For scheduling reasons only some MLB head office janitor would know, the Yankees had to face the Atlanta Braves for a second time this season during this interleague phase. Although facing NL teams seems to be a delight to the Yanks, this time the NL struck back and in addition to snapping their fun 10-game win streak, the Yankees were also slapped around at home.
Things got off to a good start with a rematch of last week's lefty match-up of CC Sabathia and Mike Minor. Previously in Atlanta, Minor had been cruising to the 7th inning with a 4-0 lead, when the walls crumbled on the Braves bullpen and the Yankees reversed it to a 6-4 win. Parallel in this game, Minor had been doing fine with a 2-0 by the 5th inning, when things slipped away again as soon as he reached near the 100-pitch mark. The Yankees in the bottom of the 5th had cut the score 2-1 and had the bases loaded with Derek Jeter at the plate. The Yankee Captain delivered with a 2-RBI single to give the Yankees the lead 3-2. That was more than enough for CC Sabathia who went the distance for his 9th win with a complete game performance that included 10 strikeouts. More runs were tacked on later by the Yanks thanks to longballs from Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano which ran the score up to its 6-2 final.
The next rematch from last week featured Hiroki Kuroda, who has been on a pitching tear lately, against Tim Hudson. The Yankees had to have been feeling good in the 2nd inning when Nick Swisher hit a double which scored 2 runs, but the Braves answered back in the 3rd with an RBI groundout, and then scored 2 more runs to take the 3-2 leads. Thanks to some sloppy Braves defense, the Yanks were able to tie the score 3-3 on Russell Martin grounder misplayed by Chipper Jones in the bottom of the 4th. Tim Hudson was squeezed on the mound by the homeplate umpire which allowed Derek Jeter to walk to load the bases. On the ropes and about to get knocked out by Curtis Granderson, Hudson got out of the jam with a 3-pitch strikeout.
The Yankees had a chance to take the lead in the bottom of the 5th when Nick Swisher doubled with Mark Teixeira standing on second base, but the ball was hit hard enough to reach right fielder Jayson Wayward, who gunned the slow-footed Teixeira at home to end the inning. The big out must have energized the Braves, because Brian McCann lead off the 6th with a double off of Kuroda and would eventually come around to score and give the Braves the 4-3 lead. The Yankees had one final shot to get a run and it looked promising when Granderson and Rodriguez reached to put 2 runners on first and second with no outs. Cano moved them over with a sacrifice ground out, then next hitter Teixeira hit a sharp grounder to Chipper Jones who was able to throw out Granderson trying to score at home, and last hitter Ibanez struckout, as he continues to wear down from overuse due to Gardner's injury. In the 9th, the Braves sent out their superman unnecessary hunched-over closer Craig Kimbrel with his 99mph fastball mixed in with 89mph breaking stuff and he made the Yankees first three hitters look childish as he saved the 4-3 game without problems.
For the rubber match it came down to a pair of pitchers who did not face eachother last week; Phil Hughes and Tommy Hanson. With a heatwave hovering over New York and temperatures at Yankee Stadium reaching 95 degrees, Phil Hughes must have had his brain fried because he simply didn't have it. Already down 1-0 in the first inning, Hughes gave up a 2-run shot to Francisco Freeman to give the Braves a 3-0 lead. Derek Jeter struck back immediately by depositing the first pitch from Tommy Hanson over the right field wall to get one back for the Yankees, but Hughes gave it back in the 4th inning with a solo homer from Martin Prado. Just for good measure Hughes gave up two more homers to Jayson Heyward and even 9th-place hitter David Ross that increased the Braves lead to 6-1. Hughes couldn't even finish the 5th and Girardi had to come and get him out of the sun.
The hot air helped the Yankee hitters as well as they started to mount their comeback with homeruns from Eric Chavez in the 5th inning, then Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano back-to-back in the 6th to cut the lead 6-4. In the bottom of the 7th, the Yanks had a golden opportunity to tie the score. The Yankees had cut the Braves lead to 6-5 and had runners on first and third with one out and A-Rod at the plate. A sacrifice fly or groundout would tie the score, but instead he did the absolute worst thing he could in that situation, he grounded into a double-play that ended the inning. In the top of the 8th, Boone Logan was on the mound with one out and a runner at first and third for the Braves this time. A ball was hit hard to Chavez (filling in for Teixeira who didn't start) and what would've been a double-play ball to end the threat, the ball was booted by Chavez and the runner scored from third to make it 7-5 Braves. Afterwards, Jayson Heyward ended it essentially with a 2-run bomb to right field that made it 9-5, and the game ended at 10-5 in a homer happy heat drenched afternoon.
