Yanks Walk-Off With Win, But Lose Their Wang

(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12		R	H	E
Toronto	0	2	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0		5	10	0
NY Yankees	1	1	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	1		6	12	0

Winning pitcher - Brett Tomko (1-2)
Losing pitcher - Shawn Camp (0-4)

It was a nice win for the Yankees today in The Bronx, as they defeated Roy Halladay and the Toronto Blue Jays 6-5 in 12 innings. Today's no decision for Halladay broke a streak of of six straight wins for him over the Yanks, dating back to Opening Day last year. That's the good news, now for the bad.

After having a very solid first five innings, allowing two runs on four hits, Chien-Ming Wang got into some trouble in the sixth. He allowed a leadoff double to Marco Scutaro and two batters later Adam Lind gave the Jays 4-3 lead with a two-run homer. Wang them mysteriously was taken out of the game. It turned out that he strained his shoulder and is now headed for the DL. The Yankees are now eying an August return. It's really a shame, he was finally starting to look like himself again, and then in a blink of an eye he's back on the DL.

It's likely the Yanks will call on Sergio Mitre to replace Wang in the rotation. In 7 starts for Double-A Trenton and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Mirtre is 3-1, with a 2.95 ERA. He's allowed 13 ER 29 hits, struck out 31 and walked just 5 in 39.2 innings pitched.

David Robertson would replace Wang and the Jays would eventually score another run in the inning to extend their lead to 5-3.

Luckily for the Yankees today was not one of Roy Halladay's best days.

The Yanks scored their first run in the first. With Johnny Damon on second and two out in the first Alex Rodriguez came through with another clutch hit, an RBI single to right to give the Yanks a 1-0 lead. An inning later Hideki Matsui added another run with a solo homer, his 12th of the year. Jorge Posada added a solo homer in the fourth for the Yanks third run.

With the Jays leading 5-3 in the seventh, Derek Jeter led off with a single to bring Johnny Damon up as the tying run. Damon, who was hitting .345 agianst Halladay coming into today, took a 1-1 pitch a knocked it three rows into the seats in right for a game-tying two-run homer. It was definitely a new stadium homer, that ball doesn't go out in most parks, and probably wouldn't have gone out in the old place. But who cares, I'll take it.

The score would remain tied through the next four and a half innings as each team's bullpens held the offenses scoreless. On the Yankees side, Brian Bruney - who struggled a bit but found a way - Phil Hughes, Mariano Rivera, Phil Coke and Brett Tomko combined to pitch five scoreless, allowed just three hits and two walks.

Mark Teixeira led off the bottom of the 12th with a double off the first base bag, and then the Jays walked Alex Rodriguez to setup the double play. With the way Robinson Cano is swingning the bat with men on - 0 for his last 19 coming into the at-bat - Joe Girardi decided to have him bunt the runners over. But Jays' reliever Shawn Camp couldn't throw a strike and Cano worked a 3-0 count. At this point, the 44,000+ in the crowd, the millions at home, and everyone on the field, including Teixeira on second figured Cano would do the obvious thing and take a pitch. But no, not Cano. For some stupid reason he actually bunted the ball, Teixeira, too stunned to move at second, barely got halfway to third before catcher Raul Chavez fielded that ball and forced him out. Girardi said that since Cano has no sacrifice bunts this season he misunderstood the sign. If that's the case, isn't it the job of the manager and coached to make sure everyone knows the signs?

The mistake didn't end up costing the Yankees because Jorge Posada then lined a single into right-center scoring A-Rod from second, and the Yanks won the game 6-5. It was their eighth walk-off win, and 24th comeback win of the year. It was also Posada's second walk-off hit of the year. It was the Yanks ninth win in ten chances and combined with Boston's 3-2 loss to Seattle puts the Yanks just one game back in the AL East.

Now back to Cano. I never have been one to give Cano credit for his baseball intellegence. I think he's very talented, but he isn't a smart baseball player. He also doesn't run hard all the time, usually because he's too busy sulking as he gets out of the batters box when he thinks he's made an out, and for some reason he can't hit at all with runners on base all of a sudden. Today's stupid play in the ninth just adds to the frustration. But what really bothered me today is that after the game he hid from the media.

To see how a situation like this should be handled all we need to do is look at New York's other second baseman, the Mets' Luis Castillo. After dropping what should have been a game-ending pop up, and single-handedly losing the opener of this year's Subway Series, Castillo stood in front of the cameras and microphones and answered the questions. Cano, on the other hand, ran away like a baby. Some veteran on this team needs to get in his ear and teach him how to play this game and handle things properly. I've heard a lot of people say he should be benched, but I'm not sure if that's necessary. For now I'd drop him to sixth or seventh in the lineup and hope that works.

Anyway, the Yanks look to take the first three games of this four game set with a win tomorrow afternoon in The Bronx. Joba Chamberlain will make the start for the Yanks, and he will face left-hander Brett Cecil.

Also, check out the video tribute the Yankees did for Lou Gehrig. They have several players reading parts of his speech. It's pretty cool.

	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Jeter, SS	5	1	1	0	1	2	0	.308
Damon, LF	4	2	1	2	2	2	1	.287
Teixeira, 1B	6	0	3	0	0	0	2	.279
Rodriguez, A, 3B	3	1	2	1	3	0	2	.244
Cano, 2B	6	0	0	0	0	0	10	.300
Posada, C	6	1	2	2	0	1	0	.269
Matsui, H, DH	4	1	2	1	0	0	0	.259
1-Ransom, PR-DH	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.190
a-Swisher, PH-DH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.235
Cabrera, Me, RF	5	0	1	0	0	2	1	.280
Gardner, CF	5	0	0	0	0	2	2	.277
Totals	45	6	12	6	6	9	18
a-Grounded out for Ransom in the 10th. 1-Ran for Matsui, H in the 8th.
BATTING 2B: Matsui, H (15, League), Teixeira (23, Camp). HR: Matsui, H (12, 2nd inning off Halladay, 0 on, 1 out), Posada (11, 4th inning off Halladay, 0 on, 0 out), Damon (16, 7th inning off Halladay, 1 on, 0 out). TB: Jeter; Damon 4; Teixeira 4; Rodriguez, A 2; Posada 5; Matsui, H 6; Cabrera, Me. RBI: Rodriguez, A (43), Matsui, H (32), Posada 2 (35), Damon 2 (49). 2-out RBI: Rodriguez, A. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Cano 4; Gardner. GIDP: Cano. Team RISP: 2-for-10. Team LOB: 11. FIELDING DP: 3 (Cano-Jeter-Teixeira, Jeter-Cano-Teixeira, Wang-Jeter-Teixeira).

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Wang	5.1	6	4	4	1	1	1	9.64
Robertson, D	0.2	1	1	1	2	1	0	2.84
Bruney	1.0	2	0	0	1	0	0	3.68
Hughes, P	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4.20
Rivera, Ma	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2.60
Coke	2.0	0	0	0	1	1	0	2.97
Tomko (W, 1-2)	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	5.19

BLUE JAYS STATS

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Jorge Posada (2-for-6, HR, 2 RBI, R, Walk-off single in 12th)

HONORABLE MENTION: Alex Rodriguez (2-for-3, RBI, 3 BB, R)

Tomorrow's Game

Yankees vs. Blue Jays
Game Time: 1:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS

RHP Joba Chamberlain (4-2, 3.89) vs. LHP Brett Cecil (2-1, 5.09)