Game 58, Gainst the Rays, finally

Sabathia pitches tonight against David Price for the Rays. Should have been yesterdays game but no one can help rain in an open stadium. Oh well, Red Sox lost so back it first. Hold it now.

Speaking of the game yesterday, I looked ahead at the schedule and found that the Yankees have a 3 game series against the Rays at home from September 7th to the 9th. Both teams have an off day on the 10th so I'm betting thats when they'll make up last nights game.

The first pitch in the bottom of the second inning brings home the first run. Alex Rodriguez hit his eighth home run to give the Yankees the early lead. 0-1. In the bottom of the forth Rodriguez gets on after a walk, steals second, and advances to third on a throwing error by the catcher. He later scores in the inning on a ground out by Robinson Cano. 0-2. But in the top of the fifth Zobrist, for the Rays, hits a home run. 1-2. Then a throwing error by Damon gets a Rays runner to third and scores. 2-2.

In the sixth inning Melky Cabrera doubles and advances to third on a sacrifice bunt by Cervelli. He scores on a throwing error from Price trying to pick him off of third. 2-3. In the top of the sixth Sabathia gives up a walk, a single and a home run with no outs. 5-3. In the bottom of the eighth Teixeira hits a home run, his 17th. 5-4. In that same inning Posada walks, Cano singles, and Swisher walks to bring up Cabrera. He hits a force out but scores Posada regaurdless. 5-5.

In the ninth Rivera comes in and gives up a triple and a single without an out. Then later that single scores. Phil Cokes comes in with 2 outs. He gives up a single and a Rodrigiuz error keeps the fun rolling. 9-5. In the bottom of the ninth it will be the top of the order, if they ever get there. The Yankees have struggled with this last out for the last 3 runs. All right, Crawford caught stealing, the responce...Jeter single, Damon double, Teixeira 2 run double, Rodriguez ground out, Posada fly out, and Cano fly out. Final 9-7.

Sabathia pitched 8 innings givings up 5 runs, 4 earned, off of 5 hits with 3 walks and 5 strike outs. Teixeira went 2-5 with a home run and 2 RBI double. Rodriguez went 1-3 with a home run and scoreing 2. It was a good game, except for the ninth inning pitching.

Game 57, Gainst the Rays, Rained out

This is the third Yankees game that has been rained out at New Yankee Stadium. There isn't a make up day yet. Sabathia will have his start tomorrow and Burnett will start on Tuesday against the Red Sox, to honor his suspention, and Pettitte will pitch on Monday. So the Yankees won't play tonight. Oh well, lets just hope the Red Sox lose so the Yankees can have first place without having to win and tie it again.

What do you know, the Rangers beat the Red Sox 5-1, sweet. So the Yankees are half a game up without doing anything. The Yankees are back where they should be, uncontested first place.

There will not be a double header on Saturday for sure. But both games on Saturday and Sunday are scheduled to be at 1:05 so Sunday would be a good time to make it up.

Game 56, Gainst the Rangers, Decide the Series, also, Burnett Suspended

So Wang is pitching. I will not say anything about his three starts let's see if he can redeem himself.

Well the Yankees get off to a good start. With Jeter sitting out Damon takes the first spot in the line up. After working a full count he hits a home run to right field. 0-1 early. But in the third and the fourth the Rangers get 2 each and 1 in the fifth. 5-1. In the bottom of the fifth the Yankee bats woke up. Cervelli and Pena singles and a walk to Damon loads the bases. A walk to Swisher forces 1 run in and a Teixeira 3 RBI double forces the rest in. Rodriguez also singles to score Teixeira. 5-6 Yankees on top.

In the sixth another Ranger home run ties it up, but the eighth inning home run determines the winner. Melky Cabrera hits a home run after a walk to Cano for the lead and the eventual win. Melky Magic again. Final 6-8.

Wang gives up 5 earned runs off of 7 hits with only 1 walk and 5 strike outs. He had a great start considering what his last 3. I was expecting to look at the score and seeing double digits. Anyways, Swisher went 2-3 with a walk, RBI, and scoring a run. Sweet, he may be back. Teixeira went 2-4 with 3 RBIs and scoreing a run.

