Giambi's Walkoff Caps Off Big Win Over Jays

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Toronto	0	0	0	2	5	0	0	0	1		8	9	0
N.Y. Yankees	2	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	3		9	14	1

Big, big win for the Yankees today; as Michael Kay said during the telecast, it was the "best win of the year." It was big for several reasons. First of all a loss would have dropped the Yanks back to two games under .500, and back into last place in the AL East. The Yanks also showed for the first time this year that they can actually win a game when trailing heading into the 9th, prior to today they were 0-27. Today also marked the return of Jorge Posada who went 1-for-3 with a walk.

But the day certainly did not look like it was going to go the Yankees way. Many things went wrong for the Yanks today, and it started with the starter, Chien-Ming Wang. Wang had another rough start, his 4th start in a row where he allowed five+ earned runs. He is still having a lot of trouble commanding his pitches, and only threw 51 of his 90 pitches for strike. In 4.1 IP Wang gave up seven runs, six earned, on five hits and four walks, he also struck out four.

His day may not have been as bad as it was had Melky Cabrera not misplayed a ball in the 5th inning. With runners on 1st and 2nd a one out, Alex Rios hit a line drive to center, for some reason Joe Inglett took off for 3rd, and Cabrera would have had an easy, inning-ending double play, with the game still tied, but at the last second Melky took his eye off the ball and dropped it. Three batters later Wang was done and the Jays had a 7-2 lead.

Besides Kyle Farnsworth the bullpen was pretty good today. I'll get to The Farns later. Ross Ohlendorf replaced Wang in the 5th and retired the only two batters he faced. Latroy Hawkins came into the game in 6th and retired the side in order. He also started the 7th but allowed a walk and a single before being replaced by Jose Veras. Veras was able to get out of the jam, he then got himself into some more trouble in the 8th when he allowed the first two men to reach base, but to my amazement he was able to escape from that jam as well.

And now for Farnsworth, Alex Rios and Scott Rolen both hit bloop singles and then Matt Stairs hit a ground-rule double to give the Jays a 8-6 lead. He then retired two of the next three batters he faced around an intentionally walk, but with the bases loaded and 2-out Inglett hit a rocket in to the gap in right-center that had 3-run double written all over it, but Melky Cabrera was able to track the ball down to end the inning.

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Wang	4.1	5	7	6	4	4	1	4.57
Ohlendorf	0.2	0	0	0	0	1	0	5.67
Hawkins	1.0	1	0	0	1	0	0	6.08
Veras	2.0	0	0	0	1	1	0	4.50
Farnsworth (W, 1-2)	1.0	3	1	1	1	1	0	4.45

JAYS PITCHING

The Yanks jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Johnny Damon ledoff with a walk, Derek Jeter then doubled putting runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out. Bobby Abreu drove in Damon with a ground out and Alex Rodriguez drove in Jeter with a sac fly.

They were able to cut the lead to 7-4 with two runs in the 5th. And continued to chip away in the 6th when Wilson Betemit hit 2-run homer to cut the Jays lead to 7-6. It was Betemit's second HR in as many days. The homer also came with Betemit hitting right-handed which is even more impressive considering how bad he's been from that side of the plate this year.

In the 9th the Yankees were down to their final out with nobody on base, then A-Rod hit a chopper in between 3rd and short and the ball was able to sneak through. Probably because Scott Rolen blocked David Eckstein from seeing the ball and making the play. Hideki Matsui was up next and smacked a RBI single, setting the stage for Jason Giambi. With an 0-2 count Giambi launched a GW walkoff homer just inside the foul-pole, about 15 rows back in the upper deck in right.

	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, DH	3	2	2	0	2	0	2	.315
Jeter, SS	4	1	1	0	0	1	1	.281
Abreu, RF	5	0	2	2	0	0	3	.284
Rodriguez, 3B	3	1	1	2	0	0	3	.293
Matsui, LF	5	1	1	1	0	2	4	.333
Posada, C	3	0	1	0	1	1	0	.303
1-Duncan, S, PR	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.175
Molina, C	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.222
a-Giambi, PH	1	1	1	2	0	0	0	.258
Cano, 2B	4	1	2	0	0	0	1	.222
Betemit, 1B	4	1	2	2	0	1	2	.261
Cabrera, CF	3	1	1	0	1	2	1	.266
Totals	35	9	14	9	4	7	17
a-Homered for Molina in the 9th. 1-Ran for Posada in the 8th.
BATTING 2B: Jeter (9, McGowan), Abreu (13, Frasor). HR: Betemit (3, 6th inning off Carlson, 1 on, 1 out), Giambi (12, 9th inning off Ryan, 1 on, 2 out). TB: Damon 2; Jeter 2; Abreu 3; Rodriguez; Matsui; Posada; Giambi 4; Cano 2; Betemit 5; Cabrera. RBI: Abreu 2 (39), Rodriguez 2 (25), Betemit 2 (6), Matsui (29), Giambi 2 (31). 2-out RBI: Matsui; Giambi 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Cabrera; Matsui 3; Damon 2. SF: Rodriguez 2. GIDP: Betemit; Cano. Team LOB: 7. BASERUNNING SB: Damon (9, 2nd base off McGowan/Barajas). CS: Damon (3, 2nd base by Frasor/Barajas).

JAYS OFFENSE

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Jason Giambi (1-for-1, GW HR, 2 RBI)

HONORABLE MENTION: Jose Veras (2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K) He got out of two big jams (one of his own doing), and kept the Yanks in the game.

The Yanks open up a four game series with the Kansas City Royals tomorrow night at The Stadium. Darrell Rasner makes the start for the Yanks, and Kyle Davies starts for KC. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m., and the game can be seen on MY9, and heard on WCBS 880.