, a fellow sinkerballer, gets his first start for the Yanks tonight. After yesterday's developments, he may find himself in that role for the forseeeable future. Then again, with the non-waiver deadline just 10 days away, he may not be there for long. Who knows. But Wang's latest setback only creates more questions, both for his future and for the state of the Yankee rotation.

The Undoucheification Of The New Stadium Has Begun

Via our pal Ross from New Stadium Insider, who was at the game last night, comes the news that the Peter Max Art Gallery has been removed from the Field Level of the New Yankee Stadium in favor of a New York Yankees Women's Team Store. Soooo, people don't buy art work when they go to baseball games? Could a store that caters to the ladies with enough disposable income to be sitting in seats that cost hundreds of dollars might be a little more profitable? Shocking!

I wrote a post earlier on in the season about the divide between the Field Level and the rest of the Stadium and dropped a photo of the Peter Max gallery to illustrate how far over the top it the Yanks have gone.

It's good news that they've responded so quickly to their obvious misstep and hopefully they'll be willing to change some other unpopular things that don't have such a direct connection to the bottom line.

November 2010... FEEL THE EXCITEMENT!!!1!

If you watched last night's game from the beginning on YES, then you probably experienced the excruciating half inning sit-ins by Rich Ellerson and Charlie Weis. The head coaches of the Army and Notre Dame football teams were there to promote the meeting between the two powerhouses of modern college football in November 2010, verbally excrete as many cliches as possible and slowly lull anyone watching the broadcast to sleep before three outs were recorded.

I have mixed feelings about having football games played in the New Yankee Stadium to begin with. The reason that they played football there in the past was out of necessity, since there wasn't a football stadium in the area. However, now there most certainly is, and by the 2010 season, there's going to be a brand new one in the Meadowlands (where Notre Dame already has plans to play Navy that year). It's yet another example of Lon Trost & Co. making misguided, nostalgic attempts to celebrate the history of the Old Stadium. You can acknowledge the past with out reliving it, Lon. This is a brand new billion dollar baseball stadium, they can play football in the brand new billion dollar football stadium across the river.

These guest visits were another issue all together. It was little more than self-congratulatory back slapping for the Yankees and the YES Network and served no purpose to the fans who tuned in to, you know, watch a baseball game. Why distract from a sporting event that's actually unfolding right in front of our eyes? They did nothing but promote an event that isn't going to happen for 16 months and figures to be totally lopsided, unwatchably boring or both when it's finally played. Save the date, folks!

There was already a press conference about the football game. Isn't that enough? Let's be realistic, no one is making plans for the game yet. Yes, it raised the awareness. But we are going to be battered over the head with promotions for the next year and third and most people aren't going to decide until that day or possibly during that game if they are going to watch it.

Especially after the amount of innings spent ignoring the action on the field with visitors in the booth yesterday, you'd think that YES would have refrained from doing two more today. Instead we got to hear Ellerson talk about his team's practice schedule and Weis go on about how he always wanted to be a Yankee announcer in the most lifeless drone ever heard in a broadcast booth. I can't imagine why that didn't work out for you Charlie.

Enough with the guests. We just want to watch the game.

Three Two To Ones

For the third day in a row the Yankees won a game by the score of 2-1. They are the first games of the year the Yanks have won while scoring two or fewer runs and they'd only notched two victories while scoring 3 runs or fewer before the All-Star Break. The odds of matching up a great pitching performance like the one put together by Andy Pettitte and the bullpen tonight to cover a weak offensive output are slim, and during the first few innings, it looked like the match-up was headed in an entirely different direction.

The first batter of the game, Brian Roberts, lofted a deep fly ball into the left field corner which barely stayed in the park. Up next, Nick Markakis blasted one into the home bullpen to make the score 1-0. The Yankees loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the first, but David Hernandez won a 9 pitch battle with Robinson Cano to end the inning. They got on the board soon thereafter, though, with a solo shot by Eric Hinkse in the bottom of the second.

Despite the exciting start, the offenses stalled out.

Both Pettitte and Hernandez found their stride and cruised through the middle innings. Allowing three hits and three walks, Herdandez went six frames but threw 103 pitches, due in part to the 35 it took him to get out of the first. Pettitte gave up 6 hits, but compensated with two double plays and a season-high 8 strikeouts. He left mess in the 8th inning for Phil Coke to clean up, though.

With one out and men on second and third, Nick Markakis lined Coke's first pitch to Mark Teixeira, who fired an off balance throw to Jose Molina with Caesar Izturus heading towards the plate. Molina grabbed the throw across this body, and swept a tag towards the plate, just barely in front of the runner. The ball was nearly falling out of his glove, but he trapped it against the ground as Izturus' foot nearly knocked it out. Brain Roberts advanced to third on the play.

Facing Adam Jones, Coke uncorked a wild pitch past Molina, but the veteran catcher quickly tracked and down and fired to Coke covering the plate, who tagged Roberts on an extra wide slide towards home. Two pitches, two fantastic defensive plays, and the lead was preserved.

With it apparent that both Mariano Rivera and Phil Hughes were likely unavailable, it wasn't clear who Girardi would call on to get big outs in the game. After Coke may or may not have hit Adam Jones with a pitch and got Aubrey Huff to fly out to center, our boy Alf was summoned from the 'pen to keep the game tied. Aceves got Melvin Mora to fly out to center and intentionally walked Luke Scott, before rookie Nolan Riemold flied to left for the third out.

A-Rod had the first chance to end the game in the bottom of the 9th, but he hit a flare right at Brain Roberts who had him played nearly straight away, behind second base. Hideki Matsui was next up. He took the first two pitches for balls, fouled the next three off and took the sixth one to the right field bleachers for a walk off HR.

It was the Yankees' 9th such victory this year (and 8th subsequent pie in the face - see comments) and it moved them to 15-11 in one run games. It's thanks to games like this that the Yanks continue to outperform their run differential and are now tied for first place in the AL East for the fifth separate time this season despite having gone just 16-17 within the division.

[Photos via ESPN/AP]