(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
| BAL | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 0 | |
| NYY | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X | 6 | 6 | 1 |
WP - Sergio Mitre (1-0)
LP - Rich Hill (3-3)
SV - Mariano Rivera (27)
The Yankees made it five wins in a row to open the second half with their 6-4 win over Baltimore tonight in the Bronx. They also gained sole possession of first place in the AL East because Boston dropped another down in Texas. This time falling 4-2 with Josh Beckett on the mound.
Sergio Mitre made his first start since September of 2007 and gave the Yankees and their fans more than I think most people expected. In 5.2 innings Mitre allowed 4 runs (3 earned) on 8 hits, walked 1 and struck out 4. Of his 91 pitches, 57 were strikes. He allowed just individual runs in the first and third and then got on a little bit of a roll throwing two scoreless inning. But then he got in some trouble in the sixth, allowing two runs on three singles before leaving the game. Most of Mitre's troubles came via Brian Roberts and Nick Markakis, who both had five hits combined off Mitre. And I can't really blame him for that, they give a lot of people trouble. Overall it was a pretty decent start, not great, but good enough.
As far as stuff goes, Mitre has a good sinker that sits at around 92-93 MPH, and used it to retire ten batters via the ground out while recording just three fly outs. Like his time in the minors he threw strikes and avoided the walks. For now I see no reason why he cannot be a successful number five starter for this team.
With Baltimore ahead 1-0 in the second the Yankees manufactured the tying run when Alex Rodriguez walked, stole second, went to third on sac fly by Jorge Posada, and then scored on a sac fly by Nick Swisher. Really nice to see the Yanks playing a little small ball.
One inning later the Yanks would load the bases with two out for Rodriguez. O's start Rich Hill threw him a 1-0 curveball for strike one, then on the next pitch threw the same curve again, and this time A-Rod lined it into left for a two-run single and the Yanks led 3-1.
They'd add three more in the bottom of the fourth to put the game away. Robinson Cano had the big hit of the inning, a two-run homer into the Yankees bullpen. It was Cano's 14th homer of the season.
Once again it was a good night for the Yankees bullpen who pitched a combined 3.1 scoreless innings. Alfredo Aceves retired all four batters he faced, Phil Coke pitched a scoreless eighth, and Mariano Rivera picked up save no. 27 with a 1-2-3 ninth. I can't stress this point enough, but the bullpen in light-years better with Aceves in it. No matter what happens with Mitre, Aceves must stay in the pen for the rest of the year.
The Yankees have now won eight of the last nine series, and really look good right now. In fact, with the exception of a couple bumps in the road they've looked really good since A-Rod came off the DL. Since that point the Yankees are 43-22 which is the best record in baseball over that time. Now, they're alone in first for the first time since June 8th. That time in first was short-lived, hopefully this time they can hang around for 69 games or so.
A.J. Burnett and the Yanks go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon in the Bronx.
| AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG | |
| Jeter, SS | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .319 |
| Damon, LF | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .278 |
| Gardner, CF | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .277 |
| Teixeira, 1B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .277 |
| Rodriguez, A, DH | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .252 |
| Posada, C | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | .277 |
| Swisher, RF | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .233 |
| Cano, 2B | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .308 |
| Cabrera, Me, CF-LF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .274 |
| Ransom, 3B | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .188 |
| Totals | 26 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 8 | 6 | 14 | |
BATTING 2B: Ransom (7, Bass). HR: Cano (14, 4th inning off Hill, R, 1 on, 0 out). TB: Jeter; Damon; Rodriguez, A; Cano 5; Ransom 2. RBI: Swisher (48), Rodriguez, A 2 (54), Cano 2 (48), Damon (51). 2-out RBI: Rodriguez, A 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Posada; Damon 2. SF: Swisher. Team RISP: 2-for-8. Team LOB: 5. BASERUNNING SB: Jeter (18, 2nd base off Hill, R/Wieters), Rodriguez, A (4, 2nd base off Hill, R/Wieters), Ransom (2, 2nd base off Bass/Wieters). CS: Rodriguez, A (1, 2nd base by Albers/Wieters). FIELDING E: Mitre (1, pickoff). DP: 2 (Jeter-Cano-Teixeira, Teixeira). | ||||||||
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | |
| Mitre (W, 1-0) | 5.2 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 4.76 |
| Aceves, A (H, 5) | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.53 |
| Coke (H, 11) | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3.76 |
| Rivera, Ma (S, 27) | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.20 |
ORIOLES STATS
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Robinson Cano (2-for-3, HR, 2 RBI, BB, R)
HONORABLE MENTION: Sergio Mitre (First win since 2007)
Tomorrow's Game
Yankees vs. Orioles
Game Time: 1:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS
Game Time: 1:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS
RHP A.J. Burnett (8-4, 3.81) vs. RHP Jason Berken (1-7, 6.44)
12 Comments:
Nice job by Mitre. He has pitched longer than any Wang start this year. If he can give you 6 quality innings he will win a lot of games for this team.
