The Yankees have been sleepwalking the past few weeks and far removed from the period in July when they were considered the best team in baseball. Poor starting pitching, injuries, not hitting with runners in scoring position, and the failure to put any type of winning steak together summarize the pinstripes lately. This wasn't the best time to face the surging Detroit Tigers, a team that has finally woken up in 2012 and are battling the Chicago White Sox for first place in the AL Central.
The most guilty of pulling a disappearing act during this stretch of the season, Ivan Nova, started on the mound in Detroit. More bad luck for the Yankees to begin this set is that after facing King Felix two days previously and getting shut out, they had the fun task of facing the equally-as-tough Justin Verlander. Nova fell behind 2-0 by surrendering solo homeruns to Prince Fielder in the 2nd and Miguel Cabrera (what's a Yankees-Tigers game without Cabrera hitting on against NY) in the 4th. The Yankees battled back to tie it in the 5th from RBI singles from Jeter and Cano, but as Nova has been doing during his funk, he immediately gave run right back. Two RBI singles and a sacrifice fly by Andy Dirks put the Tigers up by three at 5-2. Nova ran into trouble again in the 6th and allowed two more Tigers to score at 7-2 and needed to be lifted by Girardi after only going 5.1 inning as his poor pitching continues getting tagged for 7 runs on 11 hits. On the other hand, Verlander was absolutely nasty going 8 full innings and striking out 14 batters on a season-high 132 pitches during the Tigers 7-2 win.
Rick Porcello doesn't throw as hard as Verlander, so they were hoping for better results in the next game, and for a while things look promising when they scored two runs in the top of the 4th from an opposite field homer from Eric Chavez. Phil Hughes, looking to continue from his good start against the Orioles, gave it right on back in the bottom of the inning; starting with (yet another) homerun from Miguel Cabrera (why do they keep pitching to this guy?) and then a Johnny Peralta hit that scored Brennan Boesch. The Tigers weren't done either in the 5th as they scored two more runs on Hughes, and Boone Logan was needed to get out the left-handed hitting Andy Dirks, but instead gave up an RBI double that push it to 5-2 Tigers. Hughes didn't even get out of the 5th inning. The Tigers added a vital run in the bottom of the 8th after the Yanks made it 5-3 on an RBI double from Ichiro (his first hit with RISP as a Yankees - hurray!), Andy Dirks burned the Yanks again with an RBI single that scored Delmon Young. The reason the run was important is that the Yankees looked like.....the Yankees in the top of the 9th for the first time in a long time. With pesky Tigers closer Jose Valverde on the mound, the Yanks put a rally together. With two outs and Eric Chavez on first base, Raul Ibanez worked a tough at-bat and was finally able to draw a walk. The next hitter, Ichiro Suzuki, single to center that scored Chavez and made it 6-4. The low-averaged Russell Martin followed with an RBI double that scored Ibanez at 6-5 Tigers and had Ichiro at third base with Curtis Granderson up at the plate. The former-Tiger had a good swing early that went foul, but soon after popped up to Prince Fielder to end the game at 6-5. Despite the loss and slipping under the '20 games over .500' mark, the Yanks had shown a pulse that would carry over to the next game.
Brian Cashman gave CC Sabathia a boat-load of money in 2009, and re-structured his contract before the start of the 2012 season for one main reason: to be an Ace. Part of that role includes stopping losing streaks, and CC was needed for the third of four games for any hopes the Yanks could leave Detroit with at least a split. The offense did their part early, with perhaps a little help from manager Joe Girardi tinkering with the lineup; dropping the slumping Granderson to 6th and moving Nick Swisher up to 2nd in the batting order. Already up 2-0 by the top of the 3rd inning, with two runners on and one RBI already in the books for the night, Curtis Granderson hit a 3-run homer that gave the Yanks a 5-0 lead. The Yankee bats were really busting out and added two more runs by the 4th inning to give Sabathia a 7-0 lead to work with.
The game was still early and with Detroit's dangerous offense, seven runs was nearly not enough. The Tigers began chipping away with a run in the bottom of the 4th and two more in the 6th. After running into some trouble in the 7th by giving up a hit to Austin Jackson to lead off the inning and a throwing error from newcomer Casey McGehee playing third base that eventually resulted in the Tiger's 4th run. Sabathia left after going 6.2 innings and painstakingly watched from the bench as David Robertson came out of the bullpen and allowed another 3 runs that closed the gap to 8-7 Yankees. Not to be overcome on this night, the Yanks for a change responded with two runs in the top of the 8th with an Mark Teixeira RBI single and then a Chavez RBI groundout that scored Cano. Detroit kept fighting with a solo homer from the newly-acquired Omar Infante in the bottom of the same inning that made it 10-8 Yankees, but the Yanks doubled that up with two more runs in the top of the 9th to make it 12-8. Although not a save situation. Girardi was looking to end all the madness of the night and had Rafael Soriano toss an inning to put this one to bed at 12-8 Yankees. Even though it wasn't a save, Soriano still felt it necessary to untuck his shirt after the third out. Since the Yankees never lost the lead, the win went to Sabathia, his team-leading 12th of the season, and it also put an end to Detroit's 10-game home winning streak.
