The Yankees had to be bright-eyed at a four game set against the 4th place Toronto Blue Jays as a road to get more wins than the Orioles en route to another AL East crown, but poor starting pitching and terrible hitting with runners on in Canada caused the Yanks to have to fight tooth and nail to get back to America without dropping into 2nd place.
It seemed Ivan Nova had found himself after his first impressive start off the DL against Tampa Bay, but things where back in the air after he followed that up with a lousy start against the A's. It would be no better against Toronto as Nova was ineffective again and couldn't even finish the 5th inning. Brett Lawrie opened the scoring in the 3rd with a 2-run homer and Nova gave up two more runs in the 5th from an Edwin Encarnacion double. As for Yankee offense, there was none!! Brandon Morrow shut out the Bombers for 7 innings and the Yanks couldn't even scratch a mercy run against the Toronto bullpen. The only good news of the night was David Aardsma's first relief appearance of the season, but he too allowed a run. The Yanks fell 6-0 and their stay in Toronto was off to a stingy start.
Hiroki Kuroda has been up and down since that brief period when he was the Yankees' best starter and a quality start was much needed after the Yanks dropped the first game. After getting shutout the night before, the offense wasted no time in getting to Chad Jenkins when Nick Swisher hit a double that knocked in two runs in the top of the 1st. Derek Jeter's ground out double-play an inning later brought another run home to make it 3-0 Yankees. Kuroda was tough early on, escaping a bases loaded jam unscathed in the bottom of the 2nd and didn't surrender a run until a Colby Rasmus solo job in the 5th. Kuroda allowed another run in the 6th before being removed, but by that time the Yankees had grown their lead to 7-2 thanks to a 3-run homer from the Canadian native Russell Martin, his 20th of the season as he has been marvelous these past two months, and then a RBI single from Ichiro. The closest the Blue Jays came to making it a game again was later on from a 2-run homer by Adam Lind that made it 8-4, but the Yanks completely blew it open with a Robinson Cano RBI single in the 8th and then a 2-run homer from Eric Chavez in the 9th that pushed the score to the 11-4 final. The Yanks received a good scare when Cano was hit in the hand by a pitch, but thankfully the x-rays were negative and major disaster was avoided, for now.
In his first eleven innings in two games since coming back from the DL, Andy Pettitte hadn't allowed a single earned run and had two wins to show for it. In likely his last regular season start of 2012, Andy Pettitte took to the mound again in hopes of keeping those streaks going. Just as in those two previous starts, the Yankee bats gave Pettitte a 1st inning lead with a 2-spot from sacrifice flies from Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson off of Ricky Romero. Pettitte finally gave up a run, a solo homer by Rajai Davis in the bottom of that inning that cut the Yankee lead to 2-1. The Yanks left plenty of runners on the rest of the game, but after that first inning couldn't get any more in. Meanwhile Pettitte was tagged for another run, a RBI infield single by Davis in the 5th and then a go-ahead RBI double by Adeiny Hechavarria in the 6th that would eventually end Pettitte's day before the inning was done. The offense couldn't get anything going, even though Romero was out after three innings, and the Yanks would lose by the score of 3-2 which was nearly as miserable as their 6-0 loss to begin the series. Although he didn't pitch too badly, the lack of run support put Andy Pettitte at 5-4 so far in this comeback year of his, and worse, an Oriole win put both teams at a tie for the AL East lead.
When the Yankees landed in Toronto they had to be thinking either sweep or at least getting three out of these four games, but already down two to one, the last game became a must-win that turned out to feel like five wins in one once it was all said and done. Phil Hughes was scheduled for this all-important start, coming off a tough loss he had to endure in Minnesota, and didn't look as good as he did on Tuesday when he put the Yankees in a 2-0 hole in the 1st. Eric Chavez cut that in half with his 16th homerun in the 3rd, but the rest of the offense was a no-show early on in this one against Henderson Alvarez. Meanwhile the Blue Jays kept pecking away at Hughes; a 2-run homer by Brett Lawrie in the 5th and then a RBI by Moises Sierra made it 5-1 Jays. Just like Nova a few nights previously, Hughes was only able to manage 4.2 innings before getting the hook. At the time the scoreboard was sporting a huge Oriole lead over the Red Sox in their game together that had the Orioles on track to end the day in sole possession of first place in the AL East.
