Hughes Win

I don't know if there are any must win games in June, but with a three-game losing streak and a non-existent offense of late, the Yankees really needed to win this one, and they did.

Phil Hughes got off to a shaky start, giving up a leadoff home run to Jose Reyes and later in the third he walked the number nine hitter and gave up another home run to Reyes, but after that settled down. Hughes was able to go seven strong innings, allowing three runs on five hits while striking out four to earn his tenth win of the season, which ties David Price for the AL-lead in wins. Anytime the Yankees have taken a lead this season with Hughes on the mound, he has held it.

The Yankees offense finally came alive today. Down 1-0 early, they were able to manufacture a run to tie it up. Then they were down 3-1 in the third, and Mark Teixeira hit a home run which may have been the turning point of the game to tie it up at 3. Mike Pelfrey, who had given up four home runs all year and had not relinquished a lead in any of his starts, was tagged for his second home run of the game in the fourth when Curtis Granderson hit the go-ahead two run home run to give the Yankees a 5-3 lead.

Finally to the bullpen. Joba Chamberlain came in during the eighth, and although I'd have liked to see Hughes go out for one more, Chamberlain got the job done and retired the final batter on a strikeout. And Mo was Mo and had an easy 1-2-3 ninth to seal the win.

So all-around a great day and a good win for the Yankees today. They beat a good pitcher and they're going to have to do it again tomorrow when Johan Santana takes the mound against them. Jim and I will be in attendence at the game and will make a post on our experience.

See Ya!

(We've probably used that title before, but it just works).

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Yankees Mets Game 5

The Yankees better win these next two games because I refuse to recognize that the Mets would win the season series. And the Yankees are down 1-0 already. Great.

Yankees
Brett Gardner LF
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez DH
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Curtis Granderson CF
Ramiro Pena SS
Kevin Russo 3B

Mets
Jose Reyes SS
Angel Pagan CF
David Wright 3B
Ike Davis 1B
Jason Bay LF
Chris Carter DH
Jeff Francoeur RF
Alex Cora 2B
Henry Blanco C

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What's Worse?

There's so many things that have gone wrong this past week and this game was a microcosm for the week from hell for the Yankees. I don't know what is worse about tonight's loss. The fact that they were getting embarassed on national television for the second night in a row and with our ace on the mound (until the ninth inning). Or the fact that they came back in the ninth, reeled me back into the game, and had me hanging on every pitch raising my hopes of a potential win. I spent the whole night wondering, how can we lose 2 of 3 to the Mets. They're the Mets! Then A-Rod comes up as the go-ahead run against K-Rod and then I started thinking "They're the Mets! Of course they'll blow it." But after holding my breath through that 8-pitch at bat A-Rod swung through a K-Rod curveball and I returned back to my frustrated state.

It's even more frustrating when you look at the bigger picture. The Yankees are 6 games behind Tampa Bay. The Toronto freakin' Blue Jays and their strangely potent offense are just one game behind the Yankees.

I want to put this loss and series behind and move on, but I can't because there's too many issues with this team right now. It's time to start sweating.

AP photo of CC Sabathia

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