There wasn't much time for rest after the long fight the night before, an afternoon game was scheduled for the travel-day finale and Hiroki Kuroda was going against Doug Fister. For the third consecutive game, the Yankees took a 2-0 lead on the Tigers, this time in the 2nd which included another RBI hit from the hit-happy Ichrio after the Yanks were already up 1-0. Kuroda let that stand until the 5th inning when the Tigers tied it on a 2-run homer from Johnny Peralta and then scored a go-ahead double from catcher Alex Avila which caused some controversy. On the double, the ball seemed to have hit the left field foul line, but the umpire's first reaction was to throw his hands up which is a signal for a foul ball. This caused left fielder Raul Ibanez to slow down his motor, but soon after the umpire changed the call to fair ball and the run had scored for Detroit and the took the 3-2 lead. The flip-flop call by the umpire caused Yankees manager Joe Girardi to come out and argue with the entire umpiring crew which caused his ejection, but not after he got his money's worth in hand gestures.
When it seemed like lethargic play and bad luck would continue for the Yankees on their way to the airport, the Bombers called on their best friend this season, the homerun ball, to bail them out. Jim Leyland had Joaquin Benoit out for the 8th inning, and best known for getting out of a huge jam against the Yankees in Game 5 of the Divisional Playoffs last season, the Yankees would get some small measure of revenge on this rainy afternoon in August. Mark Teixeira smoked a line drive homer to right that was out in a hurry to tie the game at 3-3, and then the very next batter, Eric Chavez, took a pitch over the opposite field wall that turned the lead back to the Yankees 4-3 and caused the Yank bench to explode (just to show how much they needed this game). The Tigers made sure not to go away without a fight and Rafael Soriano was needed for a 4-out save after he was needed to get out of a jam in the 8th. Soriano was back out in the 9th and gave himself the jam of jams by surrendering a lead off double to Alex Avila, and then a single to Omar Infante to put runners on first and third with no outs. To his credit, Soriano buckled down and got the next two hitters to weakly pop up to the infield, and then the last batter, Andy Dirks, who killed the Yankees all series, to fly out to Granderson in center for the exciting 4-3 Yankees victory. It was Rafael Soriano's 27th save of the season, even though he started the year as the 7th inning guy, and it closed out perhaps the Yankees most important win to-date of the 2012 season...more than enough of a reason to untuck a shirt.
With an extra spring in their step and the resemblance a first place team, the 65-46 Yankees cross into Canada to continue their win streak against the Blue Jays after sweeping them in the Bronx a few weeks ago.....
The most guilty of pulling a disappearing act during this stretch of the season, Ivan Nova, started on the mound in Detroit. More bad luck for the Yankees to begin this set is that after facing King Felix two days previously and getting shut out, they had the fun task of facing the equally-as-tough Justin Verlander. Nova fell behind 2-0 by surrendering solo homeruns to Prince Fielder in the 2nd and Miguel Cabrera (what's a Yankees-Tigers game without Cabrera hitting on against NY) in the 4th. The Yankees battled back to tie it in the 5th from RBI singles from Jeter and Cano, but as Nova has been doing during his funk, he immediately gave run right back. Two RBI singles and a sacrifice fly by Andy Dirks put the Tigers up by three at 5-2. Nova ran into trouble again in the 6th and allowed two more Tigers to score at 7-2 and needed to be lifted by Girardi after only going 5.1 inning as his poor pitching continues getting tagged for 7 runs on 11 hits. On the other hand, Verlander was absolutely nasty going 8 full innings and striking out 14 batters on a season-high 132 pitches during the Tigers 7-2 win.
Rick Porcello doesn't throw as hard as Verlander, so they were hoping for better results in the next game, and for a while things look promising when they scored two runs in the top of the 4th from an opposite field homer from Eric Chavez. Phil Hughes, looking to continue from his good start against the Orioles, gave it right on back in the bottom of the inning; starting with (yet another) homerun from Miguel Cabrera (why do they keep pitching to this guy?) and then a Johnny Peralta hit that scored Brennan Boesch. The Tigers weren't done either in the 5th as they scored two more runs on Hughes, and Boone Logan was needed to get out the left-handed hitting Andy Dirks, but instead gave up an RBI double that push it to 5-2 Tigers. Hughes didn't even get out of the 5th inning. The Tigers added a vital run in the bottom of the 8th after the Yanks made it 5-3 on an RBI double from Ichiro (his first hit with RISP as a Yankees - hurray!), Andy Dirks burned the Yanks again with an RBI single that scored Delmon Young. The reason the run was important is that the Yankees looked like.....the Yankees in the top of the 9th for the first time in a long time. With pesky Tigers closer Jose Valverde on the mound, the Yanks put a rally together. With two outs and Eric Chavez on first base, Raul Ibanez worked a tough at-bat and was finally able to draw a walk. The next hitter, Ichiro Suzuki, single to center that scored Chavez and made it 6-4. The low-averaged Russell Martin followed with an RBI double that scored Ibanez at 6-5 Tigers and had Ichiro at third base with Curtis Granderson up at the plate. The former-Tiger had a good swing early that went foul, but soon after popped up to Prince Fielder to end the game at 6-5. Despite the loss and slipping under the '20 games over .500' mark, the Yanks had shown a pulse that would carry over to the next game.
