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....

Sweeping up the subway

             It was Round 1 of 2 where Yankee fans hold off the knot in their stomach from the embarrassing prospect of losing to the Mets and Mets fan fantasize that they can erase five decades of being in the shadow of the Yanks by having one good weekend. Luckily for Yankee fans, the Mets were pushed back into the corner yet again, until they pop their heads out next month, as the team from Queens was homered into submission and swept clean.



             Both Yankees and Mets fans converged to the Bronx and the sold-out Yankee Stadium became the sight of the Yankee homerfest. With the surprising Mets sporting a season record nearly identical to the Yankees, there was more juice to the games than in recent years as the Mets have been plagued by injuries, poor play, and Bernie Madoff. Fresh off his no-hitter last week, Johan Santana, with an extra day of rest, took to the hill and looked for another no-hitter against the Yankees. By the 2nd inning, Robinson Cano put an end to the streak by smacking a 2-run homer deep to rightfield. In that wasn't enough, Cano decided to do it again in the 3rd inning, another 2-run shot.



            Then immediately after Cano, Nick Swisher got the homer bug and he hit one out. Seeing the genius of the idea, Andrew Jones followed Swisher with a homer of his own; a back-to-back-to-back job and the (once) great Santana had tied a career-high with giving up 4 homers in a game.



             After the 5th inning Mets manager Terry Collins pulled Santana from the game and took total blame for the poor start by giving him the extra rest after his no-hitter, neglecting to mention in Santana's previous two visit to the new Yankee Stadium he also got trashed. Speaking of no-hitters, Hiroki Kuroda threw his best game as a Yankee to date and brought a no-hitter of his own into the 6th inning. Kuroda had to exit the game after the 7th when he was struck by a line drive from Mets singles-specialist Daniel Murphy, which actually popped up in the air and was caught by Alex Rodriguez to end the inning. Kuroda went 7 innings and only gave up 1 hit and struckout 7 Mets. The Yanks piled on the score to 9-0, but unfortunately new-comer Ryota Igarashi (filling a roster spot for Freddy Garcia on bereavement leave; in which the Yanks might just turn into a permanent leave) actually let the Mets have a run before the game ended at 9-1.



             The Saturday night affair was actually more of a game and was probably going to be the Mets best chance to steal one over the weekend as Dillon Gee went up against the unpredictable Phil Hughes. The Mets erased a 1-0 Yankee lead and took a lead of their own thanks to solo homeruns by Omar Quintanilla in the 3rd and then David Wright in the 6th, who smashed an absolute bomb into his own team's bullpen. Quintanilla was a thorn into the Yankees side all weekend and almost did more damage in the 7th if not for a great running catch by Granderson in center.



              Joe Girardi had another case of the over-managerials after Hughes got an out in the 7th with Josh Thole at first base; Boone Logan came out to comfortably get the second out of the inning, and instead of just leaving Logan in there to finish off the inning, he brought in Cory Wade to face pinch-hitter Scott Hairston. The righty-on-righty didn't work out as Hairston worked a single which put Thole at third base and threatened to increase the Met lead to 3-1. Wade was able to collect himself and got the next hitter, Andres Torres, to fly out to end the threat. In the bottom of the inning, the Yankees went to work to take the lead back. Granderson walked in front of Mark Teixeira, who hit a Yankee Stadium special homer to right, which barely got over the wall to make it 3-2 Yanks. Dillon Gee's win was gone and an inning later, Granderson smacked another homer off of reliever Bobby Parnell to pad the lead 4-2. Rafael Soriano came on to get the save, and the Mets didn't make it easy for him. With two outs and a runner on third, Soriano got pinch-hitter Jordany Valdespin to fly to left for his 9th save of the season and guaranteed a Yankee Subway Series win.



             With the Yankees now looking for the sweep, veteran left-hander Andy Pettitte look on a Mets lefty of their own in Jonathan Niese. The Mets took an early 3-0 lead in the 2nd inning thanks to some wildness from Pettitte, a booted ground ball by Cano which could've ended the inning, and a bases loaded double by Jordany Valdespin which barely chopped by the glove of Mark Teixeira. Pettitte dug his heels in to load the bases again, and then got Jason Bay and David Wright to both strikeout to end the torture. The Yankees had a chance to answer back and put the first two runners on in the bottom of the inning, but in a dumb decision on his own, Nick Swisher decided to bunt for a hit and the poor execution cause A-Rod to get thrown out at 3rd base. The next two hitters were sat down and the potential Yankee threat was gone. Both starters settled in and it wasn't until the bottom of the 7th when the Yanks finally started to make noise.



