One is the loneliest number...

After last night's Yankee-Red Sox game last night that surely took a few years off my life, the Yankees magic number to make the playoffs is 1. More importantly the Yankees pull within a half game of the Rays for 1st in AL East. A couple of points from last night:

• Joe Girardi desperately wanted to win this game. After initially saying Dustin Mosely would start so they could skip Phil Hughes in the rotation. Then yesterday afternoon it was announced that Hughes would take the ball to star the game. Then he brought Mariano Rivera in to pitch for more than one inning for only the fifth time this season.
  
• Speaking of Mariano, he's struggling. In September he's thrown 10.2 innings, giving up 12 hits, 6 earned runs, 3 blown saves and a loss. Hopefully this is just one of those phases that Mariano goes through from time to time, but it's disconcerting that its happening in September.
  
• I don't usually like to curse on here, but the only thing Jonathan Papelbon does better than blowing saves in big games is whining like a bitch.

  "It was tough considering the fact that I was not only pitching against their lineup, I was also pitching against the ump. When you do that against this lineup, you are never going to be successful."

  He's talking about the 1-2 pitch to Tex, who eventually singled. But you know what Papelboner? Bad calls happen. You still had one out, and the chance to get A-Rod and Cano out, but you didn't. I hope the Red Sox don't re-sign him just so I don't have to listen to him anymore.

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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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Hughes is HUUUGE

Yankees 8 10 0
Tigers 0 6 1

WP: Hughes (5-0)
LP: Bonderman (1-2)

Player of the Game: Once again, it's Phil Hughes. He went 6.2 IP, allowing no runs on 4 hits and one walk. Hughes is turning into the ace the Yankees project him to be.

Play of the Game: Completely forgot about this before, but I'm adding it now: Joba Chamberlain's under flip and flop. Very impressive play by the big man.

Turning Point of the Game: Brett Gardner's stolen base in the first inning. It put him in scoring position to score on A-Rod's single and give Hughes all the run support he would need.

Game notes:

• Yanks were able to pick up the split of the doubleheader, and at least give them a chance to split the series with a win tomorrow.
• Hughes has been absolutely amazing so far this season. He hasn't given up more than 2 runs in a start all year. If he keeps pitching like this, the rest of the league better watch out.
  
• Francisco Cervelli continues to step up when called upon. A 2-4 game tonight bumps his average up to .408. It's gonna be tough for Joe Girardi to not give him more playing time, especially with Johnson on the DL, which would open the DH spot for Posada.
  
• Mariano Rivera pitched for the first time since April 30, despite the fact that it was not a save situation.
  
• I started working on this post when the game was 3-0, and this game got out of hand very quickly.
  

Tomorrow:
Yankees at Tigers, 1:05 PM


SEE YA!

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Perfect Pettitte

Yankees 7 14 0

Image via Wikipedia

Angels 1 7 0

WP: Pettitte (3-0)
LP: Pineiro (2-2)

Player of the Game: Andy Pettitte was brilliant on the mound today. One run and six hits over eight innings will stop any team in any division.

Play/Turning Point of the Game: Francisco Cervelli continues to come up with key hits including today's 2-run single to give Pettitte a 3-0 lead.

• Today's win prevents the Yankees first back-to-back losses of the season, and keeps the hopes of winning a sixth straight series alive.
• After today's win, Pettitte leads the team in wins and ERA. Not bad for a 37-year old who considered retirement in the offseason.
  

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Rays Burned by AJ

Yankees 7 9 0

Image via Wikipedia

Rays 3 9 0

WP: Burnett (1-0)
LP: Choate (0-1)

Player of the Game: AJ Burnett. In his second outing of the season, A.J goes 7 innings and holds the Rays to 2 runs. On back-to-back (belly-to-belly) days, the top two pitchers in the rotation shut down the Rays and win their second consecutive series to start the season.

Play of the Game: The Curtis Granderson double play. The sliding catch and then throwing behind Pat Burell to get the out was very impressive.

Turning Point of the Game: Jorge Posada's go-ahead home run in the 6th inning off of former Yankee great Randy Choate. The catcher's homer got the Yanks offense going and Granderson, A-Rod, and Swisher helped tack on insurance runs.

• While you never want to lose a game, it does happen, so teams focus on winning series. The Yankees have done that so far this season, taking both series on the road against AL East rivals. And the fact that they did it after losing the first game of both series is even more impressive.
• With weird off-days and a 10-0 win yesterday, Mariano Rivera came in today despite the fact that it wasn't a save situation. Mo just needed to get some work in, and there's an off-day tomorrow, so it was the perfect situation to let him just throw.
  
• Joba came out of the 'pen as well today for the 8th inning and surrendered a RBI triple to Carl Crawford. Maybe it was because it's been 5 days since the electric performance in Boston or maybe it was because it wasn't as "exciting" a situation. If it was the latter, the Yanks might want to watch that because they don't need Joba making a guaranteed victory a close game with a poor outing.
  
• Curtis Granderson has made a good first impression with Yankee fans, so he should get a warm welcome at the Stadium on Tuesday.
  

Off-day tomorrow, but be sure to check in because we always have something to say.

SEE YA!

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