Also I liked that Girardi used Coke in the 8th because it was a better matchup than using Hughes. And on Friday he brought Hughes in for the 7th and 8th. That shows he is being flexible with the pen.
I hate when people talk about bullpen pitchers that are not the closers so have defined roles in the pen besides. Knowing what inning you will be pitching. That is stupid your mentality should be to get outs whenever you are called on.
That may be so, but right now I think Bruney's role is minding the doghouse.
Yeah, Bruney went from 8th inning guy to the invisible man.
I think they're trying to rest Bruney as much as possible in hopes he returns to form.
You're probably right.
I got this from an article I read today on Boston.com...
"The game had even principal owner John Henry agitated, with a simple Tweet of “Frustrating games’’ to mark the difficulty of watching the Sox recently."
How's it feel to be looking up at "$400m offseason" Johnny-boy? LOL
GO YANKS ! Mitre looked competent, looking forward to seeing him pitch more. Also great to see the minor league teams doing well, and Montero the Monster !
is it me or does it seem like the Yankees are doing more charity work and having their players more involved in the community than ever before? I think its a great thing, with the HOPE foundation, and other causes the players get involved in.
Yeah I agree with Anon. And if you looked at all of those visits they did, ARod was at just about every one. Starting to wonder if he's getting over himself finally and looking at the bigger picture this year. He's been doing better than usual in clutch situations and seems to be having fun and getting along with teammates. It seems for this team as ARod goes the rest of the team goes along with him.
-G
They have always done quite a bit of charity work and the Boss was famous for it. But they certainly seem to be doing even more now and promoting it more.
I have noticed that ARod has been at nearly every event. Maybe he is starting to see the big picture.
I agree that it is a great thing.
Also, they have been allowing a local team to run on the field with them before the games every couple of weeks. Each player has 1 or 2 kids that runs out and stands with a Yankee during the National Anthem. You can see what a huge thrill it is for them and you can see that the players know it too.
Good job by the Yanks.
The Yankees and especially The Boss, have been doing charity work for years that most people don't know about. Steinbrenner has never looked for recognition for any of this. He's really a much better person than most give him credit for.
Greg is 100% right, The Boss, love him or hate him, & the Yankees, have been doing charity stuff forever without any fanfare.
Pardon me for being cynical, but when it comes to A-Rod doing all this well-publicized charity work, my first thought is that he has a different public relations person this season who is recommending A-Rod soften his image with some well-publicized charity work. Sorry, but that's how I feel about him.
The best charity work is the stuff we never hear about, and I give George Steinbrenner a lot of credit for what he's quietly done over the years.
When the Boss was asked why he never talked about all the charity work he did, he said that he didn't do it for the publicity, he did it because it was the right thing to do. He seemed embarrassed to even answer the question.
As for ARod and the publicity, you are probably right about the pr rep telling him to do more.
But the Yanks as an organization also seem to be attempting to be more visible with their charity work lately.
Post a Comment