Returning from the All-Star break in Kansas City where Robinson Cano was soundly booed for not including future Hall of Famer Billy Butler on the AL Homerun Derby team, the Yankees played host to their ol' thorn in the side, the Angels.
Hiroki Kuroda was given the ball to begin the second half of the season, looking to bounce back after his sub par outing in Fenway. Kuroda fell behind 1-0 in the 3rd inning thanks to a solo shot by Erick Aybar, but in the bottom of the frame, batting right-handed against the $70 million dollar lefty C.J. Wilson, Mark Teixeira poked a 2-run homer that barely went over the leftfield wall. From there Kuroda went on a roll and was working into the 7th inning on a low pitch count when things started to fall apart. The $250 million dollar man Albert Pujols singled to start the inning, Kendrys Morales was plunked in the back on a 1-2 pitch, and then Mark Trumbo, who bombarded the Yanks in Los Angeles a few months back with four homers, crushed a 3-run homer deep into the left field bleachers, where no balls ever go, to give the Angles a 4-2 lead. Pujols would get up in the 8th inning and hit a high popper to the right field foul line than dunked in for an RBI double as a result of Swisher shifted too far left against for the pull hitter. Swisher made amends soon after by leaping up at the wall and robbing Mark Trumbo of what would be another homerun. The Angles still had the 5-2 lead and it looked like another painful loss against the Angels was in the Yanks future with the untouchable Scott Downs coming out to start the 8th.
Coming into the game, Downs was sporting a microscopic ERA and had been a constant Yankee-rally killer in the past for the Angels and Toronto Blue Jays. Shockingly enough, Derek Jeter started the bottom of the 8th inning with a hard double to right field to get things cooking. Curtis Granderson worked a tough at-bat and squeaked a walk on a 3-2 pitch. This set the table for two on and nobody out, with Mark Teixeira, who already homered in the game, to come to the plate still hitting right-handed against the lefty Downs. This was indeed going to be Teixeira's night as he found himself a hanging curveball with no bite and launched it deep to left that tied the game at 5-5 for his second homer of the game.
The Yankees weren't done quite yet. They had the tie, now they needed one more run for the win. Raul Ibanez was in to pinch hit for Andruw Jones and he drew a walk. Joe Girardi inserted the valuable Dewayne Wise to pinch-run and he promptly stole second. With the struggling Russell Martin up sporting a batting average under .200 against the hard-throwing Kevin Jepsen, one would think Wise would be left stranded at second. Instead, Martin lined a double past first base which barely made it in fair territory and Wise came in to give the Yanks the 6-5 lead. Rafael Soriano picked up where he left off an converted his 21st save of the season, the last out coming from Martin throwing out Kendrick trying to steal second when it looked like Martin was going to let a pitch get away from him. Chad Qualls picked up his first win in pinstripes by mopping up the 8th inning, which turned out to be the Yankees most exciting victory of the season against the menacing Angels.
With no trades or call-ups to say otherwise, Freddy Garcia's previous good two outings earned him another start in Pettitte's empty slot, and he contributed positively again with five decent innings in which he only surrendered 3 runs. Luckily for Garcia, he was facing a mediocre pitcher who was coming off the DL in Jerome Williams. The Angels managed 2 runs in the 1st from a bases loaded double by Alberto Callaspo, but the Yanks erased that immediately in the bottom of the frame with an opposite field 2-run homer from Kansas City fan-favorite Robinson Cano. Curtis Granderson jumped into the 2nd half homer fun with a 2-run shot of his own in the 3rd to give the Yanks a 4-2 lead at that point. With Garcia only able to go five innings, Girardi had to pull out his usual bullpen speed rack and put together four scoreless innings from Eppley, Robertson, and finally Soriano who closed out the 5-3 win that gave Garcia his 4th win as well as Soriano's 22nd save this season in place of Mariano Rivera. If the Yankees bullpen hadn't been good enough, news was getting better concerning the return of Joba Chamberlain while he rehabs, that the fireballer could be back by August sometime. If that isn't intriguing enough, there's other whispers that Rivera himself be have a small window to return this season from his surgery, but the latter seems quite unlikely according to Girardi.
