New York Yankees Fan Blog

The Yankees/Dodgers Rivalry Continues On

The Yankees and Dodgers have met in the World Series more than any other team in baseball. All of those World Series together, which was mostly when the Dodgers were in Brooklyn, created a rivalry between the teams. Before the Mets became the Yankees inter-league rivalry, the Dodgers rivalry was even bigger.

Game One:

This past weekend the Yankees and Dodgers faced off again and this time the heat was back in the rivalry because of former manager and hitting coach of the Yankees are now doing the same with the Dodgers in Joe Torre and Don Mattingly. To go along with those two, the Dodgers also have the old Yankee killer Manny Ramirez and Vincente Padilla who has had a history of hitting Yankee batters.
The first game on Friday had C.C. Sabathia going for the Yankees against Vincente Padilla. After struggling a little bit in May C.C. has been lights out in June not losing any games in the month. Padilla has been injured most of the season, it was only his sixth start of the season.
Both pitchers were lights out, Sabathia started off letting up one run in the first inning from Ramirez’s two out RBI double. The Yankees answered back quickly in the top of the second from Jorge Posada’s RBI single. For the next three innings both pitchers put up zeros.
In the sixth inning Alex Rodriguez hit a solo home run to put the Yankees up 2-1 and the score stayed that way the rest of the game. Both Padilla and Sabathia had seven strikeouts each. Sabathia went eight innings allowing four hits and Padilla went seven innings allowing six hits.
Mariano Rivera came in the ninth for the save and struck out all three batters, which leads to the backstory of the fireworks during the game. As I mentioned Padilla had a record with some of the Yankee hitters and it continued in this game when Padilla hit Robinson Cano. Sabathia was not happy about this and when Padilla came up to bat Sabathia hit him in the calf. Padilla looked at Sabathia and started walking towards him, Sabathia did not back down doing the same. Nothing came of it from there. Then in the ninth when Rivera struck out the last batter of the game, Andre Ethier, there was jarring made about the strike calls from Torre and Mattingly who were both thrown out of the game. The game was over anyway so it didnt really make a difference, but they will probably be fined.

Game Two:

The Dodgers really needed a win in this game after struggling mightily lately. The Dodgers season has been up and down all year long and there are rumors that this will be Torre’s last year as manager no matter what happens. Saturdays game had the 0-4 in the month of June, A.J. Burnett for the Yankees against the Dodgers Hiroki Kuroda.
This game was the complete opposite of Friday night’s game. The Yankees started things early when in the first inning they scored three runs on Mark Teixeira’s three-run home run. When the Dodgers got up to bat in the bottom of the inning they scored two runs of their own of the still struggling Burnett. All week the Yankees worked on Burnett’s mechanics to try and straighten him out, but apparently it didn’t work.
After a scoreless inning in the second by both team, the third inning brought on more offense, first by the Yankees adding another run on Rodriguez’s RBI single making the game 4-2 Yankees. That didn’t last for long, in the bottom of the third Burnett imploded once again, letting up three more runs. The Yankees pulled Burnett from the game after that inning knowing that he still wasn’t right. In the fourth inning the Yankees brought in Boone Logan to pitch and he let up another two runs to make the game 7-4 Dodgers. Logan lasted two innings when Chan Ho Park relieved him in the sixth inning. Park had a strong sixth inning, but in the seventh he also let up two more runs to make the game 9-4 Dodgers.

The game wound up staying at 9-4 and the Dodgers receieved their much needed win. Burnett recorded his fifth straight loss and put himself in the history books by becoming the only Yankee pitcher to be 0-5 in the month of June with an ERA over 10. Another concern for the Yankees must be their bullpen. The only guy that can be trusted is Rivera and Joba Chamberlin who when is on is unhittable.

