The Yankees cemented themselves as the hottest team in baseball after yet another sweep, a first place team this time, in the Washington Nationals. The nation's capital was the sight of the match-up as the Yanks wrapped up their road trip against the former Montreal Expos.
Luck was bestowed on the Yanks before a pitch was even thrown as they would miss facing phenom starter Steven Strasburg due to the fact he pitched in the Nationals' previous game in Toronto. The Yanks would get a look at their other big-named player getting alot of attention lately, nineteen year-old centerfielder Bryce Harper. Winners of six games in a row themselves, the Nationals instead sent Gio Gonzalez, part of their revamped rotation in 2012, out to open against Phil Hughes. Gio looked sharp early after he struck out Jeter and Granderson to start the game, but soon enough the Yankee machine applied pressure and got his pitch count up. By the 3rd inning, singles by Alex Rodriguez and Nick Swisher with runners on put the Yanks up 2-0. In the bottom of the 3rd the National would stage a little rally of their own by loading the bases and hitting a single to even score a run to cut the lead in half, but then Hughes buckled down to get Ian Desmond to ground into a double-play to end the threat. Desmond would end up being the Yankees best friend throughout the weekend.
Gio Gonzalez started the 7th inning, but after giving up a leadoff single, Nationals manager Davey Johnson of 1986 Mets World Championship fame brought in Brad Lidge to make things even worse. After a couple more walks, one intentional, the bases were loaded for Derek Jeter who plated two run thanks to an infield single and throwing error by their shortstop Ian Desmond. Johnson then went to lefty Mike Gonzalez, but Curtis Granderson went opposite field for a double to score two more runs and the usually solid Nats bullpen had surrendered 4 runs. Hughes gave six good innings and Girardi had the bullpen close out the final three innings. Curtis Granderson tacked on a solo homer in the 9th to make it 7-1 Yankees and David Robertson made his return in the 9th from his DL stint to give a run back and finish off the game 7-2.
Saturday afternoon turned out to be a five-hour marathon affair with both managers emptying out their bullpens and it would take the Yankees a whole fourteen innings to cap off their eighth win in a row. It begun simple enough as Andy Pettitte took the hill against the Nationals other Zimmermann, Jordan Zimmermann (with two N's at the end instead of one). The Nats grabbed an early 2-0 thanks to a broken-bat double by Jesus Flores that carried deep to the left field wall. Other than that, Pettitte was solid and made youngster Bryce Harper look ugly on three strikeouts, and Harper himself would strikeout five times during the long afternoon.
In the 4th inning, an error by Nationals shortstop Ian Desmond allowed Russell Martin to score to make it 2-1 Nationals, and then in the 6th a sacrifice groundout by Raul Ibanez and a long double by Eric Chavez made it now 3-2 Yankees. Before the Chavez double, Swisher tried scoring on a Martin infield single, but was thrown out at home and suffered a leg contusion on the collision that would take him out for the rest of the series. Cory Wade came out to start the eighth after Pettitte's seven innings of work, and Ian Desmond made some amends by knocking a solo homer to left to tie the game at 3-3 to put a blemish on this time the usually reliable Yankees bullpen. Things could've gotten worse in the bottom of the 8th for the Yankees with Boone Logan, relieving Wade, came on to face pinch-hitter Adam LaRoche. A single by LaRoche with Tyler Moore at second put the Yanks in danger of falling behind, but the ball was hit hard enough to right that Dewyane Wise, actually doing something significant for the first time in pinstripes, threw Moore out at home trying to score. Luckily for the Yankees, the homeplate umpire had blown the call as replays showed Moore's hand on the plate before the tag.
With the score 3-3 in the 9th inning and through the extra frames, it was blown opportunity after blown opportunity for both teams. The managers were running out of pitchers and Girardi was forced to let Freddy Garcia to just stay out there until they take a lead or just lose. Turns out the Yanks finally grabbed at lead and hit with RISP thanks to a 2-run double in the top of the 14th by Mark Teixeira off of Brad Lidge again which plated Jayson Nix (also doing something big in a Yankee uniform for the first time with a leadoff single) and Derek Jeter that put the Yankees up 5-3. After the game, the second poor outing in a row by Lidge caused the Nationals to release him. With the lead, Girardi was able to go to closer Rafael Soriano and instead of putting an end to the never-ending game, Soriano made it very interesting with allowing two singles to put the game in the hands of phenom hitter Bryce Harper with two-outs that he could win the game with a walk-off homer. It wouldn't be that day Harper as he quietly grounded out to second to avoid the scare and let Soriano untuck his shirt for the 5-3 victory.
The Yankees must have liked their chances of achieving their third sweep in a row of a NL club when they sent their reliable road warrior Ivan Nova to cap off the third game against the oft-traveled Edwin Jackson, also part of the revamped 2012 Nationals rotation. The Yankees went up 1-0 in the 1st inning from an RBI flyout from Mark Teixeira, but the Nationals answered back in the 2nd with a solo homer from Adam LaRoche. With homeruns being the theme of the game, Curtis Granderson hit his 21st of the season in the 5th inning and Cano hit one in the 7th to make it 3-1 Yankees. Then yet another Nationals error lead to the Yankees' 4th run; on what was seemingly an unintentional-intentional walk to Andruw Jones with Teixeira at third base, catcher Jhonathan Solano allowed the ball to go by him which brought Teixeira in to score. Nova was able to stretch it into the 8th inning with 7.2 innings of one-run ball for his 9th win of the season and Soriano less-dramatically closed it out for his lucky 13th save.
With a poor May behind them, the Yankees stand at 40-25 that ties them with the Texas Rangers in wins (plus Texas has two more losses) in the AL and the Yanks are only two losses behind the MLB win-leading Dodgers....
