The old guys rule

             With fifteen games left in the season, the big boost the Yankees were waiting for in the return of Andy Pettitte had finally arrived as part of a day-night doubleheader when a rainy Tuesday night pushed back the longtime Yankee lefty from making his start against the visiting Toronto Blue Jays. It turns out Pettitte wasn't the only old guy in the locker room set to make some noise, Ichiro's bat and legs found a renaissance and drove the Toronto birds batty.



             Although he could've pitched the night cap, the Yankees stuck with the pecking order and had Pettitte pitch the day game with David Phelps slated for the nightcap. The Yankee offense make Number 46 feel right at home again with a quick three-spot on the board early against Henderson Alvarez. Robinson Cano doubled in Ichiro for the first Yankee run, then a RBI groundout and sac fly pushed the 1st inning score to 3-0 Yanks. Andy Pettitte did his thing from there; putting base runners on, but generating double-plays to get him out of jams. Pettitte would go 5 innings, giving up 4 hits, 2 walks, and 3 strikeouts for the win (his first since June). The Blue Jays made a game of it in the 8th when they got to a shaky David Robertson in the 8th for two runs and Girardi needed to go to Rafael Soriano to get the final out in the inning, a line-drive to left that Ichiro caught in the face of the blinding sun. Speaking of Ichiro, he would double in the 8th (his third hit of the game) and later score to make it 4-2 Yankees on a Nick Swisher Soriano came back out in the 9th to finish the game off for his 41st save of the season which made Pettitte's return that much more pleasant.



             A few hours later David Phelps and Ricky Romero locked up with Romero looking to even up the series at a game a piece. Both pitchers proved stingy throughout the night, but it was Phelps that gave up the first run when in the 2nd he gave up a RBI single to Adeiny Hechavarria. Phelps' battery mate Chris Stewart got that run back in the bottom of the inning when his ground rule double plated Casey McGehee, but the Yanks lost a run on the play when the speedy Ichiro was forced to stay at turn when he would've scored had the ball not ended up in the stands. Phelps was solid over 6.2 innings, but didn't stay in long enough to get the win. In the bottom of the 8th, the Yankees stole a page from the Tampa Bay Rays playbook after Curtis Granderson lead off the inning with a walk. Jayson Nix successfully sacrifice bunted him over to second base. The also speedy Granderson stole third and set it up for pinch-hitting Steve Pearce to get him in, but Pearce failed with a strikeout, and that left it up to the surging Ichiro to get the runner in with two outs. The Japanese sensation didn't disappoint and slapped a ball to the opposite field that scored Granderson and gave the Yankees the narrow 2-1 lead. Even though he closed out the day game, Girardi went with Soriano again in the 9th to seal the deal for the Yankees that brought Soriano his second save of the day, and 42nd of 2012.



              In no way was Yankees manager Joe Girardi gonna sit the hot-hitting Ichiro Suzuki, even though Toronto was sending up a left-hander to start the third and final game of the series, Aaron Laffey. Through all the peeks and valleys of Phil Hughes circa 2012, he gunning for his mind-boggling 16th win of the season and things weren't looking good by the by the third inning when he had the bases loaded full of Blue Jays and already down 1-0. Hughes ended up hitting Moises Sierra to bring in a run that made it 2-0 in favor of the Jays. Then Ichiro got things cooking; first with a homerun in the bottom of the inning, and then in the fourth with bases loaded with Yankees this time, Ichiro pulled a double to right that swung the lead back over to the Yanks at 3-2. The fun in the inning didn't end there for the hometeam, Jeter would slap a single to bring in another run, and then to top off the inning, Nick Swisher crushed a grandslam deep into the Yankee Stadium night for a whopping 8-2 Yankee lead.



             With the big lead, Phil Hughes still struggled to get hitters out and gave two of those runs back in the fifth from a 2-run shot from Moises Sierra, who he plunked with the bases loaded earlier in the game. Hughes was only able to go the 5 innings, but it was enough to qualify for his 16th win of the season, which leads all other Yankee starters - somehow. The Yanks tacked on more runs to make it more of a blowout again in the bottom of the same inning, but in the top of the eighth, things got interesting again. The expanded September roster brought the return of the forgotten Cory Wade and he made the Yankees remember why they sent him down many months ago. Wade gave up three runs in the innings and required Chamberlain to secure the final out, which then turned the blowout game into a save situation. With the heavy workload of Rafael Soriano from the day before, Girardi instead went with the original replacement for Rivera, David Robertson, and he notched the save for the team.