With the 10-game winning streak seemingly like a long distant memory after two frustrating losses, the 41-27 Yankees go for one final NL match-up, this time a rematch against the Mets, hoping the don''t turn things around like the Braves did....
Things got off to a good start with a rematch of last week's lefty match-up of CC Sabathia and Mike Minor. Previously in Atlanta, Minor had been cruising to the 7th inning with a 4-0 lead, when the walls crumbled on the Braves bullpen and the Yankees reversed it to a 6-4 win. Parallel in this game, Minor had been doing fine with a 2-0 by the 5th inning, when things slipped away again as soon as he reached near the 100-pitch mark. The Yankees in the bottom of the 5th had cut the score 2-1 and had the bases loaded with Derek Jeter at the plate. The Yankee Captain delivered with a 2-RBI single to give the Yankees the lead 3-2. That was more than enough for CC Sabathia who went the distance for his 9th win with a complete game performance that included 10 strikeouts. More runs were tacked on later by the Yanks thanks to longballs from Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano which ran the score up to its 6-2 final.
The next rematch from last week featured Hiroki Kuroda, who has been on a pitching tear lately, against Tim Hudson. The Yankees had to have been feeling good in the 2nd inning when Nick Swisher hit a double which scored 2 runs, but the Braves answered back in the 3rd with an RBI groundout, and then scored 2 more runs to take the 3-2 leads. Thanks to some sloppy Braves defense, the Yanks were able to tie the score 3-3 on Russell Martin grounder misplayed by Chipper Jones in the bottom of the 4th. Tim Hudson was squeezed on the mound by the homeplate umpire which allowed Derek Jeter to walk to load the bases. On the ropes and about to get knocked out by Curtis Granderson, Hudson got out of the jam with a 3-pitch strikeout.
The Yankees had a chance to take the lead in the bottom of the 5th when Nick Swisher doubled with Mark Teixeira standing on second base, but the ball was hit hard enough to reach right fielder Jayson Wayward, who gunned the slow-footed Teixeira at home to end the inning. The big out must have energized the Braves, because Brian McCann lead off the 6th with a double off of Kuroda and would eventually come around to score and give the Braves the 4-3 lead. The Yankees had one final shot to get a run and it looked promising when Granderson and Rodriguez reached to put 2 runners on first and second with no outs. Cano moved them over with a sacrifice ground out, then next hitter Teixeira hit a sharp grounder to Chipper Jones who was able to throw out Granderson trying to score at home, and last hitter Ibanez struckout, as he continues to wear down from overuse due to Gardner's injury. In the 9th, the Braves sent out their superman unnecessary hunched-over closer Craig Kimbrel with his 99mph fastball mixed in with 89mph breaking stuff and he made the Yankees first three hitters look childish as he saved the 4-3 game without problems.
For the rubber match it came down to a pair of pitchers who did not face eachother last week; Phil Hughes and Tommy Hanson. With a heatwave hovering over New York and temperatures at Yankee Stadium reaching 95 degrees, Phil Hughes must have had his brain fried because he simply didn't have it. Already down 1-0 in the first inning, Hughes gave up a 2-run shot to Francisco Freeman to give the Braves a 3-0 lead. Derek Jeter struck back immediately by depositing the first pitch from Tommy Hanson over the right field wall to get one back for the Yankees, but Hughes gave it back in the 4th inning with a solo homer from Martin Prado. Just for good measure Hughes gave up two more homers to Jayson Heyward and even 9th-place hitter David Ross that increased the Braves lead to 6-1. Hughes couldn't even finish the 5th and Girardi had to come and get him out of the sun.
The hot air helped the Yankee hitters as well as they started to mount their comeback with homeruns from Eric Chavez in the 5th inning, then Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano back-to-back in the 6th to cut the lead 6-4. In the bottom of the 7th, the Yanks had a golden opportunity to tie the score. The Yankees had cut the Braves lead to 6-5 and had runners on first and third with one out and A-Rod at the plate. A sacrifice fly or groundout would tie the score, but instead he did the absolute worst thing he could in that situation, he grounded into a double-play that ended the inning. In the top of the 8th, Boone Logan was on the mound with one out and a runner at first and third for the Braves this time. A ball was hit hard to Chavez (filling in for Teixeira who didn't start) and what would've been a double-play ball to end the threat, the ball was booted by Chavez and the runner scored from third to make it 7-5 Braves. Afterwards, Jayson Heyward ended it essentially with a 2-run bomb to right field that made it 9-5, and the game ended at 10-5 in a homer happy heat drenched afternoon.
With the 10-game winning streak seemingly like a long distant memory after two frustrating losses, the 41-27 Yankees go for one final NL match-up, this time a rematch against the Mets, hoping the don''t turn things around like the Braves did....
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