Mo Picks Up Save No. 500 As Yanks Sweep

(AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
NYY	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1		4	4	0
NYM	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0		2	5	0

Winning pitcher - Chien-Ming Wang (1-6)
Losing pitcher - Livan Hernandez (5-3)
SV - Mariano Rivera (18)
Mariano Rivera threw a first pitch cutter to Alex Cora, perfectly placed up-and-in, and Cora could only do what so many left-hand hitters have before him - ground out weakly to second for the final out in the game. It was also the final out of Mo's 500th career save. He joins Trevor Hoffman as the only two pitchers in major league baseball's 500 save club. Tonight he needed four outs to for the save thanks to a poor performance from Brian Bruney, but more on that in a bit. First, a little more on Mo's 500th; Joe Girardi caught Mo's first save all the way back on May 18, 1996 against the Angels, a game that Andy Pettitte won. Mo needed just 23 pitches tonight, 16 of which were strikes.

Chien-Ming Wang also picked up something of a milestone tonight, his first win in over a year - 379 days to be exact. Wang was not sharp, but the results are what matters, and based on the results it was a pretty decent start. In 5.1 innings, he allowed two runs on four hits, walked three, and struck out three. He threw just 85 pitches on the night and only 49 of them found the strikezone. As you can see he didn't have his best command and walked too many batters. Had he been facing anything better than a Triple-A lineup he probably would have given up five or six runs. Either way, it's definitely a confidence boost for Wang.

The Yankees - and Mets' first baseman Daniel Murphy - gave Wang all the runs he'd need with a three-spot in the first inning. Derek Jeter led off the game with a double. Then Nick Swisher stepped up and hit a grounder to Murphy who decided to try to get Jeter at third, the only problem was he double clutched, the throw was late, and everyone was safe. Even after the double clutch, he still had enough time to get the sure out at first, but for some reason he decided to go to third.

Mark Teixeira quickly made the Mets pay when he lined a two-run double into the left field corner. Alex Rodriguez then walked and Robinson Cano followed with what should have been his first of three double plays on the night, but Murphy (again) couldn't come up with the return throw from Cora and Cano was safe. Jorge Posada then drove in Teixeira with a sac-fly and the Yanks led 3-zip.

That's how the score would remain until Wang ran into some trouble in the fourth when he allowed two runs to score. Fernando Martinez drove in the first run with an RBI double, then two batters later Luis Castillo drove in another with an RBI single. That would be it for the mighty Mets' offense tonight.

The bullpen once again did a good job tonight. Phil Coke retired the only batter he faced, the left-handed Martinez on a strikeout. Phil Hughes had another impressive outing, allowing just a walk and striking out one in 1.1 scoreless.

Bruney came on for the eighth and like I said before, he struggled. He walked two of the four batters he faced including a four-pitch walk to David Wright to start the inning. And while he did get two outs he still had to be taken out of the game with two men on and hand the ball to Mo for a four-out save. As we know already, Mo handled it pretty well, but still Bruney has to do a better job of throwing strikes.

The Yanks scored an insurance run in the top of the ninth, and they did so in the most improbable fashion. Francisco Rodriguez came in and Posada blooped a leadoff single into very short center. It was a ball Cora should have caught, but apparently there was some miscommunication between he and Luis Castillo. After Melky Cabrera grounded into a force out, Brett Gardner walked to put runners on first and second. Damon then lined out and K-Rod decided to walk Jeter to face Mariano Rivera. It was clearly a no-brainer decision for the Mets, but for some reason K-Rod actually threw him a strike, which prompted Jeter to give a pretty funny look as if to say, 'You're pitching to me with him on deck?' Eventually they walked him intentionally and that brought up Mo. Rivera got ahead in the count 2-0, then after watching strike one he took a big cut and fouled back strike two. K-Rod then missed with a fastball up and Mo was now just one pitch away from being walked with the bases loaded to force in a run. On the seventh pitch of the at-bat K-Rod threw a four-seamer that missed up-and-in, and Mo had his first career walk and RBI, and the Yanks had a 4-2 lead.

I think it's time for Joe Girardi to move Robinson Cano down in the order. He's hitting just .215 with RISP this season and you can't have that hitting behind Teixeira and A-Rod. Move Posada or Nick Swisher up and drop Cano to sixth or seventh, tonight alone he went 0-for-4, grounded into two (should have been three) double plays and left nine men on base.

The Yanks did what they were supposed to this weekend and swept a Mets team that was without most of their best players. Boston lost today so the Yanks head into the off day 3 games out of first and two games up on the wild card. They will open a series with the Mariners on Tuesday at the new stadium.

	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Jeter, SS	2	1	1	0	3	0	0	.309
Swisher, RF	2	1	0	0	1	0	1	.237
Hughes, P, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
a-Matsui, H, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.246
Bruney, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Rivera, Ma, P	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	.000
Teixeira, 1B	4	1	1	2	1	1	5	.276
Rodriguez, A, 3B	1	0	1	0	3	0	0	.232
Cano, 2B	4	0	0	0	0	0	9	.297
Posada, C	3	0	1	1	0	0	0	.272
Cabrera, Me, LF-RF	4	1	0	0	0	1	1	.286
Gardner, CF	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	.289
Wang, P	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Coke, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Damon, LF	2	0	0	0	0	0	2	.288
Totals	27	4	4	4	11	2	20
a-Grounded out for Hughes, P in the 8th.
BATTING 2B: Jeter (15, Hernandez, L), Teixeira (22, Hernandez, L). TB: Jeter 2; Teixeira 2; Rodriguez, A; Posada. RBI: Teixeira 2 (60), Posada (33), Rivera, Ma (1). 2-out RBI: Rivera, Ma. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Cano 2; Teixeira 2. SF: Posada. GIDP: Cano 2; Wang. Team RISP: 1-for-8. Team LOB: 8. BASERUNNING SB: Cabrera, Me (5, 2nd base off Rodriguez, F/Santos, O). CS: Cano (3, 2nd base by Hernandez, L/Schneider). FIELDING DP: (Jeter-Cano-Teixeira).

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Wang (W, 1-6)	5.1	4	2	2	3	3	0	10.06
Coke (H, 5)	0.1	0	0	0	0	1	0	3.31
Hughes, P (H, 2)	1.1	0	0	0	1	1	0	4.44
Bruney (H, 7)	0.2	0	0	0	2	1	0	2.84
Rivera, Ma (S, 18)	1.1	1	0	0	0	2	0	2.93

METS STATS

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Mariano Rivera (500th save and first RBI.)

HONORABLE MENTION: Derek Jeter (1-for-2, 2B, 3 BB, R)

Tomorrow's Game

Off day.