             From the last time Toronto visited the Yankees and made them look like a last place team, this time the 86-63 Yankees looked like the team on the right path to inch out the Baltimore Orioles for the AL East. An important sign was Pettitte coming back strong and feeling normal after his long awaited start, but another was the emergence of Ichiro as a homerun-hitting and base-stealing menace spark the Yanks were looking for when they brought him over from Seattle. More returns are on tap for the Bombers as it was announced that Brett Gardner would be re-activated soon and used as a possible pinch-runner if the Yanks are able to reach the playoffs. Back at their high-water mark for the season with twenty-three games over .500, next up for the Yankees is a another team threatening to take a Wild Card slot, the Oakland Athletics...

Too close for comfort

             With the Orioles bumper-to-bumper behind the Yankees, the last trip of 2012 to Fenway Park against a watered down Red Sox was a great way to try to put some more room between themselves of those pesky birds of Baltimore. The Sox officially tossed in the towel for 2012 by trading away some of their biggest names to the Dodgers including Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford (injured anyways), and a real staple of the organization, Josh "Beer Belly" Beckett.



             Still, its Yankees-Red Sox, and its Fenway Park, so it turned out to be not such a cakewalk as one would think. After splitting a four-game series in Camden and winning the final game in unlikely fashion, the Yankees were trying to turn the page of their doldrums and Hiroki Kuroda was the one of the mound to get things started. Not shipped out by the Sox was Beckett's fried chicken partner, Jon Lester, and the Yanks were primed to knock him out early. Lester had control issues early in the 1st, and after falling behind 1-0 from a Robinson Cano RBI ground out, the bases would eventually be loaded for Curtis Granderson. With a chance to put a crooked number up on the board early, Granderson would pop up and end the threat. Lester settled down and the Red Sox had their fun in the bottom of the 3rd. Two other "normal" Red Sox still left, Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia, hit RBI singles to turn the lead 2-1 Red Sox. Derek Jeter stepped up in the 6th with two runners on when the Captain slapped a double to the opposite field that stayed fair and went for a ground rule double. Of course, its still Yankees-Red Sox, and in the bottom of the frame Dustin Pedroia tied it up at 3 with a solo homerun over the green monster. Kuroda pitched into the 7th and needed to be lifted after one out. It stayed that way until the bottom of the 9th with one out and Yankee reliever David Robertson on the mound. The ever-annoying Pedro Ciriaco would single to get on base. The next hitter, Mike Aviles, hit a soft grounder in the hole at shortstop that Jeter wasn't able to make a play on. This placed the speedy Ciriaco at second base, and would end up costing the Yankees the game when Ellsbury followed with a RBI single into right that scored the game-winning run at 4-3.



             Needing wins against a weak Red Sox squad in a tight division race, the pressure was on for rookie Yankee starter David Phelps to come through. The game was scoreless until the top of the 4th when the Yankee hitters finally got to Aaron Cook. Curtis Granderson got it started with a solo homerun to right field, and soon after, Robinson Cano when yard with a 2-run shot over the green monster that made it 3-0. The Red Sox did get to Phelps for a run in the 4th, but the young starter was brilliant in a near-playoff importance type of game, especially in the 5th inning when he erased the threat of a lead-off triple by getting the next three outs without the run scoring. Phelps gave the Yankees 5.2 innings and would end up getting the win. Curtis Granderson added to the Yanks' lead in the 7th with his second homerun of the night, a 2-run shot to make it 5-1 and it seemed the game was over. Dustin Pedroia's pregnant wife helped the Bombers out by going into labor during the game, causing the able-bodied Pedroia to exit the game early to be with his wife.



            Without Pedroia, the Sox kept fighting back against their New York rival and got two of those runs back in the bottom of the 7th. With a 5-3 score in the bottom of the 8th and runners on, Yankees manager Joe Girardi went to Rafael Soriano to get a four-out save. On a 3-2 count to Cody Ross, a low slider was called for strike three to the Yankees' benefit and fury spread across the Red Sox dugout which caused Ross, manager Bobby Valentine (plus two of his coaches), to get tossed from the game. The drama didn't end there; in the bottom of the 9th Jarrod Saltalamacchia homered and brought the game to 5-4. Then the very next hitter, Daniel Nava, took Soriano deep to the green monster and had the crowd in an uproar, but it wasn't hit quite well enough and the ball landed in Chris Dickerson's glove for the first out of the inning. Soriano kept his composure from there and was able to record the final two outs for the 5-4 win and his 37th save of the season. Even though the Yanks won, it was at a cost with their MVP Derek Jeter having to leave the game after re-injuring a bone bruise on his foot he's been (secretly) nursing.