Luck was bestowed on the Yanks before a pitch was even thrown as they would miss facing phenom starter Steven Strasburg due to the fact he pitched in the Nationals' previous game in Toronto. The Yanks would get a look at their other big-named player getting alot of attention lately, nineteen year-old centerfielder Bryce Harper. Winners of six games in a row themselves, the Nationals instead sent Gio Gonzalez, part of their revamped rotation in 2012, out to open against Phil Hughes. Gio looked sharp early after he struck out Jeter and Granderson to start the game, but soon enough the Yankee machine applied pressure and got his pitch count up. By the 3rd inning, singles by Alex Rodriguez and Nick Swisher with runners on put the Yanks up 2-0. In the bottom of the 3rd the National would stage a little rally of their own by loading the bases and hitting a single to even score a run to cut the lead in half, but then Hughes buckled down to get Ian Desmond to ground into a double-play to end the threat. Desmond would end up being the Yankees best friend throughout the weekend.
Gio Gonzalez started the 7th inning, but after giving up a leadoff single, Nationals manager Davey Johnson of 1986 Mets World Championship fame brought in Brad Lidge to make things even worse. After a couple more walks, one intentional, the bases were loaded for Derek Jeter who plated two run thanks to an infield single and throwing error by their shortstop Ian Desmond. Johnson then went to lefty Mike Gonzalez, but Curtis Granderson went opposite field for a double to score two more runs and the usually solid Nats bullpen had surrendered 4 runs. Hughes gave six good innings and Girardi had the bullpen close out the final three innings. Curtis Granderson tacked on a solo homer in the 9th to make it 7-1 Yankees and David Robertson made his return in the 9th from his DL stint to give a run back and finish off the game 7-2.
Saturday afternoon turned out to be a five-hour marathon affair with both managers emptying out their bullpens and it would take the Yankees a whole fourteen innings to cap off their eighth win in a row. It begun simple enough as Andy Pettitte took the hill against the Nationals other Zimmermann, Jordan Zimmermann (with two N's at the end instead of one). The Nats grabbed an early 2-0 thanks to a broken-bat double by Jesus Flores that carried deep to the left field wall. Other than that, Pettitte was solid and made youngster Bryce Harper look ugly on three strikeouts, and Harper himself would strikeout five times during the long afternoon.
In the 4th inning, an error by Nationals shortstop Ian Desmond allowed Russell Martin to score to make it 2-1 Nationals, and then in the 6th a sacrifice groundout by Raul Ibanez and a long double by Eric Chavez made it now 3-2 Yankees. Before the Chavez double, Swisher tried scoring on a Martin infield single, but was thrown out at home and suffered a leg contusion on the collision that would take him out for the rest of the series. Cory Wade came out to start the eighth after Pettitte's seven innings of work, and Ian Desmond made some amends by knocking a solo homer to left to tie the game at 3-3 to put a blemish on this time the usually reliable Yankees bullpen. Things could've gotten worse in the bottom of the 8th for the Yankees with Boone Logan, relieving Wade, came on to face pinch-hitter Adam LaRoche. A single by LaRoche with Tyler Moore at second put the Yanks in danger of falling behind, but the ball was hit hard enough to right that Dewyane Wise, actually doing something significant for the first time in pinstripes, threw Moore out at home trying to score. Luckily for the Yankees, the homeplate umpire had blown the call as replays showed Moore's hand on the plate before the tag.
With the score 3-3 in the 9th inning and through the extra frames, it was blown opportunity after blown opportunity for both teams. The managers were running out of pitchers and Girardi was forced to let Freddy Garcia to just stay out there until they take a lead or just lose. Turns out the Yanks finally grabbed at lead and hit with RISP thanks to a 2-run double in the top of the 14th by Mark Teixeira off of Brad Lidge again which plated Jayson Nix (also doing something big in a Yankee uniform for the first time with a leadoff single) and Derek Jeter that put the Yankees up 5-3. After the game, the second poor outing in a row by Lidge caused the Nationals to release him. With the lead, Girardi was able to go to closer Rafael Soriano and instead of putting an end to the never-ending game, Soriano made it very interesting with allowing two singles to put the game in the hands of phenom hitter Bryce Harper with two-outs that he could win the game with a walk-off homer. It wouldn't be that day Harper as he quietly grounded out to second to avoid the scare and let Soriano untuck his shirt for the 5-3 victory.
The Yankees must have liked their chances of achieving their third sweep in a row of a NL club when they sent their reliable road warrior Ivan Nova to cap off the third game against the oft-traveled Edwin Jackson, also part of the revamped 2012 Nationals rotation. The Yankees went up 1-0 in the 1st inning from an RBI flyout from Mark Teixeira, but the Nationals answered back in the 2nd with a solo homer from Adam LaRoche. With homeruns being the theme of the game, Curtis Granderson hit his 21st of the season in the 5th inning and Cano hit one in the 7th to make it 3-1 Yankees. Then yet another Nationals error lead to the Yankees' 4th run; on what was seemingly an unintentional-intentional walk to Andruw Jones with Teixeira at third base, catcher Jhonathan Solano allowed the ball to go by him which brought Teixeira in to score. Nova was able to stretch it into the 8th inning with 7.2 innings of one-run ball for his 9th win of the season and Soriano less-dramatically closed it out for his lucky 13th save.
With a poor May behind them, the Yankees stand at 40-25 that ties them with the Texas Rangers in wins (plus Texas has two more losses) in the AL and the Yanks are only two losses behind the MLB win-leading Dodgers....
I'm glad you enjoyed it Kevin!! Feel free to come back after each series ends throughout the season for more. Toss your opinions in as well.
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