Burnett was suspended today for intentionally throwing a ball at Cruz's head last night. Bull! He is suspended for 6 games, 1 start pretty much, but I think that's crap. The Ranger pitcher intentionally threw at Teixeira for some history last year and hit him.

Game 55, Gainst the Rangers,

Well Pettitte in trouble early. 3 runs against in the first inning and another in the second it is 4-1 early in the game. The Yankees get their run on a Swisher double and an RBI single by Rodriguez. In the seventh Posada homers but it is not enough. 4-2 final.

Pettitte did not have a good start today. He gave up 4 earned runs on 7 hits 6 walks and only 6 strikeouts. Jeters hit streak is ended, going 0-4 tonight. Swisher went 2-3 scoring 1 of the runs and hitting a double. Posada went 2-4 with a home run.

Game 54, Gainst the Rangers, at Home

Tonight is game 1 of a 7 game home stand against the Rangers then the Rays. Burnett starts.

In the second the Yankees get 2 with a Gardner single, then a balk scores Gardner from third later in the inning. But the Rangers get 3 in the third with a Cruz 3 run home run.

The Yankees break it wide open in the fifth. After walks to Cabrera and Jeter, Damon singles to score Cabrera, Rodriguez grounds into RBI force out to score Jeter, Cano singles to score Damon, Posada singles to score Rodriguez, and Matsui hits a 3 run home run. 7 runs in the fifth to take the lead back 3-9. In the sixth, Posada homers with Rodriguez and Cano on. 3-12, Final.

Burnett pitched 7 innings gave up 3 runs off of 8 hits, 1 walk and had 8 strike outs. Jeter went 3-4 scoring once, Posada went 3-4 with a 3 run home run, and Matsui went 2-4 with a 3 run home run. Good win

Tonight, In the MLB...

Yankees (30-21) take on the first place Rangers (30-20). Padilla vs. Burnett, both 3-2, with a 4.7 ERA.

Meanwhile, Red Sox (29-22) take on the first place Tigers (28-21). Matsuzaka vs. Porcella.

So this week 3 first place teams play with a projected first place winner. Interesting week.

Game 53, Final game gainst the Indians

Joba has his start in this series against the Indians.

The Yankees strike first in this game 4 with a walk to Gardner, a single from Jeter and a RBI double play from Swisher in the third. But the Indians break Jobas no hitter in the forth with a home run. 1-1 Not a scoring play but just amazing. Joba gets himself in a bit of trouble in the fifth with runners on first and second. A bunt attemp off the bat of Kelly Shoppach pops up to half way between third and the mound. Chamberlain leaps off the mound catches the ball on a dive and throws to second for the double play. For the third out, Posada catches Jamey Carroll stealing. Bad inning turned into a Yankee fire starter. Lets see how they handle it.

With a walk to Matsui, pinch hitting for Berroa, a walk to Gardner, and a walk to Jeter the Yankees score 2 with a Swisher single in the seventh. I feel alot better about the lineup now rather than last inning with three walks with no outs and no runs in. That was horrible. 3-1 now. Teixeira is intentionally walked to load the bases again. And this time Rodriguez hits a single to score Jeter and Swisher. Teixeira out at second over running the bases. So I guess that worked out for the Indians. In that inning, five walks and 2 singles turns into 4 runs for the Yankees. 5-1.

In the bottom of the frame the Indians get 1 with a ground out RBI. 5-2 final.

Joba Chamberlain pitches 8 innings giving up 2 runs off of 4 hits with 2 walks and 5 strike outs. Rivera pitched in the ninth getting his eleventh save of the year. 493 all time. The Yankees took 11 walks this game. Jeter was 2-3 with 2 walks scoring 1 run. Swisher was 2-4 with 2 RBIs, scoring a run, and a walk. Rodriguez was 1-4 with 2 RBIs, but 2 strike outs. Ouch. Could have been a better game but I'll take the win without a comeback from the Indians.