             It came down to a final showdown with Phil Hughes, the Yankees best starter at the moment (sadly), and lefty Felix Doubront, who has been tough on the Yanks this season. Jeter was able to make the lineup, but as a DH, and Pedroia was totally out of the picture playing daddy. With the thin Red Sox lineup even further weakened with the loss of Pedroia, Phil Hughes did what he should do in that situation and pounded the strike zone. It looked like the Sox weren't even interested in playing by swinging early in the count and giving Hughes one easy inning after another. Doubront was good in his own right, but a bases loaded situation in the 4th allowed Andruw Jones to sac fly in a run and give the Yankees all the offense they would need at 1-0. The injured Captain, Derek Jeter, added another run in the 7th by poking a bloop-single to center off of Red Sox reliever Junichi Tazawa. Hughes was dominating in 7.1 innings of work with 7 strike outs for the night. Rafael Soriano came on in the 9th to close it out, and made it less dramatic this time for save number 38 for the season. The 2-0 win let the Yankees keep pace with the Orioles who never lose a game anymore.



            The 81-63 Yankees should be kicking themselves for letting the first game against Boston get away, next up is three games at home against the Tampa Bay Rays, who are also treading on the Yanks' AL East/Wild Card property.....
  

The walking wounded

            The injuries and a string of poor play are starting to really catch up to the Yankees as the Toronto Blue Jays came into Yankee Stadium to serve as a punching bag, but instead made the Yankees look flat and depleted. The Blue Jays are jockeying for position in the last position in the AL East cellar with the Boston Red Sox and are a team the Yankees should been using to pad up their lead in the division. By the end the Yankees would be left only 3.5 games up with the Baltimore Orioles coming in to possibly cut the lead down to a tiny half-game.



              David Phelps made the start with Nova on the DL and was helped out with a Robinson Cano homer to kick off the scoring in the bottom of the 1st. Adam Lind for Toronto tied it in the 2nd with a solo homer of his own, but Cano would have none of that and hit his second solo shot in the 4th to put the Yankees back up 2-1. The Bombers weren't done in the inning, a Russell Martin double that hit off of the leg of Blue Jays starter Henderson Alvarez that scored two more for a 4-1 Yankees lead. Phelps wasn't able to keep Toronto off the board and gave back two of the runs in their next chance in the 5th from a Yorvit Torreabla 2-run homer. The see-saw affair kept going on when Nick Swisher then hit a 2-run homer of his own in the bottom of the inning. Phelps allowed another run in the 7th, but Cody Eppley came in to get the Yanks out of the inning without any further damage. The young Yankee right-hander was decent enough in his 6.1 innings and mostly suffered from two long balls. It all came down to the bottom of the 9th with Rafael Soriano on the mound with two outs and a runner on first. Soriano was 0-2 on Rajai Davis and one strike away from closing it out. The next pitch caught too much of the plate and Davis was able to hit a single. Then a flat slider to the next hitter, Colby Rasmus, was crushed deep to right for a 3-run Blue Jay homerun that gave the visiting team a heartbreaking 7-6 lead. The remaining Yankee Stadium crowd unfairly showered Soriano with boos, despite the fact he is 33 out of 36 in save opportunities and its not as if Mariano Rivera never blew a save.



             The crowd would have another thrill before the night was through. In the bottom of the 9th Toronto brought on their closer, Casey Janssen, to do what Soriano couldn't do. His first batter was Derek Jeter, and he still had the homerun bug when he took Janssen deep to tie the game 7-7. Unfortunately for the Yankees, they couldn't get another run for a walk-off, so it went to extra innings. In the top of the 10th, the Blue Jays lead off the inning with a single off of new pitcher Derek Lowe. Mike McCoy came in to pinch run and played a little cat-n-mouse with Lowe trying to get a good lead off of first base. Mark Teixeira left the game earlier in the night due to a strained calf that will have him sidelined till the rest of the homestand at a minimum. With Chavez playing the bag and the combination of a poor toss over by Lowe, the ball ended up in right field and McCoy hustled over to third. The Blue Jays would eventually get the run in and take the 8-7 lead. Long-time reliever Darren Oliver came out for another inning and finished the long night off. It was perhaps the worst loss of the season.