Brian Cashman gave CC Sabathia a boat-load of money in 2009, and re-structured his contract before the start of the 2012 season for one main reason: to be an Ace. Part of that role includes stopping losing streaks, and CC was needed for the third of four games for any hopes the Yanks could leave Detroit with at least a split. The offense did their part early, with perhaps a little help from manager Joe Girardi tinkering with the lineup; dropping the slumping Granderson to 6th and moving Nick Swisher up to 2nd in the batting order. Already up 2-0 by the top of the 3rd inning, with two runners on and one RBI already in the books for the night, Curtis Granderson hit a 3-run homer that gave the Yanks a 5-0 lead. The Yankee bats were really busting out and added two more runs by the 4th inning to give Sabathia a 7-0 lead to work with.
The game was still early and with Detroit's dangerous offense, seven runs was nearly not enough. The Tigers began chipping away with a run in the bottom of the 4th and two more in the 6th. After running into some trouble in the 7th by giving up a hit to Austin Jackson to lead off the inning and a throwing error from newcomer Casey McGehee playing third base that eventually resulted in the Tiger's 4th run. Sabathia left after going 6.2 innings and painstakingly watched from the bench as David Robertson came out of the bullpen and allowed another 3 runs that closed the gap to 8-7 Yankees. Not to be overcome on this night, the Yanks for a change responded with two runs in the top of the 8th with an Mark Teixeira RBI single and then a Chavez RBI groundout that scored Cano. Detroit kept fighting with a solo homer from the newly-acquired Omar Infante in the bottom of the same inning that made it 10-8 Yankees, but the Yanks doubled that up with two more runs in the top of the 9th to make it 12-8. Although not a save situation. Girardi was looking to end all the madness of the night and had Rafael Soriano toss an inning to put this one to bed at 12-8 Yankees. Even though it wasn't a save, Soriano still felt it necessary to untuck his shirt after the third out. Since the Yankees never lost the lead, the win went to Sabathia, his team-leading 12th of the season, and it also put an end to Detroit's 10-game home winning streak.
There wasn't much time for rest after the long fight the night before, an afternoon game was scheduled for the travel-day finale and Hiroki Kuroda was going against Doug Fister. For the third consecutive game, the Yankees took a 2-0 lead on the Tigers, this time in the 2nd which included another RBI hit from the hit-happy Ichrio after the Yanks were already up 1-0. Kuroda let that stand until the 5th inning when the Tigers tied it on a 2-run homer from Johnny Peralta and then scored a go-ahead double from catcher Alex Avila which caused some controversy. On the double, the ball seemed to have hit the left field foul line, but the umpire's first reaction was to throw his hands up which is a signal for a foul ball. This caused left fielder Raul Ibanez to slow down his motor, but soon after the umpire changed the call to fair ball and the run had scored for Detroit and the took the 3-2 lead. The flip-flop call by the umpire caused Yankees manager Joe Girardi to come out and argue with the entire umpiring crew which caused his ejection, but not after he got his money's worth in hand gestures.
When it seemed like lethargic play and bad luck would continue for the Yankees on their way to the airport, the Bombers called on their best friend this season, the homerun ball, to bail them out. Jim Leyland had Joaquin Benoit out for the 8th inning, and best known for getting out of a huge jam against the Yankees in Game 5 of the Divisional Playoffs last season, the Yankees would get some small measure of revenge on this rainy afternoon in August. Mark Teixeira smoked a line drive homer to right that was out in a hurry to tie the game at 3-3, and then the very next batter, Eric Chavez, took a pitch over the opposite field wall that turned the lead back to the Yankees 4-3 and caused the Yank bench to explode (just to show how much they needed this game). The Tigers made sure not to go away without a fight and Rafael Soriano was needed for a 4-out save after he was needed to get out of a jam in the 8th. Soriano was back out in the 9th and gave himself the jam of jams by surrendering a lead off double to Alex Avila, and then a single to Omar Infante to put runners on first and third with no outs. To his credit, Soriano buckled down and got the next two hitters to weakly pop up to the infield, and then the last batter, Andy Dirks, who killed the Yankees all series, to fly out to Granderson in center for the exciting 4-3 Yankees victory. It was Rafael Soriano's 27th save of the season, even though he started the year as the 7th inning guy, and it closed out perhaps the Yankees most important win to-date of the 2012 season...more than enough of a reason to untuck a shirt.
With an extra spring in their step and the resemblance a first place team, the 65-46 Yankees cross into Canada to continue their win streak against the Blue Jays after sweeping them in the Bronx a few weeks ago.....
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