Fresh off the honeymoon of taking two out of three against the Mets in Queens, another team named after Native Americans, put their warpaint on for a visit to Yankee Stadium. After facing the Braves twice in as many weeks, this tribe was the Cleveland Indians. Even though the Yanks used their weapon of choice lately, the sweep, to fend off these warriors, news surrounding the team took a damper as two of the Yankees top starters were placed on the injury shelf.
The Yankees wasted no time in getting to Indians starter Josh Tomlin in the opening game when in the bottom of the 1st, Robinson Cano kept the hitting with runners in scoring position trend lately with the Yanks alive by smoking a 2 RBI double to put his team up 2-0. Cano himself was tagged out on the play trying to make it to 3rd base because of a throw to home first in which Teixeira was safe. An inning later, in quite a shocker, Dewayne Wise who was playing centerfield to give Grandy a night off, smacked his first homerun of the season (he would also add an RBI triple in the 6th as well). In the 3rd inning both Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher kept their longball magic from Sunday night by going back-to-back on solo shots in the 3rd inning.
Old friend Johnny Damon, who joined the Indians a few weeks ago, was greeting kindly by the Yankee Stadium crowd, especially when he took his spot out in left. Yankee fans were also happy Damon did nothing threatening in the game as Hiroki Kuroda cruised along and was absolutely brilliant in 7 innings of shutout baseball to lead to his 7th victory of the season. Leading 7-0 in the 9th, the Yankees bullpen gave up a mercy run and then shut it down from there for the 7-1 win.
Looking to bounce back from an awful start in 100 degree weather last week, Phil Hughes took the ball in the next game and picked up where Kuroda left off the night before. Facing Hughes was Justin Masterson and his array of heavy sinkers which has rendered tough on the Yanks in the past. Chris Stewart had a puzzling at-bat in the 2nd inning with a runner on third. After failing to bunt for a hit twice to put himself into an 0-2 count, Stewart a few pitches later flared one which hit off the 3rd baseman's glove and allowed the run to score to make it 1-0 Yanks. Up 4-0 in the 7th with Masterson out of the game, Alex Rodriguez crushed a solo homerun into the second deck out in the left field stands to add to the lead at 5-0. Hughes didn't allow a single run through his eight innings on the mound and left things to Cory Wade in the 9th to finish out.
The Indians decided to wait till final inning to actually make a contest out of it. Wade, who hasn't been reliable in his past few appearances, was smacked around for four hits, including a 3-run homer to Jose Lopez, that made it 6-4. Even though Wade was able to get two outs, Girardi used the save situation to bring out his closer Rafael Soriano to get the final out for his sweet 16th save of the season.
With the Yankees riding high with the best record in baseball and Andy Pettitte on the mound for the sweep against the cupcake Indian lineup, Wednesday had the makings of the perfect day. Things took a damper early when it was announced before the game that the ace CC Sabathia pulled an abductor muscle during his last outing against the Mets (which would explain his bad control and low velocity on Sunday night) and would have to go onto the 15-day DL. Missing 2-3 of CC's starts is one thing, but in the 4th inning and leading 2-1 thanks to a 2 RBI double from Eric Chavez off of Ubaldo Jimenez, Andy Pettitte took a hard liner off his ankle from the bat of the well-traveled Casey Kotchman. Pettitte tried to stay in the game, but in the first official pitch after that, a sharp pain shot into his foot and he needed to take himself out. An x-ray showed a fracture in the ankle which wouldn't require surgery, but would keep Pettitte out for at least two month. With Pettitte's arrival came more consistency from the starters and a better rested bullpen, now the rest of the staff will need to keep that going without their two lefties.
The gritty game continued and the Indians took the lead in the 5th after a mishmash of pitching changes from Joe Girardi. Freddy Garcia was finally brought to get out of a jam and keep the score held at only 3-2 Indians. Jimenez looked untouchable at times during the afternoon, but the Yankees finally managed to get a few more of him in the 6th. After an A-Rod excuse me double to right field, Robinson Cano flicked an outside pitch with his wrists and the ball traveled far over the left field wall for a 2-run homer. Garcia gave 2.1 innings to earn his 2nd win of the season, and Eric Chavez already with 2 RBIs on the day, had another RBI from a single in the bottom of the 8th which would actually end up being a lifesaver. Rafael Soriano was brought into the 9th to close it out as always, but his heavy workload during the Mets and Indians series seemed to take their toll on him. Soriano wasn't sharp and had loaded the bases loaded with one out and Johnny Damon at the plate as a pinch hitter. Damon did his former team a favor and struck out, but Soriano walked in Michael Brantley thereafter and made the score 5-4 with the bags left loaded. Looking at a terrible disaster of a blown game on top of losing CC and Pettitte for the day, the next hitter Asdrubal Cabrera flied out to left and let the stadium crowd breath a sigh of relief.
