C-Seeing the Rebound

             The Cleveland Indians have been totally abysmal and for a Yankee team that just got swept in Chicago and in which nobody other than Jeter is hitting, the Tribe were the right opponent at the right time. CC Sabathia was making the start after being complete with his second DL stint in many weeks and the rest certainly paid dividents as he was able to get the team back on the right track.



             That man again, Derek Jeter, started the game with a double and would come around to score soon after on a Nick Swisher RBI double to follow. Opposing starter Corey Kluber must have been unhappy with the Jeter double and the overall hot streak the Captain has been on, since the next at-bat he buzzed Jeter in the head and knocked off the helmet. Luckily Jeter wasn't hurt, but that forced CC Sabathia to send a little message of his own since he's never one to back down from a bean-ball conversation. Sabathia put his perfect start to the game in his back pocket and threw behind Indians shortstop (Jeter's position) Asdrubal Cabrera in the bottom of the 4th. Sabathia made the mistake of missing because on the next pitch Cabrera got the last laugh by hitting a solo homer to center to tie the game 1-1. After the drama Sabathia got back to pitching and put zeros up for the rest of his night. Nick Swisher broke the tie in the 7th with a much needed 2-run homer off of Cody Allen. Rafael Soriano entered the 9th with the 3-1 lead and made it interesting by loading the bases with two outs, but was able to induce a ground ball to end the end the game and snap the Yanks' 3-game losing streak. It was Soriano's 32nd save, Sabathia's 13th win, but most important Sabathia was able to give a strong effort with 7.1 innings and 9 strikeouts, plus his fastball reached 95mph on several occasions which wasn't happening consistently during June, July, and August.



             In Sabathia's absence and during his struggles, Hiroki Kuroda took the mantle as the team's ace, but a first inning hiccup prevented the Yanks from making it two wins in a row. Kuroda was tagged for 3 runs in the bottom of the 1st inning thanks for a 3-run shot from Michael Brantley. Yankee scoring only came in the 6th with a RBI sac fly from Mark Teixeira off of Indians starter Justin Masterson. The bases were left loaded in the inning and the last out with a hard hit ball from Russell Martin that was flagged out on the warning track. The bags would be left loaded again in the 7th as Teixeira ended the inning with a weak pop-up as the Yankees offensive woes continue. Kuroda was able to get it together and went the full 8 innings, but the Bombers were never able to get to Masterson or the Indians bullpen. Chris Perez came on in the 9th to seal it for the Tribe and tie the series at a game a piece.



             The final game was crucial for the Yankees in order to prevent the road trip from being a total-absolute-complete disaster after getting swept in Chicago and the possibility of losing two out of three to the awful Indians. It would be the soft-tossing Freddy Garcia versus the hard-throwing Ubaldo Jimenez and Jimenez was the first to blink by surrendering three runs in the top of the 2nd. An Ichiro RBI single, followed by a Jeter RBI groundout, and Nick Swisher RBI single gave Garcia a 3-0 lead. Just like the start in Chicago, Freddy rolled along early, but faced adversity soon enough. The Indians loaded the bases in the 3rd, but Garcia got out of the jam unscathed. Then in the 5th the Indians did it again with loading the bags, and were able to push across two runs from a Carlos Santana hit. Girardi took Garcia out in the 5th and elected for Boone Logan to get out of the inning. Curtis Granderson gave the Yankees a little cushion by adding a solo homer in the top of the 6th, and then the rest of the way Girardi mixed and matched his bullpen along in playoff fashion, including four outs from closer Rafael Soriano, to get out of Cleveland with the 4-2 win. Before the final out, a line drive hit Soriano in the right arm, but the cold-demeanored Soriano shook it off and was able to record the final out for his 33rd save of the season.



             The 74-53 Yankees get out the clean pinstripes out of the drier and get set to pad up their lead again against AL East neighbors the Toronto Blue Jays and wildcard-seeking Baltimore Orioles....

More Native Americans to battle

             Fresh off the honeymoon of taking two out of three against the Mets in Queens, another team named after Native Americans, put their warpaint on for a visit to Yankee Stadium. After facing the Braves twice in as many weeks, this tribe was the Cleveland Indians. Even though the Yanks used their weapon of choice lately, the sweep, to fend off these warriors, news surrounding the team took a damper as two of the Yankees top starters were placed on the injury shelf. 



