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Yankees Take First Two Games Against the Athletics

The Yankees set a new high water mark by winning the first two games against the Athletics in Oakland. The Yankees are now 21 games over .500 and have held the best record in baseball for the last three weeks. The Yankees are looking strong going into the all-star break. The Yankees have five games left, one more against the A’s and then a four game set in Seattle. If the Yankees stay on their hot streak they can easily win every game this week, which would give them more confidence in the second half.
In game one of the A’s series the Yankees had Javier Vazquez go against the A’s ace, Ben Sheets. Sheets has not performed the way the A’s hoped though and had only three wins to go along with seven loses going into the game. On the other hand Vazquez was looking to even his wins and loses. Going into the game Vazquez was 6-7.
This game turned out to be a pitchers duel. Sheets looked like his old self, the one that the A’s thought they were getting. Sheets ran into a little bit of trouble in the second inning when Curtis Granderson and Franciso Cervelli each had two out RBI’s. From there Sheets didn’t let up another run until the sixth inning when Mark Teixeira hit a solo home run. Sheets lasted seven and one-third innings only letting up three runs.
Unfortunately for Sheets, Vazquez was on. The Yankees have seen two sides of Vazquez this year, he either lasts five innings and lets up a ton of runs or he lasts seven or more innings only allowing three or less runs. Vazquez pitched seven innings this time, anytime Vazquez lasts that long people know that he hasn’t let up many runs. In this case Vazquez only let up one run on a Coco Crisp single that drove in Mark Ellis in the third inning.
Vazquez and the Yankees bullpen, only allowed the A’s to get three hits the whole game. It seems like anytime the Yankees have a starter pitch seven or more innings they win. The rest of the Yankees bullpen is weak, the only guys they can trust is Joba Chamberlin and Mariano Rivera and they did it again to secure the 3-1 victory for the Yankees.
In game two, the Yankees had C.C. Sabathia going for them. Sabathia has been on fire lately. After having a rough May, Sabathia has bounced back to win six straight games going into last night. Sabathia earned his was onto the all-star team with his phenomenal June, but he won’t be in it because he’s pitching Sunday. Andy Pettite took Sabathia’s spot on the roster.
The A’s has their surprising youngster Trevor Cahill take the mound for them who was 8-2 going into last night. Cahill is only 22-years-old and is in his second full season in the majors. Cahill was selected to pitch in the all-star game, that’s how good he has been for the A’s this year.
The game started off slow for Sabathia. I have noticed when Sabathia lets up any runs it is usually in the beginning of the game. As the game goes on Sabathia get stronger and stronger, this is why he is such a great pitcher. Sabathia let up a single to leadoff hitter Crisp. Then the next two batters grounded out to move Crisp over to third. Kevin Kouzmanoff then drove in Crisp, picking up a two out RBI single.
The game remained 1-0 A’s until the third inning. In the top of the third Cahill ran into trouble. Derek Jeter came to the plate with one out and the bases loaded. Jeter only has one career grand slam, all he needs is a base hit to drive in at least one run to tie the game. Instead Jeter grounds into a fielder’s choice after just making it to first before the throw that would have been an inning ending double play.
Teixeira came up next and was hit in the back by a pitch. Teixeira got hit right under the shoulder blade and it took him a while to walk over to first base because of the pain. Now the bases were loaded once again, this time for Alex Rodriguez.
Rodriguez is the man the Yankees want up in these situations. Rodriguez had 20 grand slams going into the game which is third all time. Rodriguez worked the count to 3-1 and then Cahill left one right down the middle and Rodriguez smashed it for another grand slam. Rodriguez moved up to a tie with Manny Ramirez for second place on the all-time grand slam list. That grand slam also marked Rodriguez’s third of the season.
Cahill came back down to earth this game. Rodriguez gave Cahill the final shove out of the game in the sixth inning when he hit another home run, this time a solo shot. The Yankees held a 6-1 lead behind stellar pitching once again from Sabathia. Sabathia went seven and two-thirds innings only allowing that one run in the first on seven hits and ten strikeouts.
David Robertson came in to pitch the rest of the game and the score remained the same 6-1 Yankees.
Tonight the Yankees have A.J. Burnett going for them who had one of his best games of the year last time out, but the Yankees couldn’t pick up the win for him. Burnett will hope to build on his last strong start after having a miserable June where he didn’t record one win.
The A’s will have Gio Gonzalez going for them who is 7-5 on the season with a 3.50 ERA. (yankees.com)

