The sweep goes on

             After sweeping the Mets in New York over the weekend, the brilliant idea must have struck in the Yankees brain because they decided to do it to the Atlanta Braves as well. In a rematch of the 1996 and 1999 World Series, the Yankees headed down to the confederate state to lock horns with Ted Turner's boys.



             Ivan Nova took the ball for the first game and was just as dominant as his past start last week against the Rays. Staked to a 3-0 lead, Nova knocked them dead for 7 innings and only allowed one Braves hitter to reach second base, which was done via a called balk on the pitcher. His adversary, Randall Delgado, only lasted 5 innings and was darn luckily he only give up 3 runs as Yankees put runners on each inning, but the hitting with RISP plague continued. Nick Swisher robbed Brian McCann of a 2-run homer with a nice over the wall catch, and Nova flashed some leather himself by catching a line-drive comebacker, and then tossing it to first for the doubleplay.



             Rafael Soriano was listed as unavailable due to a blister on his finger, as well as a blister on his brain for saying he doesn't care about the fans, in response to him getting unfairly booed off the Yankee Stadium mound after blowing a save against the Mets. Girardi instead had to piece a bullpen by committee and eventually it was Boone Logan sealing the 3-0 win.

 

              The next game wasn't as easy and actually it was the Yankees who were behind 3-0, and then 4-0, after another run was tacked on later. CC Sabathia, who has actually been the sloppiest starter during this hot streak the Yanks are on, gave up 3 of the runs immediately in the 1st inning. Braves lefty Mike Minor got the start and baffled the Yankees over 7.1 innings of work, but then an innocent single by Jeter started an avalanche.



             Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez brought in Jonny Venters, and luckily for the Yankees, the reliever probably had the worst game he would ever have in his career. Thanks to a single and then a walk, the bases  were loaded for Alex Rodriguez. With one swing of the bat, the ball barely tucked over the left field wall and the Yanks had tied the score 4-4. For for the first time in ions, a Yankee hitter delivered with the bases loaded. The historic shot tied A-Rod with Lou Gehrig on the all-time grand slam list with 23, keeping it in the Yankee family.


              After giving up another single to Cano, Venters was finally pulled in favor of Cory Gearrin, and he did no better. The next batter, Nick Swisher, smacked a 2-run homer to right and put the Yanks up 6-4, which also put CC Sabathia in line for the win, despite the unsatisfactory start. Back from the blister blues, Rafael Soriano got back into the save column with his 10th for the exciting 6-4 comeback win. The victory also brought CC to tie Nova in the number of team wins with 8.



              It was a rainy night in Georgia for the final came as the Braves sent Tim Hudson to the mound to try to salvage a win out of the series. Former US President and Georgia-native Jimmy Carter came out to support the home team and it turned out to be as useful as his tenure in the White House. Alex Rodriguez kept the hitting with RISP thing going from the night before to drive Derek Jeter in the 1st inning for an early 1-0 lead. Hiroki Kuroda continued to shine as he battled on the mound with the Braves have runners during every inning. The rain came down harder and harder, and both Kuroda and Carter toughed it out.



              Eventually, the Braves would break through for once with one of their runners on as Brian McCann hit a 2-run homer, this time over Nick Swishers glove to give the Braves a 2-1 lead. Curtis Granderson answered back immediately in the 6th inning by poking a 2-run homer out of his own to re-take the lead for the Yankees 3-2. Joe Girardi had the work the bullpen magic once again with the new kids on the block, and side-winder Cody Eppley threw a huge doubleplay ball to get the Yanks out of a dangerous first and third with one out scenario to hold onto the lead. The ever-pleasant Rafael Soriano was called upon again to finish it off and  the blister must be gone-gone as he was able to get the save, and the sweep.

 

              Thanks to help from the Mets, who seemed to take their Yankee fustrations out on the Tampa Bay Rays, a stunning sweep of the Rays put the Yanks in 1st place in the AL East. At 37-25, twelve games over .500, the Yanks head to Washington DC to visit the also red-hot Nationals, winners of their last six games as well. If things haven't been happy enough lately in Yankeeland, it was announce reliever David Robertson should be able to join the team in DC to improve an already strong Yankee bullpen....

Splitsville in Baltimore

             For whatever reason Major League Baseball continues to schedule two-game series, so the Yanks had no choice to pack lightly and head down to Baltimore to have a couple of swings with the Orioles.



             The Monday night game pitted Ivan Nova against Jason Hammel, both sporting 4-1 records for the season. Nova was rather sloppy on the mound, and wasn't helped out by suffering a contusion on his foot from a line drive hit by Nick Markakis. Later on, Nova twisted his ankle coming off the mound to field a chopper hit back to him, which now puts his next start in jeopardy.



            The offense bailed Nova out of a 2-0 hole, and even took the lead when Curtis Granderson blasted a homerun deep off of Hammel. The Bombers fell behind again 5-3, but were able to rally to load the bases in the 6th and tie the score 5-5, then in the 7th the struggling Mark Teixeira hit his biggest homerun of the season. The two-run shot put the Yanks ahead 7-5 and they added on another run in the 9th for good measure. Eric Chavez did his best impression of Luis Castillo by not fielding a routine pop up to third base to end the game and forced Rafael Soriano to throw a few more pitches to save the 8-5 win.



            After the game Yankees manager Joe Girardi gave the excellent news that the new closer David Robertson had been experiencing discomfort in his shoulder and the next day was placed on the 15-day DL. This makes Rafael Soriano the third official closer within the week and places more responsibility on the shoulders of Clay Rapada and Cody Eppley.




            The Yankees ace CC Sabathia took his 5-0 record to the mound and the fact he has gone 8 innings in basically all his starts this season might've taken its toll. The big guy wasn't sharp at all and fell behind to the Orioles by a 4-0 score. Facing the Yanks was a lefty with the last name Chen, and since Bruce Chen is still with the Royals, it has to have been Wei-Yin Chen. The Yankee offensive was completely powerless until the 7th inning when Curtis Granderson hit an opposite field homer which barely got over the wall (and likely interfered with by a Yankees fan in the stands) and cut the Orioles lead 4-2.



            With a somewhat diminished bullpen, Girardi went with Freddy Garcia, who hadn't pitched in weeks, and a key moment occurred when Adam Jones went to steal second and even though the replay showed him out, the ump called him safe. Jones came in to score on a passed ball that Chris Steward wasn't able to catch (his second of the game) which made a Yankee comeback even more difficult at 5-3. With that, the Yanks started the 8th inning with a golden chance to accomplish the feat. Orioles reliever Pedro Strop walked the first two batters he faced which put two runners on with no outs and the number two, three, and four hitters due up to bat. With a night of bad ump calls, inept offense, poor defense, the 8th inning wouldn't be any better for the Yanks. Swisher grounded out and Cano followed with a doubleplay that got Strop out of the jam. Jim Johnson came on in the 9th for the Orioles to get the save and build a 2.5 game lead over the Yanks in the AL East standings.



              At 20-16 the Yankees cross the border to go to Toronto for another all-important two game set before the first round of interleague play begins...