              Thanks to a two-out error by David Wright which put Andruw Jones safely on first, the next hitter Russell Martin squeaked a Yankee Stadium homer of his own which kissed the top of the right field wall and fell into the crowd for a 2-run homer. An inning later, another Mets error, this time by new Yankee nemesis Omar Quintanilla, but Jeter at second base with no outs. A hit by Granderson and then another by Teixeira plated Jeter to tie the score at 3-3, and then a lucky bloop pop-up by A-Rod just fell into shallow right field to give the Yanks the 4-3 lead. Like the previous night, Rafael Soriano came on to get the save and wound up having his first blown save since getting the 9th inning gig. There would be no shirts pulled out today for Sory.


         
              Back-to-back doubles by Lucas Duda and Ike Davis tied the game at 4-4 and with the winning run at third with only one out, Girardi went into manager mode and brought in Boone Logan to relieve the flat Soriano. Facing two left hitters; Logan got Josh Thole to strikeout and Kirk Nieuwenhuis to ground out to Cano at second that preserved the tie. Jon Rauch, part of the terrible Mets bullpen, stayed in the bottom of the 9th after entering the 8th and served up the game-winning homerun to Russell Martin, his second of the day, but this time it was a more convincing shot to left which went a couple of rows back.



              Hitting their stride at 34-25, a whole nine games above .500, their high-point of the season, and the joy of sweeping the Mets, the team continues the interleague trail down to Dixie to face the Altanta Braves. Not all the news is great as it was revealed that Brett Gardner's elbow/shoulder/whatever is acting up again and he won't likely be back until after the All-Star break. In the meantime, the Mets can do the Yankees a favor and try to sweep the Tampa Bay Rays....

Climbing up the ladder

             After being in the dumps about two weeks ago, the Yanks returned back to the Bronx after a much needed 6-3 road trip and were looking to leap over the Rays in the AL East standings. Two teams ahead of the Yankees, the Orioles and the Rays, had been struggling in recent games and it gave the surging Yanks a great opportunity to make up some ground.



              Trying to put his subpar start in Anaheim in his rear view mirror, Andy Pettitte took the ball in the first game against the Rays' "Big Game" James Shields, who has been nothing but in his last few starts against the Yankees. Pettitte made it look too easy as he put the Rays to sleep with no runs and two hits over 7.1 innings. Even returning Yankee fan favorite, Hideki Matsui, recently picked up by Tampa to help their offensive woes, wasn't able to make a dent and became one of Pettitte's 10 strikeout victims. The offense kept Shields in the palm of their hands as usual and blasted him for 7 runs in his 5 innings of torture, highlighted by a 4th inning grand slam by Russell Martin of all hitters. The defense didn't help Shields either as a pair of early errors led to two of the Yankees first runs. The seldom used Freddy Garcia made a rare appearance in a winning cause in the 8th inning to finish the Rays off for the 7-0 win.



             In keeping with the theme of strong starting pitching by the Yankees recently, and also trying to repent after an evil performance in Anaheim, Ivan Nova took over where Pettitte left off. Going up against Alex Cobb (I know...who?...) Nova came within inches of throwing a complete game shutout. Up 2-0 thanks to solo homers from Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano off of Cobb earlier in the game, the offense tacked on 2 more insurance in the bottom of the 8th, which proved to be mighty later on.



             Girardi allowed Nova to come out in the top of the 9th, as he was cruising along all game, to finish it off. But then a lead off triple, followed by another triple made the score 4-1 Yanks with a potential run standing at third. Rafael Soriano entered the game to clean up Nova's mess.



             Like a machine, Soriano refused B.J. Upton, standing on 3rd, to score. First victim Matt Joyce popped up to the catcher. Next, Ben Zobrist struckout, and that set the stage with a familiar face in Hideki Matsui who could make it 4-3 with a swing of the bat, with the dangerous Carlos Pena batting behind him who could make it 4-4 with another swing. Instead, Soriano challenged Matsui with a fastball and Godzilla took it to the very end of the warning track as Yankee fans held their breath, but luckily it safely landed in the glove of Nick Swisher to end the game at 4-1. With Soriano's 8th save of the season, he secured Nova's 7th win and help the Yanks pass the Rays in the standing by a half-game.