When it seemed the Yankees once 10-game lead in the AL East was about to make its final collapse in the 6th, the Yankee bats finally found a spark and the team displayed some of that same grittiness they showed against the Oakland A's last weekend. Cano would score in the 6th from a wild pitch to make it 5-2, and the bullpen, specifically Derek Lowe and Boone Logan (who got the win at 7-2 this season) kept the Jays off the board to keep the game within three runs. In the 7th, the Yanks would storm back to tie it thanks to an Ichiro sacrifice fly, a double by Robinson Cano, and then another wild pitch that allowed Alex Rodriguez to cross home. The Yankees would take the lead an inning later with the help of some small ball and two-out hitting, things the Yanks shy away from. Curtis Granderson lead off the inning with a walk, and Girardi left in Raul Ibanez against veteran lefty Darren Oliver (instead of going to the slumping Andruw Jones) and the non-moved worked out when Ibanez delivered a single to move Grandy to second. Russell Martin sacrificed both runners over with a bunt. Up came Eduardo Nunez and he knocked Granderson in with a sacrifice fly deep to center. With the Yankees now up 6-5, Girardi went to Brett Gardner to pinch run for Ibanez, still on second base. With two outs, Derek Jeter came to the plate and went his typical opposite field with a hit that scored Gardner for a 7-5 Yankees lead. In the top of the 9th, Granderson would come to the plate against Jason Frasor with the bases loaded and smoked a double to score two more and make it 9-5 Yankees. It wasn't a save situation in the bottom of the 9th, but certainly with the Orioles winning the Yanks were in desperation mode and selected for Rafael Soriano to put it away. The Blue Jays refused to go quietly and Soriano was unsharp with his location, soon enough bases were loaded with no outs. Instead of imploding to what would've been one of the worst blown games in Yankee history, Soriano settled down and only allowed one run with a double-play ball and the Yanks would escape with a 9-6 win to stay at pace with the O's in first place.
The win, coupled by losses elsewhere in baseball on the day, gave the 92-67 Yankees a playoff berth after this injury-plagued and inconsistent-hitting season, but the final three games at home against the lowly Boston Red Sox will determine if they get the AL East title or have to crawl on their bellies with the new Wild Card rules. It's no excuse time for the Yankees as the Orioles have the tougher task of facing the Rays in Tropicana Field......
It seemed Ivan Nova had found himself after his first impressive start off the DL against Tampa Bay, but things where back in the air after he followed that up with a lousy start against the A's. It would be no better against Toronto as Nova was ineffective again and couldn't even finish the 5th inning. Brett Lawrie opened the scoring in the 3rd with a 2-run homer and Nova gave up two more runs in the 5th from an Edwin Encarnacion double. As for Yankee offense, there was none!! Brandon Morrow shut out the Bombers for 7 innings and the Yanks couldn't even scratch a mercy run against the Toronto bullpen. The only good news of the night was David Aardsma's first relief appearance of the season, but he too allowed a run. The Yanks fell 6-0 and their stay in Toronto was off to a stingy start.
Hiroki Kuroda has been up and down since that brief period when he was the Yankees' best starter and a quality start was much needed after the Yanks dropped the first game. After getting shutout the night before, the offense wasted no time in getting to Chad Jenkins when Nick Swisher hit a double that knocked in two runs in the top of the 1st. Derek Jeter's ground out double-play an inning later brought another run home to make it 3-0 Yankees. Kuroda was tough early on, escaping a bases loaded jam unscathed in the bottom of the 2nd and didn't surrender a run until a Colby Rasmus solo job in the 5th. Kuroda allowed another run in the 6th before being removed, but by that time the Yankees had grown their lead to 7-2 thanks to a 3-run homer from the Canadian native Russell Martin, his 20th of the season as he has been marvelous these past two months, and then a RBI single from Ichiro. The closest the Blue Jays came to making it a game again was later on from a 2-run homer by Adam Lind that made it 8-4, but the Yanks completely blew it open with a Robinson Cano RBI single in the 8th and then a 2-run homer from Eric Chavez in the 9th that pushed the score to the 11-4 final. The Yanks received a good scare when Cano was hit in the hand by a pitch, but thankfully the x-rays were negative and major disaster was avoided, for now.