Game Three:

The rubber game of the series featured Andy Pettite for the Yankees against Clayton Kershaw for the Dodgers. Pettite has been strong for the Yankees all year long and was looking for his tenth win of the season. Kershaw is also having a good year for the Dodgers looking for his eighth win of the season.
The first offense of the game came in the bottom of the third when the Dodgers scored three runs. In the next inning the Dodgers continued their offense when Ronnie Belliard hit a two run home run to give the Dodgers a 5-0 lead.
Kershaw was dominating through the first five innings holding the Yankees scoreless. Pettite was the opposite having one of his worst games of the season and the Yankees lifted him from the game after five innings.
The Yankees showed a little glimmer of hope in the sixth inning when Rodriguez hit his second home runs of the series, this time a two-run shot to pull the Yankees within three runs, 5-2.
In the eight inning the Dodgers added another run making the game 6-2 Dodgers. That should have sealed the deal and helped the Dodgers start their winning ways once again by beating a good team like the Yankees. Shockingly, the Yankees, after having little offense all game, lit up the Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton. Broxton is known to be one of the best closers in the league, it wasn’t a save situation with the four run lead, but Torre badly wanted this win so they brought in Broxton anyway.
Broxton easily struck out Teixeira with only four pitches to start the inning, but from there Rodriguez hit a single, then Cano toughed out a long battle to get a double that drove Rodriguez in. The next batter, Posada, also had a tough at bat and made Broxton throw a lot of pitches. Posada got a single and then moved to second on a defensive indifference. The Yankees had a runner on second and third with one out and Curtis Granderson up at the plate. Again the Yankees gave Broxton another tough at-bat and Granderson worked a walk to load the bases for the rookie Chad Huffman who was in the game for Brett Gardner who left after getting hit by a pitch from Kershaw. The rookie Huffman also had a tough at-bat and hit a single to drive in two more runs. The score is now 6-5 Dodgers and the Yankees had a runner on first and third with still only one out. The Yankees fate now stands in another rookies hand with Colin Curtis. Broxton is clearly tired and was over 40 pitches thrown for the inning. Curtis just like everyone else in the inning, had a tough at bat fouling off pitch after pitch when he finally grounded to first. James Loney picked up the ball and instead of throwing the ball straight home where Granderson was attempting to score the tying run, he instead got the out at first and then threw off balance to home which made him throw the ball inaccurately and Granderson was safe!
The Yankees came all the way back to tie the game. Derek Jeter was up next to try and score Huffman from second, but he got out. On to the bottom of the ninth, the Yankees bring in Rivera who pitched an easy scoreless ninth. More fireworks erupted when Garret Anderson mad the second out of the inning, on his way back to the dugout he said something to the umpire arguing about a strike called against him earlier in the at-bat. Anderson was thrown out of the game which prompted Torre to come out and argue, but he stayed in the game.
In the top of the tenth, Cano hit a two-run home run to give the Yankees a 8-6 lead. Cano just came that much closer to being named MVP. The home run came off of George Sherill who hasn’t let up a home run to a lefty in 150 batters.
In the bottom of the tenth Rivera went back out and shut down the Dodgers to pick up the win. Again there was more fireworks when the second out of the inning, Russell Martin was thrown out when he thought he receieved a walk only to be struck out looking. Martin slammed his bat on the ground and broke it. The Dodgers had every right to be frustrated, the Dodgers should have never lost that game and the series. Torre looked bad in the last game leaving Broxton out there for so long.
The Yankees hope to continue where they left off in L.A. when they face the Mariners tomorrow night back at home. The Yankees have Phil Hughes going against the Mariners ace Cliff Lee. (yankees.com)

By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network

June 28, 2010 Posted by homerunheyer | A.J. Burnett, Alex Rodriguez, Blogger, CC Sabathia, Curtis Granderson, Derek Jeter, Eric Heyer, Joba Chamberlain, Joe Torre, Jorge Posada, MLB, Mariano Rivera, New York Yankees, Original Content, Robinson Cano | A.J. Burnett, Alex Rodriguez, andre ethier, Andy Pettite, boone logan, c.c. sabathia, chad huffman, chan ho park, clayton kershaw, cliff lee, colin curtis, Derek Jeter, dodgers, don mattingly, george sherill, hiroki kuroda, joba chamberlin, Joe Torre, jonathan broxton, Jorge Posada, manny ramirez, Mariano Rivera, MLB, Phil Hughes, robison cano, russel martin, vicente padilla, Yankees | No Comments Yet