             The Yankees wasted no time in getting to Indians starter Josh Tomlin in the opening game when in the bottom of the 1st, Robinson Cano kept the hitting with runners in scoring position trend lately with the Yanks alive by smoking a 2 RBI double to put his team up 2-0. Cano himself was tagged out on the play trying to make it to 3rd base because of a throw to home first in which Teixeira was safe. An inning later, in quite a shocker, Dewayne Wise who was playing centerfield to give Grandy a night off, smacked his first homerun of the season (he would also add an RBI triple in the 6th as well). In the 3rd inning both Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher kept their longball magic from Sunday night by going back-to-back on solo shots in the 3rd inning.



             Old friend Johnny Damon, who joined the Indians a few weeks ago, was greeting kindly by the Yankee Stadium crowd, especially when he took his spot out in left. Yankee fans were also happy Damon did nothing threatening in the game as Hiroki Kuroda cruised along and was absolutely brilliant in 7 innings of shutout baseball to lead to his 7th victory of the season. Leading 7-0 in the 9th, the Yankees bullpen gave up a mercy run and then shut it down from there for the 7-1 win.



             Looking to bounce back from an awful start in 100 degree weather last week, Phil Hughes took the ball in the next game and picked up where Kuroda left off the night before. Facing Hughes was Justin Masterson and his array of heavy sinkers which has rendered tough on the Yanks in the past. Chris Stewart had a puzzling at-bat in the 2nd inning with a runner on third. After failing to bunt for a hit twice to put himself into an 0-2 count, Stewart a few pitches later flared one which hit off the 3rd baseman's glove and allowed the run to score to make it 1-0 Yanks. Up 4-0 in the 7th with Masterson out of the game, Alex Rodriguez crushed a solo homerun into the second deck out in the left field stands to add to the lead at 5-0. Hughes didn't allow a single run through his eight innings on the mound and left things to Cory Wade in the 9th to finish out.


             The Indians decided to wait till final inning to actually make a contest out of it. Wade, who hasn't been reliable in his past few appearances, was smacked around for four hits, including a 3-run homer to Jose Lopez, that made it 6-4. Even though Wade was able to get two outs, Girardi used the save situation to bring out his closer Rafael Soriano to get the final out for his sweet 16th save of the season.



             With the Yankees riding high with the best record in baseball and Andy Pettitte on the mound for the sweep against the cupcake Indian lineup, Wednesday had the makings of the perfect day. Things took a damper early when it was announced before the game that the ace CC Sabathia pulled an abductor muscle during his last outing against the Mets (which would explain his bad control and low velocity on Sunday night) and would have to go onto the 15-day DL. Missing 2-3 of CC's starts is one thing, but in the 4th inning and leading 2-1 thanks to a 2 RBI double from Eric Chavez off of Ubaldo Jimenez, Andy Pettitte took a hard liner off his ankle from the bat of the well-traveled Casey Kotchman. Pettitte tried to stay in the game, but in the first official pitch after that, a sharp pain shot into his foot and he needed to take himself out. An x-ray showed a fracture in the ankle which wouldn't require surgery, but would keep Pettitte out for at least two month. With Pettitte's arrival came more consistency from the starters and a better rested bullpen, now the rest of the staff will need to keep that going without their two lefties.



             The gritty game continued and the Indians took the lead in the 5th after a mishmash of pitching changes from Joe Girardi. Freddy Garcia was finally brought to get out of a jam and keep the score held at only 3-2 Indians. Jimenez looked untouchable at times during the afternoon, but the Yankees finally managed to get a few more of him in the 6th. After an A-Rod excuse me double to right field, Robinson Cano flicked an outside pitch with his wrists and the ball traveled far over the left field wall for a 2-run homer. Garcia gave 2.1 innings to earn his 2nd win of the season, and Eric Chavez already with 2 RBIs on the day, had another RBI from a single in the bottom of the 8th which would actually end up being a lifesaver. Rafael Soriano was brought into the 9th to close it out as always, but his heavy workload during the Mets and Indians series seemed to take their toll on him. Soriano wasn't sharp and had loaded the bases loaded with one out and Johnny Damon at the plate as a pinch hitter. Damon did his former team a favor and struck out, but Soriano walked in Michael Brantley thereafter and made the score 5-4 with the bags left loaded. Looking at a terrible disaster of a blown game on top of losing CC and Pettitte for the day, the next hitter Asdrubal Cabrera flied out to left and let the stadium crowd breath a sigh of relief.



                Instead of an old friend, an old enemy in Kevin Youklilis and his new team the Chicago White Sox are next to visit Yankee Stadium to start a rare 4-game set while the Yanks figured out how to get by without their two stud lefties.....