GAME 92: Yankees vs Orioles

YANKEES (54-37, Second Place AL East)
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Cano 2B
Hinske RF
Cabrera CF
Molina C
Pitching: LHP Andy Pettitte (8-5, 4.85).

ORIOLES (41-50, Fifth Place AL East)
Roberts 2B
Markakis RF
Jones CF
Huff 1B
Mora 3B
Scott DH
Reimold LF
Wieters C
Izturis SS
Pitching: RHP David Hernandez (2-2, 3.94).

Yankees Rolling: The Yankees are coming off sweeping the Tigers and have won 16 of their last 21 games. They are one game behind the Red Sox for the AL East and 17 games over .500. They have not been 18 games over .500 since the final game of the 2007 season.
Pettitte to Keep the Line Moving: The Yankees pitching was supurb this past weekend. Their line was 27 innings, 20 hits, 5 earned runs, 12 walks, 24 strikeouts. All starters wen at least 6 innings and gave up no more than 3 runs. Pettitte is 25-6 in his career vs the O's, and 10-2 in the Bronx. The last time he faced them was the final game at Yankee Stadium in which he gave up 2 earned runs in five innings.
The Mo Show: Mariano Rivera has pitched the last 3 games and recorded the save in each of them. He has thrown 13.1 scoreless innings in his last 13 appearances, allowing four hits with one walk and 12 strikeouts. He may not be available to today because of pitching 3 days in a row.
Home Sweet Home: The Yankees are 29-16 at home and are 23-9 in their last 32 games at home. Their next 7 games are at home against two last place teams, the Orioles and Athletics.

UPDATE 8:51: Ok, so I missed the first 3 innings or so, but nothing has really happened inthis game. Nick Markakis and Eric Hinske each have a solo HR. That's it. It's the seventh inning alredy. Hey, at least Andy looks like he's pitching well. Knock on wood.

UPDATE 9:04: I could have sworn I read somewhere, perhaps on Pete Abe's blog, that it was unprofessional for the journalists to ask for a players' autograph. I kind of understabd the Old Timer guys yesterday, but does he really need Mo's signature? And why does he have to talk about it in the 7th and 8th inning of a 1-1 game? Sorry, this guyjsut baffles me at times.

UPDATE 9:08: Gotta say, I am impressed with Pettitte today. He is now in his eighth inning of work. Hopefully he can be the second-half pitcher he's been in the past.

UPDATE 9:11: Well I started giving Andy a little too much credit as it looks like 8 innings was pushing it a little. He leaves after 7.1 innings pitched with 2 men on. He gave up 4 hits, 1 run, 2 walks, and struck out 7. Solid outing by Pettitte, certainly surpassed my expectations entering thegame.

UPDATE 9:16: What a crazy sequence of events that jsut took place. Tex throws a guy out at home plate on a groundball to first. Then the next pitch Coke throws is wild and gets away from Molina. Brian Roberts goes for home and Molina throws it to Coke who tags Roberts, who missed home plate according to the ump. End of inning. What a bizarre way to end the inning.

UPDATE 9:48: Matsui ends the game with a walk-off home run and gets an pie in the face courtesy of A.J. Burnett.