Andy Outduels Doc As Yanks Hold on for 5-3 Win

(AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Chris Young)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
NYY	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1		5	10	0
TOR	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	0		3	9	1

WP - Andy Pettitte (9-6)
LP - Roy Halladay (11-5)
SV - Mariano Rivera (31)
After beating Roy Halladay on the fourth of July I really didn't have much confidence coming into tonight. Honestly, how many times a year can you really beat this guy? Well tonight the Yankees proved that they can at least beat him twice.

Andy Pettitte got the start for the Yankees and pitched very well over 6.2 innings. He allowed just one run on four hits, walked four, and struck out six. He had some control issues as you can see from the high walk total, and also had a lot of hard hit balls off of him tonight, luckily, they were usually hit right at someone.

His roughest inning was the fourth when he allowed the lone run. Andy allowed gave up a single and two walks to load the bases with just one out for Alex Rios. This was probably the biggest batter of the game, and Pettitte was able to get Rios to fly out to right for a sac-fly, but as John Flaherty said several times during the broadcast, this was definitely a spot where Pettitte would trade the out for the run. Pettitte then got Edwin Encarnacion to ground out to Robinson Cano for the final out of the inning.

Andy also benefitted from an early 2-0 lead because the Yanks were able to put two on the board before Pettitte threw a pitch. Johnny Damon, who own Halladay, reach on a one-out single. Two batters later Alex Rodriguez lined a double into the game in right center to drive in Damon for the Yanks first run. Hideki Matsui then hit a grounder to first, but Kevin Millar threw the ball a little too high to Halladay covering first and Doc dropped the ball. Matsui was safe and Rodriguez was on his way home. Halladay's throw to the plate beat A-Rod by a good margin, but slid feet-first and knocked the ball out of Rod Barajas' glove and was safe.

Pettitte got the first two outs of the seventh before allowing a double to Encarnacion and a walk to Barajas. Pettitte was at 103 pitches (57 strikes) and looked like he was running out of gas so Joe Girardi went to the pen. Phil Hughes got the call and was able to strikeout Jose Bautista on a filthy curveball that he dropped over the outside corner.

After his shaky first Halladay settled down and held the Yanks scoreless over the next six innings, but they would break through for two very big insurance runs in the top of the eighth. With two out Damon stepped to the plate and smacked a 2-2 pitch over the right field wall for a solo homer. Mark Teixeira followed with a moonshot of his own to increase the Yanks lead to 4-1.

Hughes would get into some trouble in the bottom half of the inning when he gave up back-to-back singles to Marco Scutaro and Aaron Hill to start the inning. He then was able to strikeout both Adam Lind and Kevin Millar before Girardi would again go to the pen. Hughes threw 26 pitches on the night, 22 of them for strikes. Now that's a nice ball-to-strike ratio.

Mariano Rivera came in to replace Hughes, but immediately gave up and two-run double to Vernon Wells that cut the Yanks lead back to one. Mo was then able to get Rios to ground out to Jeter for the final out of the inning.

Hideki Matsui didn't waste too much time getting one of those runs back because he launched the first pitch he saw in the ninth way over the wall in center for the Yankees third solo homer off Halladay. The Yanks led 5-3 and Halladay looked like he wanted to cry. Maybe that's because the Yankees have knocked him around for 10 runs and 19 hits, including 6 homers, the last two times he faced them.

The Jays had a little rally in the ninth, putting two on with two out and bringing Hill to the plate as the winning run, but Mo shut the door, getting the second baseman to pop out to shallow center for the final out of the game.

It was a very nice win for the Yanks tonight, and it was made even nicer by Tampa's 4-2 win over Boston tonight down in Tampa. That means the Yanks now have a 1.5 game lead over the Sox in the division and are guaranteed to be in first place at the start of the big series with the Sox starting on Thursday.

	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Jeter, SS	4	0	0	0	0	2	0	.319
Damon, LF	4	2	2	1	0	0	0	.279
Teixeira, 1B	4	1	2	1	0	1	1	.285
Rodriguez, A, 3B	4	1	2	1	0	1	0	.265
Matsui, H, DH	4	1	1	1	0	0	2	.260
Posada, C	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	.272
Cano, 2B	4	0	2	0	0	0	1	.306
Cabrera, Me, CF	4	0	0	0	0	0	2	.288
Hinske, RF	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	.262
Hairston, J, RF	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.258
Totals	36	5	10	4	0	5	8
BATTING 2B: Rodriguez, A (11, Halladay), Teixeira (29, Halladay). HR: Damon (18, 8th inning off Halladay, 0 on, 2 out), Teixeira (27, 8th inning off Halladay, 0 on, 2 out), Matsui, H (16, 9th inning off Halladay, 0 on, 0 out). TB: Damon 5; Teixeira 6; Rodriguez, A 3; Matsui, H 4; Posada; Cano 2. RBI: Rodriguez, A (60), Damon (60), Teixeira (78), Matsui, H (48). 2-out RBI: Rodriguez, A; Damon; Teixeira. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Matsui, H; Hairston, J. GIDP: Cabrera, Me; Cano. Team RISP: 1-for-4. Team LOB: 4. FIELDING PB: Posada (5). DP: 2 (Rodriguez, A-Teixeira, Teixeira-Jeter-Teixeira).

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Pettitte (W, 9-6)	6.2	4	1	1	4	6	0	4.35
Hughes, P (H, 10)	1.0	2	2	2	0	3	0	3.66
Rivera, Ma (S, 31)	1.1	3	0	0	0	0	0	1.96

BLUE JAYS STATS

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Andy Pettitte (W, 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 6 K)

HONORABLE MENTION: Johnny Damon (2-for-4, HR, RBI, 2 R)

Tomorrow's Game

Yankees @ Blue Jays
Game Time: 7:07 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS
RHP Sergio Mitre (1-0, 7.80) vs. LHP Marc Rzepczynski (1-2, 3.25)