Instead of an old friend, an old enemy in Kevin Youklilis and his new team the Chicago White Sox are next to visit Yankee Stadium to start a rare 4-game set while the Yanks figured out how to get by without their two stud lefties.....
The Yankees wasted no time in getting to Indians starter Josh Tomlin in the opening game when in the bottom of the 1st, Robinson Cano kept the hitting with runners in scoring position trend lately with the Yanks alive by smoking a 2 RBI double to put his team up 2-0. Cano himself was tagged out on the play trying to make it to 3rd base because of a throw to home first in which Teixeira was safe. An inning later, in quite a shocker, Dewayne Wise who was playing centerfield to give Grandy a night off, smacked his first homerun of the season (he would also add an RBI triple in the 6th as well). In the 3rd inning both Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher kept their longball magic from Sunday night by going back-to-back on solo shots in the 3rd inning.
Old friend Johnny Damon, who joined the Indians a few weeks ago, was greeting kindly by the Yankee Stadium crowd, especially when he took his spot out in left. Yankee fans were also happy Damon did nothing threatening in the game as Hiroki Kuroda cruised along and was absolutely brilliant in 7 innings of shutout baseball to lead to his 7th victory of the season. Leading 7-0 in the 9th, the Yankees bullpen gave up a mercy run and then shut it down from there for the 7-1 win.
Looking to bounce back from an awful start in 100 degree weather last week, Phil Hughes took the ball in the next game and picked up where Kuroda left off the night before. Facing Hughes was Justin Masterson and his array of heavy sinkers which has rendered tough on the Yanks in the past. Chris Stewart had a puzzling at-bat in the 2nd inning with a runner on third. After failing to bunt for a hit twice to put himself into an 0-2 count, Stewart a few pitches later flared one which hit off the 3rd baseman's glove and allowed the run to score to make it 1-0 Yanks. Up 4-0 in the 7th with Masterson out of the game, Alex Rodriguez crushed a solo homerun into the second deck out in the left field stands to add to the lead at 5-0. Hughes didn't allow a single run through his eight innings on the mound and left things to Cory Wade in the 9th to finish out.
The Indians decided to wait till final inning to actually make a contest out of it. Wade, who hasn't been reliable in his past few appearances, was smacked around for four hits, including a 3-run homer to Jose Lopez, that made it 6-4. Even though Wade was able to get two outs, Girardi used the save situation to bring out his closer Rafael Soriano to get the final out for his sweet 16th save of the season.
With the Yankees riding high with the best record in baseball and Andy Pettitte on the mound for the sweep against the cupcake Indian lineup, Wednesday had the makings of the perfect day. Things took a damper early when it was announced before the game that the ace CC Sabathia pulled an abductor muscle during his last outing against the Mets (which would explain his bad control and low velocity on Sunday night) and would have to go onto the 15-day DL. Missing 2-3 of CC's starts is one thing, but in the 4th inning and leading 2-1 thanks to a 2 RBI double from Eric Chavez off of Ubaldo Jimenez, Andy Pettitte took a hard liner off his ankle from the bat of the well-traveled Casey Kotchman. Pettitte tried to stay in the game, but in the first official pitch after that, a sharp pain shot into his foot and he needed to take himself out. An x-ray showed a fracture in the ankle which wouldn't require surgery, but would keep Pettitte out for at least two month. With Pettitte's arrival came more consistency from the starters and a better rested bullpen, now the rest of the staff will need to keep that going without their two lefties.
The gritty game continued and the Indians took the lead in the 5th after a mishmash of pitching changes from Joe Girardi. Freddy Garcia was finally brought to get out of a jam and keep the score held at only 3-2 Indians. Jimenez looked untouchable at times during the afternoon, but the Yankees finally managed to get a few more of him in the 6th. After an A-Rod excuse me double to right field, Robinson Cano flicked an outside pitch with his wrists and the ball traveled far over the left field wall for a 2-run homer. Garcia gave 2.1 innings to earn his 2nd win of the season, and Eric Chavez already with 2 RBIs on the day, had another RBI from a single in the bottom of the 8th which would actually end up being a lifesaver. Rafael Soriano was brought into the 9th to close it out as always, but his heavy workload during the Mets and Indians series seemed to take their toll on him. Soriano wasn't sharp and had loaded the bases loaded with one out and Johnny Damon at the plate as a pinch hitter. Damon did his former team a favor and struck out, but Soriano walked in Michael Brantley thereafter and made the score 5-4 with the bags left loaded. Looking at a terrible disaster of a blown game on top of losing CC and Pettitte for the day, the next hitter Asdrubal Cabrera flied out to left and let the stadium crowd breath a sigh of relief.
Instead of an old friend, an old enemy in Kevin Youklilis and his new team the Chicago White Sox are next to visit Yankee Stadium to start a rare 4-game set while the Yanks figured out how to get by without their two stud lefties.....
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