Swish Stops Sweep

With one swing of the bat, Nick Swisher put a halt to the Yankees 3 game losing streak and prevented the lowly Baltimore Orioles from sweeping a series in the Bronx for the first time since 1986.

If the Yanks had gotten swept by the Orioles this late in the season, that would have been horrible. Losing 2 out of 3 to the O's this late in the season is still pretty pathetic, but obviously not as bad as getting swept.

As of 4:15 PM, the Yankees are 2 games in front of the Rays in the AL East. The Yankees have an off day tomorrow before heading to Texas to take on the Rangers. Just so you know Cliff Lee will start in Sunday's game against Dustin Moseley, as the Yankees are skipping over Phil Hughes in order to keep his innings under the limit.


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O's deny CC chance at 20th win; have chance for sweep tomorrow

So CC Sabathia still hasn't won 20 games in a season, because the Orioles offense came out and scored 3 runs before CC even got an out. So after winning 8 straight games, the Yanks have come out pretty flat against the O's these past couple days, and have now lost 3 in a row.

The Red Sox actually did the Yanks a favor last night by beating the Rays, but common decency can only last so long in Boston and they got crushed tonight. So Tampa Bay is now only 1 game behind the Bombers in the loss column with 23 games remaining.

This is how the Yankees schedule breaks down the rest of the way:

• 7 games vs. Tampa Bay
• 6 games vs. Boston
• 4 games vs. Baltimore
  
• 3 games vs. Texas
• 3 games vs. Toronto
  

The Yanks last series of the year is a 3-game set at Fenway Park, while the Rays play 4 in Kansas City against the Royals.

If the Yankees want to win the East, they obviously need to play well against the Rays, but if they keep playing like crap against bad teams, it's not going to help at all.

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Game 19: Yankees at Orioles

Lineups via Chad Jennings

Yankees
Derek Jeter SS
Brett Gardner LF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Curtis Granderson CF
Nick Swisher DH
Randy Winn RF
RHP Phil Hughes

Orioles
Adam "Don't Call Me Pac-Man" Jones CF
Nick Markakis RF
Matt Wieters C
Miguel Tejeda 3B
Luke Scott DH
Ty Wigginton 2B
Rhyne Hughes 1B
Nolan Reimold LF
Cesar Izturis SS
RHP Kevin Millwood

Philthy: Phil Hughes looks to follow an outing where he came within 6 outs of a no-hitter before an Eric Chavez line drive went off his glove in the 8th. He allowed 1 hit, 1 run and struck out a career-high 10 batters.
O Brother: The Orioles come in to face the Yankees as the team with the worst record in the MLB at 3-16. Girardi said he's not overlooking them and "struggling teams can get hot too."
Winn vs Mill: Randy Winn is 11-for-18 (6.11) and has 2 HR against Orioles starter Kevin Millwood in his career.
Injury Report: Nick Johnson still isn't in the lineup but is expected to be back in it tomorrow. Chan Ho Park, however, continued to feel tightness in his hamstring and will be reevaluated in Tampa tomorrow.

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Game 94: Orioles at Yankees

YANKEES (56-37, 1st place AL East (that feels so good to write)
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Gardner CF

Pitching: RHP A.J. Burnett (8-4, 3.81).

ORIOLES (41-52, 5th place AL East)
Roberts 2B
Jone CF
Markakis RF
Huff 1B
Wigginton 3B
Scott DH
Zaun C
Pie LF
Andino SS

Pitching: RHP Jason Berken (1-7, 6.44).

TIME/TV: 1:05, YES.

Going for six in the city:The Yankees are 5-0 during the first homestand after the All-Star break.

Beating up on the O's: The Yanks lead the season series against the Orioles with a record of 8-3.

Captain Milestone: Derek Jeter, with 2,650 hits, is only 4 behind Ted Williams on the All-Time list.

Who?: I've never heard of Jason Berken and he has an ERA over 6. So, if the Yankees decide they are going to go back to not being able hit someone that is horrible, it's going to be a long day.

UPDATE 1:15: So now Jeter's only 3 hits behind Teddy Ballgame. And it looks like the Red Sox traded for Adam LaRoche. From the Yankees perspective, I'd rather face LaRoche than Nick Johnson or Garret Atkins, who were some of the other options the BoSox were looking at.

UPDATE 1:18: Jeter is in the lineup, but it still looks like he's favoring that leg a little.

UPDATE 1:19: Looks like the Yankees already have this guy's number. They've been tattooing the ball.

UPDATE 1:28: That's one of the weakest hits I've ever seen. That's gotta be an error. And they need to score more than 2 runs this inning.

UPDATE 2:48: Let's see if Burnett can get through 7. He's at 89 pitches through 6.

UPDATE 3:08: Well, there goes the shutout.

UPDATE 3:47: This is one of the areas the Yankees need to look to improve: their bench. They need to pick up a right handed or a switch hitting bat to pinch hit in tight situations late in ballgames.

And Michael Kay joked (and no, it wasn't funny. Do you need to even ask?) that YES was putting cameras in his house to see how he prepares for games. I was under the impression that he didn't actually prepare and he was just up there winging it.

UPDATE 3:59: I was literally right in the middle of writing "Bruney is obviously performing much better after meeting Michael Kay's Successors" before he just gave up back-to-back home runs.

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Back on top in the AL East

Orioles 4 9 0
Yankees 6 4

WP: Siergio Mitre (1-0)
LP: Rich Hill (3-3)
S: Rivera (27)

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod's 2 RBI's could not have come at a better time, as he drove in Cody Ransom and Derek Jeter with a single in the bottom of the third that gave the Yankees a one-run lead.

PLAY OF THE GAME: Robbie Cano, don't ya know! His 2-run shot in the fourth gave the Yankees some breathing room for Sergio Mitre.

TURNING POINT OF THE GAME: The aforementioned single by Rodriguez.

GAME NOTES:

• Thank you, Texas Rangers. With the Red Sox loss to the Rangers, the Yankees move into first place in the AL East all by themselves for the first time since June 8th. Maybe if they had actually beaten Boston once this season, the lead would be bigger.
  
• One very important thing to watch tomorrow: Jeter was favoring his leg. He stayed in the game, but it's Jeter, his leg would need to fall off for him to come out.
• Brett Bombko was designated for assignment, so hopefully we won't have to watch the opposing team take batting practice.
  
• The Yankees improve to 31-16 at the New Ballpark in the Bronx.
• This was Mitre's first win in the Majors since 2007 with the Marlins

TOMORROW:
Orioles at Yankees
Jason Berken vs AJ Burnett


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