             With Teixeira sidelined for who knows how long, the Yankees made a move to bring up Steve Pearce, who they acquired recently from the bottom-feeding Houston Astros for a sack of potatoes. On the mound for the Yankees was Phil Hughes, who took the hard luck 2-1 loss last week to the Chicago White Sox. This time Hughes would be on the other side of that 2-1 score as the Bombers squeaked by Ricky Romero and the Blue Jays. An RBI single by Nick Swisher in the 3rd and a sacrifice fly by Curtis Granderson to score newcomer Pearce in the 4th gave the Yankees all their runs. Hughes' only blemish was an opposite field homerun he gave up to Adeiny Hechavarria in the top of the 5th. In the 6th Hughes faced serious danger with two runners on and nobody out, but a fly out coupled with a line out double play in which Cano made a strong throw to third base after catching the ball, got the Yankees out of the jam. New father David Robertson breezed through the 8th and Soriano came on in the 9th to mend himself after the previous night's disaster and pick up his 34th save. Phil Hughes went 7 innings for his team-tying 13th win and struck out 5 while doing it.



             The Yankees had to feel the series was in their hands with C.C. Sabathia on the mound making his second start off the DL against Jays' lefty J.A. Happ. Things were going in the right direction early when the Yankees were able to grab a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st from an Andruw Jones RBI single and Curtis Granderson fielder's choice ground out. Sabathia encountered a bizarre inning in the 3rd when he cleanly allowed a single to Jeff Mathis Then on the next play Jayson Nix, playing third, booted a ground ball from Adeiny Hechavarria and both runners were safe. Eventually the bases would be loaded with nobody out and the Blue Jays were set up for a big inning, but Sabathia was able to induce a double play which Nix fielded cleanly; stepped on third for one and tossed to home to nail Mathis trying to score. Sabathia looked to be one out away from escaping, but then two singled and a double which would plate three runs for Toronto and give them a 3-2 lead. In the bottom of the inning, the Blue Jays would give the Yanks a hand in the scoring of the next two runs. With runners on second and third, Curtis Granderson lined a ball to left field which should've been a simple fly out, but Rajai Davis misjudged it and let it sail over his head. Both Yankee runners came in the score and give the Yankees back a lead at 4-3.



            The Yankees could've put the Jays away in the 4th when they had a golden opportunity that was bases loaded and only one out. Happ buckled down and boldly struck out Swisher and Cano to escape surrendering any runs. Not adding any extra runs in that spot would turn out to be fatal. In the 6th, Adam Lind singled to right and the ball seemed to have been caught by the slowing Andruw Jones, but the umpire said the ball was trapped. That turned out to be crucial because the next hitter Yunel Escobar crushed a 2-run homer deep to left to put Toronto on top 5-4. The Yankees worked Happ's pitch-count up and had him gone after the 5th. New Toronto pitcher, Steve Delabar, came on in the bottom of the 6th and Jayson Nix started what looked like a promising inning with a leadoff double. With the need to play small-ball to get the runner in without a hit, the Yankees failed miserably; Ichiro failed at a bunt attempt and would eventually strike out, Chavez grounded out to move the runner to third, but Jeter completed the failure by striking out to end the threat. The Yanks had more small-ball failure in the bottom of the 8th, down by two runs this time at 6-4, the Yankees got one back from an RBI double by Russell Martin, a lucky double that hit the third base bag and allowed Raul Ibanez to score from second. Then the next three hitters failed as they did in the 6th; Ichiro flied out to shallow center, Chavez struck out, and Jeter flied out to right.



            With David Robertson unavailable from pitching three games in a row, Joe Girardi went to a string of pitchers in the top of the 9th and found himself with the bases loaded with Blue Jays and the unreliable Joba Chamberlain out of the pen still trying to get his act (and weight) together since returning from Tommy John surgery. With one out, Joba wasn't able to get a double-play, instead Yunel Escobar flied to right and the slow/non-chalant Andruw Jones yet again couldn't field the ball cleanly and it resulted in two runs, putting the Yankees behind 8-5. Mercifully, the Yanks would only lose by those three runs and were sloppy in the field with three charged-errors, although they should've received two more in the pitiful afternoon.



             The strain of A-Rod's missing bat in the line-up, Teixeira's new calf injury and his lingering wrist issue that will have him gone for a few games, Granderson's dive-bomb slump, and overall too many hitters with low batting averages, the need to effectively execute small-ball for runs is going to make the difference between being 2012 AL East champs and battling five other teams for the final Wild Card spot.....

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....

Snapping out of it

             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.....