Yankees Steal Another From the Tigers

(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

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

WP - CC Sabathia (9-6)
LP - Justin Verlander (10-5)
SV - Mariano Rivera (25)

Today's game was surrounded by as much hype as a July, non Yankees-Red Sox game is going to get. Pitting Justin Verlander and C.C. Sabathia against each other on the day of David Cone's perfect game promised a good game. Unless you expected magic, it was pretty hard for you to be disappointed with the results, as well.

Right off the bat, it was evident that C.C. was not going to dominate today. He fell right into a jam right away but recovered from a Johnny Damon mistake in left field and a walk to get out of a rocky first inning without any damage being done. That was really the story of the game, Detroit had runners in scoring position in four of the seven innings Sabathia pitched but never could plate a run across. After the Angels series, its nice to see another team struggle with RISP. He gave up five hits and three walks to only four strikeouts but what counts is the fact that he outlasted the other guy and got the team a win.

That "other guy" actually did bring his best stuff to today's game and was filthy for the first six innings. He didn't really give the Yankees many chances for those first six innings and clearly out pitched Sabathia. However, in the seventh he ran out of steam and lost the game. A-Rod led off the inning with a solo home run to put across the first run of the game. The Yankees would tag Verlander for another run that inning as well when Melky Cabrera beat out an infield hit to drive in his buddy, Robinson Cano, from third.

The Tigers would get a run closer in the 8th off a home run against Alfredo Aceves but that was all they would get. Mariano would shut them down to close out the game for the save. The Yankees have gotten off to a nice start to the second half of the season. Now they start getting into the back of their rotation though, how they perform over the next few games could decide how this first homestand will end up looking.

	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Jeter, SS	4	0	2	0	0	1	2	.325
Damon, LF	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	.278
Gardner, CF	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.282
Teixeira, 1B	3	0	0	0	1	3	1	.277
Rodriguez, A, 3B	4	1	1	1	0	1	2	.250
Matsui, H, DH	3	0	0	0	0	0	2	.266
Posada, C	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	.281
Cano, 2B	3	1	1	0	0	1	0	.310
Swisher, RF	3	0	1	0	0	1	0	.236
Cabrera, Me, CF-LF	3	0	1	1	0	0	0	.285
Totals	30	2	7	2	1	8	8
BATTING 2B: Damon (21, Verlander), Swisher (19, Verlander). HR: Rodriguez, A (18, 7th inning off Verlander, 0 on, 0 out). TB: Jeter 2; Damon 2; Rodriguez, A 4; Cano; Swisher 2; Cabrera, Me. RBI: Rodriguez, A (51), Cabrera, Me (35). 2-out RBI: Cabrera, Me. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Matsui, H; Teixeira; Jeter. Team RISP: 1-for-5. Team LOB: 5. BASERUNNING CS: Jeter (4, 2nd base by Verlander/Laird). FIELDING PB: Posada (3). DP: 2 (Jeter-Cano-Teixeira 2).

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Sabathia (W, 9-6)	7.0	5	0	0	3	4	0	3.66
Aceves, A (H, 4)	1.0	1	1	1	0	2	1	2.64
Rivera, Ma (S, 25)	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	2.31

TIGERS STATS

PLAYER OF THE GAME: CC Sabathia (W, 7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K)

HONORABLE MENTION: Alex Rodriguez (1-for-4, HR, RBI, R)

Tomorrow's Game

Yankees vs. Tigers
(Old Timers' Day)
Game Time: 2:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS

RHP Joba Chamberlain (4-2, 4.25) vs. Edwin Jackson (7-4, 2.52)