Playing with house money by guaranteeing themselves two out of three against the tough Angels, the Yanks set out for the sweep, but it wouldn't seem easy against their ace, the 10-1 Jarred Weaver. The Yanks sent their own 10-game winner, Ivan Nova, to the mound, and instead of a pitching clinic, the game turned out to be a slugfest. By the top of the 6th, the Yankees were leading 3-2, highlighted by a 2-run shot from Alex Rodriguez, who woke up from his slumber and had been hearing the boos lately. Nova started to flatten out and let in three Angels runs, including an unforgiving act of giving Maicer Izturis his first homerun of the season. Chad Qualls had to come in to relieve Nova in the 7th after letting a couple on, one of which scored which made the score 6-4 after Granderson had brought the team back closer with a solo homer. Eric Chavez also chipped in with a solo homer which made the game 6-5, but in the 8th, Qualls would be responsible for another string of three Angels runs which put the game out of reach at 9-5. Mark Trumbo managed to hit another homerun before leaving New York in the 9th that made the score 10-5 as fans headed for the exits. You should never leave early with the Yankees offense because they can always make a game out of it. Mark Teixeira hit a 2-run homerun in the 9th, his third of the weekend, that pulled the score to 10-7. Scott Downs was called upon to close it out for Mike Scioscia, but he struggled again to walk in a run at 10-8 and left the bases loaded for Alex Rodriguez to be the big hero and make the fans forget about the terrible hitting with RISP during the first half (and most his Yankee career). Kevin Jepsen came on for the righty-on-righty match-up and instead of a fairytale ending for the Yankees, it would be yet another A-Rod weak pop-up near the infield to kill the comeback.
Despite A-Rod making more fans happy, the homer-swinging team can walk proudly being twenty games over .500 with taking 2 out of 3 from the Angels, and knowing the fact the crosstown Mets got swept in Atlanta to begin their second half. Next up, Scott Downs' former team, the Blue Jays come pay a visit to the Bronx....
Hiroki Kuroda was given the ball to begin the second half of the season, looking to bounce back after his sub par outing in Fenway. Kuroda fell behind 1-0 in the 3rd inning thanks to a solo shot by Erick Aybar, but in the bottom of the frame, batting right-handed against the $70 million dollar lefty C.J. Wilson, Mark Teixeira poked a 2-run homer that barely went over the leftfield wall. From there Kuroda went on a roll and was working into the 7th inning on a low pitch count when things started to fall apart. The $250 million dollar man Albert Pujols singled to start the inning, Kendrys Morales was plunked in the back on a 1-2 pitch, and then Mark Trumbo, who bombarded the Yanks in Los Angeles a few months back with four homers, crushed a 3-run homer deep into the left field bleachers, where no balls ever go, to give the Angles a 4-2 lead. Pujols would get up in the 8th inning and hit a high popper to the right field foul line than dunked in for an RBI double as a result of Swisher shifted too far left against for the pull hitter. Swisher made amends soon after by leaping up at the wall and robbing Mark Trumbo of what would be another homerun. The Angles still had the 5-2 lead and it looked like another painful loss against the Angels was in the Yanks future with the untouchable Scott Downs coming out to start the 8th.
Coming into the game, Downs was sporting a microscopic ERA and had been a constant Yankee-rally killer in the past for the Angels and Toronto Blue Jays. Shockingly enough, Derek Jeter started the bottom of the 8th inning with a hard double to right field to get things cooking. Curtis Granderson worked a tough at-bat and squeaked a walk on a 3-2 pitch. This set the table for two on and nobody out, with Mark Teixeira, who already homered in the game, to come to the plate still hitting right-handed against the lefty Downs. This was indeed going to be Teixeira's night as he found himself a hanging curveball with no bite and launched it deep to left that tied the game at 5-5 for his second homer of the game.