In his first eleven innings in two games since coming back from the DL, Andy Pettitte hadn't allowed a single earned run and had two wins to show for it. In likely his last regular season start of 2012, Andy Pettitte took to the mound again in hopes of keeping those streaks going. Just as in those two previous starts, the Yankee bats gave Pettitte a 1st inning lead with a 2-spot from sacrifice flies from Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson off of Ricky Romero. Pettitte finally gave up a run, a solo homer by Rajai Davis in the bottom of that inning that cut the Yankee lead to 2-1. The Yanks left plenty of runners on the rest of the game, but after that first inning couldn't get any more in. Meanwhile Pettitte was tagged for another run, a RBI infield single by Davis in the 5th and then a go-ahead RBI double by Adeiny Hechavarria in the 6th that would eventually end Pettitte's day before the inning was done. The offense couldn't get anything going, even though Romero was out after three innings, and the Yanks would lose by the score of 3-2 which was nearly as miserable as their 6-0 loss to begin the series. Although he didn't pitch too badly, the lack of run support put Andy Pettitte at 5-4 so far in this comeback year of his, and worse, an Oriole win put both teams at a tie for the AL East lead.
When the Yankees landed in Toronto they had to be thinking either sweep or at least getting three out of these four games, but already down two to one, the last game became a must-win that turned out to feel like five wins in one once it was all said and done. Phil Hughes was scheduled for this all-important start, coming off a tough loss he had to endure in Minnesota, and didn't look as good as he did on Tuesday when he put the Yankees in a 2-0 hole in the 1st. Eric Chavez cut that in half with his 16th homerun in the 3rd, but the rest of the offense was a no-show early on in this one against Henderson Alvarez. Meanwhile the Blue Jays kept pecking away at Hughes; a 2-run homer by Brett Lawrie in the 5th and then a RBI by Moises Sierra made it 5-1 Jays. Just like Nova a few nights previously, Hughes was only able to manage 4.2 innings before getting the hook. At the time the scoreboard was sporting a huge Oriole lead over the Red Sox in their game together that had the Orioles on track to end the day in sole possession of first place in the AL East.
When it seemed the Yankees once 10-game lead in the AL East was about to make its final collapse in the 6th, the Yankee bats finally found a spark and the team displayed some of that same grittiness they showed against the Oakland A's last weekend. Cano would score in the 6th from a wild pitch to make it 5-2, and the bullpen, specifically Derek Lowe and Boone Logan (who got the win at 7-2 this season) kept the Jays off the board to keep the game within three runs. In the 7th, the Yanks would storm back to tie it thanks to an Ichiro sacrifice fly, a double by Robinson Cano, and then another wild pitch that allowed Alex Rodriguez to cross home. The Yankees would take the lead an inning later with the help of some small ball and two-out hitting, things the Yanks shy away from. Curtis Granderson lead off the inning with a walk, and Girardi left in Raul Ibanez against veteran lefty Darren Oliver (instead of going to the slumping Andruw Jones) and the non-moved worked out when Ibanez delivered a single to move Grandy to second. Russell Martin sacrificed both runners over with a bunt. Up came Eduardo Nunez and he knocked Granderson in with a sacrifice fly deep to center. With the Yankees now up 6-5, Girardi went to Brett Gardner to pinch run for Ibanez, still on second base. With two outs, Derek Jeter came to the plate and went his typical opposite field with a hit that scored Gardner for a 7-5 Yankees lead. In the top of the 9th, Granderson would come to the plate against Jason Frasor with the bases loaded and smoked a double to score two more and make it 9-5 Yankees. It wasn't a save situation in the bottom of the 9th, but certainly with the Orioles winning the Yanks were in desperation mode and selected for Rafael Soriano to put it away. The Blue Jays refused to go quietly and Soriano was unsharp with his location, soon enough bases were loaded with no outs. Instead of imploding to what would've been one of the worst blown games in Yankee history, Soriano settled down and only allowed one run with a double-play ball and the Yanks would escape with a 9-6 win to stay at pace with the O's in first place.
The win, coupled by losses elsewhere in baseball on the day, gave the 92-67 Yankees a playoff berth after this injury-plagued and inconsistent-hitting season, but the final three games at home against the lowly Boston Red Sox will determine if they get the AL East title or have to crawl on their bellies with the new Wild Card rules. It's no excuse time for the Yankees as the Orioles have the tougher task of facing the Rays in Tropicana Field......
No comments:
Post a Comment