The end of this game marks the end of the Indians Yankees games for the season. After 8 games the record is 5-3 in favor of the Yankees. Done with 1, 13 AL teams to finish up with.

The Yankees now have the record for errorless games with 18 straight. Sweet, they are now headed home where earlier this year they won an entire 6 game homestand. Lets get some more, please.

Tomorrow the Yankees play the Rangers at home at 7:05. AJ Burnett starts against Padilla.
Wednesday Pettitte, with the Yankees best starting record (5-1) starts against Feldman at 7:05.
Thursday Sabathia takes on McCarthy at 1:05 to end the series.

Game 52, Gainst the Indians, 3 of 4

Hughes starts and he does start well. Two strike outs in the first, two in the second, and two in the forth.

The Indians get 3 runs in the inning that Hughes pitched no strike outs. In the third he allows 3 hits, a walk, hit by pitch and a sacrifice fly. Then the Indians get 1 more in the fifth off a double, a single and a sacrifice fly. The Yankees finally get 2 in the sixth with a single by Damon and a homer by Teixeira. Then in the eighth the Yankees get 2 more with a Jeter single, a Damon double and a Teixeira double. So far Teixeira has hit all 4 Yankee runs in. 4-4 in the ninth. But the Indians won with a single in the ninth. 4-5 final.

Phil Hughes had an all right start. He allows 4 runs off 5 hits with 1 walk and 6 strike outs. Wang takes over in the sixth. He allows 1 hit with 1 walk and 3 strike outs in 3 innings. His ERA is down to 16.07. Much better than his 32 he had just 2 games hes been in ago. Robertson gives up the game winning hit but its Cokes earned run, giving up the walk in the beginning of the inning.

Teixeira has a 4 RBI game with a home run and a 2 RBI double. Jeter was 2-4 with a double in the first and a single. Damon was also 2-4 with a double and a single. Swisher was 1-3 with 2 strike outs. Sweet. So the Yankees need to win tomorrow to win the series and stay ahead of the winner of the Red Sox Blue Jays game.

Around the Division, Hold First With Some Help

Yankees hold onto first place thanks to a 10-5 win against the Cleveland Indians and a Boston loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. The Yankees are now 1.5 ahead of both the Blue Jays and the Red Sox. Tampa Bay also won today against the Twins, 5-2, so they keep their spot 5.5 games behind. The Orioles, however, fall to the Tigers, 3-6 and fall back another game, 6.5. This league still is the tightest in baseball at this time. And with the Dodgers having trouble in Chicago, could very well be in the running for best division with best division leader.

Game 51, Gainst the Indians, In Cleveland

Sabathia is pitching tonight. His last start was pretty good.

The Yankees start it off right in the second. Posada homers and then Swisher homers to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead. In the forth Matsui doubles, Swisher is walked, and Gardner gets on by error. Jeter singles to score Matsui and Swisher. Damon singles to score Gardner. Teixeira reaches on feilders choice, Jeter out at home, and Rodriguez is walked. Cano hits Damon and Teixeira home but Rodriguez is out at third. 7-0.

After about 5 singles in the fifth the Indians score 2. In the sixth Gardner walks and Jeter singles. Damon grounds out to score Garnder. Sizemore hits a homer in the bottom of the frame. 8-3.

In the ninth Teixeira doubles and Cano hits him home with a single but advances to second on the throw. Matsui hits Cano home with a double of his own. The Indians score 2 in the bottom of the ninth with a homer and a double to score. 10-5 final.

Sabathia pitched 7 innings giving up only earned runs off of 5 hits with 3 walks but 8 strike outs. Not his best start but it gave the bulllpen a bit of a break. Cano was 2-5 with 3 RBIs and scored a run. Matsui was 3-5 with an RBI and scoring a run. Swisher was 1-4 with a walk and an RBI and scoring 2 runs, batting 8th.

Tomorrow Hughes takes on the Indians. 12:40, on TBS.