By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network

July 7, 2010 Posted by homerunheyer | A.J. Burnett, Alex Rodriguez, Blogger, CC Sabathia, Curtis Granderson, Derek Jeter, Eric Heyer, Joba Chamberlain, MLB, Mariano Rivera, NY Yankees News, New York Yankees, Original Content | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments Yet

Subway Series: Yankees Take Two Out of Three

Game One:
After losing two out of three to the Mets at Citi Field, the Yankees looked to win the season series by sweeping the Mets at Yankee Stadium. Well, that didn’t happen the first game had Javier Vazquez going for the Yankees against the Mets new, young, Japanese sensation, Hisanori Takahashi.
Takahashi has been a godsend for the Mets. He pitched six scoreless innings, only allowing four hits. The Yankees were lifeless in this game. The only chance the Yankees had of winning came in the ninth inning against the Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez. Down 4-0 the Yankees had their first threat of the game with one out and the bases loaded for Derek Jeter.
Jeter came into the game in a slump and he wasn’t his normal self in the ninth inning. Jeter is known to be one of the best clutch hitters in the game, but he easily went down against Rodriguez with a strikeout. The Yankees last chance came down to Nick Swisher who already had two hits in the game and has been hot all year. Out of character again, Swisher who usually likes to work the count, swung at the first pitch popping the ball up in foul territory past third for David Wright to easily catch and end the game.
Vazquez again has had terrible luck when he pitches. He has put together five straight good starts now, but he never gets much run support. Vazquez pitched seven innings of one-run ball and had to be taken out because of his high pitch count.
Takahashi is now 6-2 on the season with a 3.13 ERA. Takahashi has proven that he is capable of being a number two starter for the Mets, just what they need if they want to make it to the playoffs.

Game Two:
This was definitly the most exciting game of the series. The Yankees had Cy Young Award candidate Phil Hughes against the Mets Cy Young Award candidate Mike Pelfrey. Pelfrey and Hughes had the same record of 9-1 going into Saturday’s game. These two pitchers are proving to their teams that they are the aces this year.
This game was the only game of the series that was close throughout. In the first inning the Mets started quick, scoring one run on the re-born Jose Reyes’s home run to lead off the game. The Yankees came right back in the bottom of the first with Brett Gardner leading off with a single followed by Nick Swisher who also hit a single which allowed Gardner to make it to third. With Mark Teixeira coming up the Yankees had a good chance to score a lot of runs quickly, but the struggling Teixeira grounded into a double play, which allowed Gardner to score and tie the game.
In the third inning for the Mets, Reyes hit another home run, this time a two run shot that gave the Mets a 3-1 lead. Once again the Yankees didn’t let the Mets keep that lead for long. In the bottom of the third the Yankees also hit a two-run homerun by Mark Teixeira to tie the game back up at three.
From the fourth inning on Hughes turned things up a notch pitching brilliantly not allowing any more runs. On the Mets side Pelfrey couldn’t keep things together. In the bottom of the fourth the Yankees broke out the long ball again with another two-run homerun from Curtis Granderson this time making the score 5-3 Yankees.
The Yankees bullpen held the score at 5-3 with Joba Chamberlin coming in to pitch the eight to set thing up for Mariano Rivera’s 16th save in the ninth.

Game Three:
This is the game everyone was waiting to see, C.C. Sabathia against Johan Santana. Both pitchers, who are supposed to be their teams aces, have struggles somewhat this year. Sabathia really showed up yesterday though, in a game the Yankees had to win if they wanted to tie the overall subway series.
Both pitchers pitched well actually, the only blemish came in the bottom of the third when with the bases loaded Teixeira hit a grand slam. Even though Teixeira’s average is much lower than usual, his home run numbers are still up. If it wasn’t for that grand slam, the game would have been tied 0-0 into extra innings. That was the only mistake Santana let up in the game.
The Yankees got their revenge this time blanking the Mets 4-0 behind Sabathia’s stellar eight scoreless innings. The Yankees tied up this year’s subway series when it looked like the Mets had it in the bag.
The Yankees continue their inter-league schedule in Arizona against the Diamondbacks tonight. The Yankees, who now stand alone in first place and have the best record in baseball, should expect nothing less than a sweep against the last place and fourth worst record in baseball Diamondbacks. (Yankees.com)

By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network

June 21, 2010 Posted by homerunheyer | Blogger, CC Sabathia, Curtis Granderson, Derek Jeter, Javier Vazquez, Joba Chamberlain, MLB, Mariano Rivera, NY Yankees News, New York Yankees, Nick Swisher, Original Content | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments Yet

   

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