             Looking for the sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays, the Yankees had to like their chances with sending their 7-2 ace CC Sabathia to the hill. Opposing him was the equally difficult David Price at 7-3, but the Yanks had been able to rough up Price in his last few visits to the Bronx. This time Rays manager Joe Maddon didn't put Matsui in the lineup and it seemed to have a reversal of fortunes for the Yankees. Tampa had a 5-1 lead by the 4th inning with Sabathia not being sharp at all, plus Jayson Nix having a difficult time playing in left, as Brett Gardner's eminent return can't come soon enough. An inning later, the Yankees had a sign of life to possibly tie the game with one swing, or at least cut into the deficit. With bases loaded and only one out, Alex Rodriguez battled David Price to work the count to 3-2 and fouled off pitch after pitch, until Price finally got A-Rod to strikeout. Rodriguez returned to the bench to a chorus of boos from the crowd. Cano after that grounded out and that was the Yanks last big chance of the night. Although they added another run in the 8th to make it 5-2, the Rays answered back with 2 more runs in the 9th and the game ended with a 7-3 final. With the win, the Yankees got the series, but the Rays took back their half-game lead in the standings.



                 With a third of the season already gone, A-Rod stands at a whopping 9 homers and only 22 RBIs, and for thirty-million a year in salary is on course for 27 homers and 66 RBIs. He'll get his chance to erase the bases loaded strikeout from fans' memory as the 31-25 club enters Round 1 of the Subway Series against the surprising Mets...

Hughes gotta be kidding me

             Before returning to New York from their west coast trip, the Yankees made a little stop in Detroit to check out next year's models and face the disappointing Tigers who were 3 games under .500.



             All the signs were there for the Yankees to be able to get the first game under their belt easily as the Tigers had to call up Casey Crosby to make his first career start in place of Doug Fister, who was recently sent to the DL. It didn't take the Yanks long to welcome the kid to the big leagues as by the end of the 2nd inning they had put 5 runs on the board, mainly due to a grand slam by former-Tiger Curtis Granderson.



             CC Sabathia made the start for the Yankees and had a workman's type outing: going 7 innings and giving up 3 earned runs on 8 hits with 5 strikeouts for his 7th victory of 2012. In the 9th inning, with a runner on and the game well in hand for the Yankees, Alex Rodriguez added a homerun to push the score to 9-4 which is what the final score ended at. The Tigers started to threaten in the bottom of the inning, so Girardi was forced to bring out Rafael Soriano to get the last two outs for his 7th save of the season.



             Off from his first road win of the season against Oakland, Hiroki Kuroda faced off against Rick Porcello and for most of the game, the two were locked in a pitcher's duel. The new David Ortiz, in terms of Yankee-killing, Miguel Cabrera, broke the tie in the 4th with a massive solo bomb to center. There was plenty of tension in the game as both Joe Girardi and hitting coach Kevin Long were tossed for arguing the strike zone. After the Yankees had scratched and clawed to tie the game at 2-2 in the 8th inning, there was Cabrera to yet again hit another solo bomb to center, this time off of Cory Wade, to make it 3-2 Tigers.



            The Yankees kept on coming back as they managed a bases loaded walk-in run (although a hit would've actually been nice, but godforbid) against their tormenting dancing-idiot foe Jose Valverde, who blew the save. Only getting the single run in the 9th ending up costing the Yankees the game as the Tigers had a 4-3 walk-off in the bottom of the frame thanks for a game-winning sac-fly from Omir Santos.



            On most occasions when a rubber game has to be decided upon the pitching of Phil Hughes and 2011 MVP and Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander, you hand the series to the Tigers, but on this day Hughes had other things in mind. Bouncing back from an awful start a few days ago against Anaheim, Hughes shocked everyone by throwing a complete game for the first time in his career and the only run he allowed was a solo shot by Prince ("Need to showboat after hitting one") Fielder.



          Just like the Angels game, the offense gave Hughes some runs early via the home run by Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, who launched one 455 feet to left!!



        Hughes refused to choke away the lead this time and only gave up the one run on 4 hits with 8 strikeouts. Justin Verlander was handed his third loss in a row as a consecutive Cy Young Award looks bleak at this point. With a grueling road trip that included the Angels and the Tigers, two teams that made the biggest moves in the AL this offseason, the Yankees managed to go a pleasant 6-3 and saw signs of waking up from the likes of Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez, yet the 29-24 club continues to be collectively putrid with runners in scoring position....