The Yankees weren't done quite yet. They had the tie, now they needed one more run for the win. Raul Ibanez was in to pinch hit for Andruw Jones and he drew a walk. Joe Girardi inserted the valuable Dewayne Wise to pinch-run and he promptly stole second. With the struggling Russell Martin up sporting a batting average under .200 against the hard-throwing Kevin Jepsen, one would think Wise would be left stranded at second. Instead, Martin lined a double past first base which barely made it in fair territory and Wise came in to give the Yanks the 6-5 lead. Rafael Soriano picked up where he left off an converted his 21st save of the season, the last out coming from Martin throwing out Kendrick trying to steal second when it looked like Martin was going to let a pitch get away from him. Chad Qualls picked up his first win in pinstripes by mopping up the 8th inning, which turned out to be the Yankees most exciting victory of the season against the menacing Angels.
With no trades or call-ups to say otherwise, Freddy Garcia's previous good two outings earned him another start in Pettitte's empty slot, and he contributed positively again with five decent innings in which he only surrendered 3 runs. Luckily for Garcia, he was facing a mediocre pitcher who was coming off the DL in Jerome Williams. The Angels managed 2 runs in the 1st from a bases loaded double by Alberto Callaspo, but the Yanks erased that immediately in the bottom of the frame with an opposite field 2-run homer from Kansas City fan-favorite Robinson Cano. Curtis Granderson jumped into the 2nd half homer fun with a 2-run shot of his own in the 3rd to give the Yanks a 4-2 lead at that point. With Garcia only able to go five innings, Girardi had to pull out his usual bullpen speed rack and put together four scoreless innings from Eppley, Robertson, and finally Soriano who closed out the 5-3 win that gave Garcia his 4th win as well as Soriano's 22nd save this season in place of Mariano Rivera. If the Yankees bullpen hadn't been good enough, news was getting better concerning the return of Joba Chamberlain while he rehabs, that the fireballer could be back by August sometime. If that isn't intriguing enough, there's other whispers that Rivera himself be have a small window to return this season from his surgery, but the latter seems quite unlikely according to Girardi.
Playing with house money by guaranteeing themselves two out of three against the tough Angels, the Yanks set out for the sweep, but it wouldn't seem easy against their ace, the 10-1 Jarred Weaver. The Yanks sent their own 10-game winner, Ivan Nova, to the mound, and instead of a pitching clinic, the game turned out to be a slugfest. By the top of the 6th, the Yankees were leading 3-2, highlighted by a 2-run shot from Alex Rodriguez, who woke up from his slumber and had been hearing the boos lately. Nova started to flatten out and let in three Angels runs, including an unforgiving act of giving Maicer Izturis his first homerun of the season. Chad Qualls had to come in to relieve Nova in the 7th after letting a couple on, one of which scored which made the score 6-4 after Granderson had brought the team back closer with a solo homer. Eric Chavez also chipped in with a solo homer which made the game 6-5, but in the 8th, Qualls would be responsible for another string of three Angels runs which put the game out of reach at 9-5. Mark Trumbo managed to hit another homerun before leaving New York in the 9th that made the score 10-5 as fans headed for the exits. You should never leave early with the Yankees offense because they can always make a game out of it. Mark Teixeira hit a 2-run homerun in the 9th, his third of the weekend, that pulled the score to 10-7. Scott Downs was called upon to close it out for Mike Scioscia, but he struggled again to walk in a run at 10-8 and left the bases loaded for Alex Rodriguez to be the big hero and make the fans forget about the terrible hitting with RISP during the first half (and most his Yankee career). Kevin Jepsen came on for the righty-on-righty match-up and instead of a fairytale ending for the Yankees, it would be yet another A-Rod weak pop-up near the infield to kill the comeback.
Despite A-Rod making more fans happy, the homer-swinging team can walk proudly being twenty games over .500 with taking 2 out of 3 from the Angels, and knowing the fact the crosstown Mets got swept in Atlanta to begin their second half. Next up, Scott Downs' former team, the Blue Jays come pay a visit to the Bronx....
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