Wednesday, September 2, 2009

CC, Yanks Finish Off Sweep of O's

(AP Photo/Rob Carr)


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
R H E
NYY 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 7
10 17 0
BAL 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
2 8 0

WP - CC Sabathia (16-7)
LP - Kam Mickolio (0-2)
SV - Phil Hughes (2)

Behind another great effort from CC Sabathia the Yankees made it six wins in a row overall and ten straight over the Orioles. The ten consecutive wins over Baltimore is the most for the Yankees against the O's in franchise history.

Things started off a little rocky for CC tonight as he fell behind 1-0 after just three batters. Then in the second he loaded the bases with one out and it looked like he might be in for his first rough start in a month. But he settled down and struck out Brian Roberts and Cesar Izturis to get out of the jam.

From that point on he cruised. CC went seven innings -- the 23rd time in 28 starts that he lasted at least 6.2 innings -- allowing just that one run on seven hits, walked one, and struck out nine to pick up his league-leading 16th win of the year. He threw 105 pitches on the night and 72 of them were strikes.

With the Yankees down 1-0 in the third Eric Hinske tied things up with a solo homer, he second in as many days. He now has seven homers in 23 games for the Yanks. A lot better than Angel Berroa, huh?

That's how the score would stay until the seventh because O's starter Jason Berken pitched a pretty good game. In 5.1 innings he allowed one run on eight hits, walked two, and struck out three. The O's pen wasn't quite that effective.

With runners on second and third with nobody out in the seventh Alex Rodriguez gave the Yankees the lead for good with a two-run single. The hit was the 2,500th of his great career.

Baltimore got one back when Nolan Reimold hit a solo homer off Brian Bruney in the bottom of the eighth. It was another ugly outing for the right-hander who recently has looked lost on the mound. He was only able to retire one batter before giving up the homer and leaving the game. Phil Coke came in for one batter, the left-handed Nick Markakis and got him to fly out. Then Phil Hughes came in for the final out of the inning.

The Yankees then blew the game open when they sent 12 men to the plate as they seven runs on seven singles in the top of the ninth. A-Rod drove in another two with another two-run single. Hideki Matsui, Melky Cabrera, Jose Molina, Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon also had RBI singles in the inning.

Damon and A-Rod had the biggest night's offensively. A-Rod picked up three hits and four RBI, while Damon had four hits, drove in one, and scored two runs.

Phil Hughes remained in the game for the ninth, and struck out the side in order to pick up his second save of the season. Honestly, right now what setup man around the league would you rather have on the Yankees than Hughes?

More good news for Yankees fans came from Tampa Bay and Seattle as both the Red Sox and Angels lost. They now lead the AL East by 7.5 games and their magic number is down to 23, and they lead the Angels for the best record in baseball by 6.5 games.

The Yanks now head to Toronto for a four-game series with the Jays. Chad Gaudin starts the opener tomorrow night in place of the injured Sergio Mitre, and he will face Jays' left-hander Ricky Romero.


AB R H RBI BB SO LOB AVG
Jeter, SS 5 1 1 1 1 1 2 .332
Hughes, P, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Damon, LF 5 2 4 1 1 0 0 .293
Swisher, 1B 4 2 2 0 2 1 3 .250
Rodriguez, A, 3B 5 1 3 4 0 1 2 .274
Matsui, H, DH 5 0 1 1 0 0 2 .264
1-Pena, R, PR-DH-SS 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .277
Cano, 2B 5 0 2 0 0 0 2 .320
Cabrera, Me, CF 5 1 2 1 0 0 1 .274
Hinske, RF 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 .253
Hairston, J, RF 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 .256
Molina, J, C 4 1 1 1 1 0 3 .232
Totals 42 10 17 10 6 4 18

1-Ran for Matsui, H in the 9th.

BATTING
2B: Damon (31, Berken), Cabrera, Me (24, Berken), Swisher (28, Mickolio).
HR: Hinske (8, 3rd inning off Berken, 0 on, 0 out).
TB: Jeter; Damon 5; Swisher 3; Rodriguez, A 3; Matsui, H; Cano 2; Cabrera, Me 3; Hinske 4; Molina, J.
RBI: Hinske (23), Rodriguez, A 4 (75), Matsui, H (73), Cabrera, Me (50), Molina, J (10), Jeter (61), Damon (75).
2-out RBI: Molina, J; Jeter; Damon.
Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Molina, J 2; Matsui, H; Jeter; Swisher.
Team RISP: 7-for-15.
Team LOB: 11.

BASERUNNING
CS: Rodriguez, A (2, 2nd base by Castillo, A/Wieters).
PO: Rodriguez, A (1st base by Castillo, A).

FIELDING
DP: (Cano-Swisher).


IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Sabathia (W, 16-7) 7.0 7 1 1 1 9 0 3.48
Bruney (H, 9) 0.1 1 1 1 0 0 1 4.55
Coke (H, 17) 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5.03
Hughes, P (S, 2) 1.1 0 0 0 0 3 0 3.16

Pitches-strikes: Sabathia 105-72, Bruney 7-4, Coke 2-2, Hughes, P 20-12.

ORIOLES STATS

PLAYER OF THE GAME: CC Sabathia (W, 7 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K)

HONORABLE MENTION: Alex Rodriguez (3-for-5, 4 RBI, R)

Tomorrow's Game

Yankees @ Blue Jays
Game Time: 7:07 p.m. TV/Radio: YES, WCBS
RHP Chad Gaudin (5-10,4.90) vs. LHP Ricky Romero (11-6, 3.95)

2 Comments:

Raven King said...

Thank God both the Rangers and the Rays won.
I really need a Red Sox-free postseason.

Anonymous said...

Damn Bruney he was starting to pitch well now he regressed. Dave Eiland job the this month should be fix Burnett and Bruney. If that ever happen the yanks will be unstopable.