Posada Lifts Yanks over Jays in 12

Blue Jays 5 10 0
Yankees 6 12 0

WP: Tomko...yes Tomko(1-2)
LP: Camp (0-4)

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Jorge Posada. He hit a solo home run to give them a lead in the 5th and he got the game-winning single in the bottom of the 12th.

PLAY OF THE GAME: Posada's walk-off RBI single. It brings the Yankees now one game behind the Red Sox.

TURNING POINT OF THE GAME: Johnny Damon's home run in the 7th inning to tie the game. It was a "Yankee Stadium Home Run" so you know Halladay is not going to be too fond the new Yankee Stadium, but nonetheless, it put the Yankees back in the game and gave them a chance to win.

MICHAEL KAY QUOTE(s) OF THE DAY:
"This is a corny question, but..."
"We don't want to make any speculations, but say Wang goes on the DL, do the Yankees bring Hughes back into the rotation, or do they have somebody else fill the void."-he really has no idea what the word "speculate" means.

GAME NOTES:

• If we had a category for Dumba$$ of the Game, it would go to Robinson Cano. He went 0-6 and bunted on a 3-0 count. That bunt resulted in getting the lead runner out at third. It was also in the bottom of the 12th. AWFUL! He is also 0 for his last 20 with RISP.
• Wang left the game with a strained right shoulder. Should he go on the DL the Yankees would need someone to fill his spot. Hughes hasn't pitched more than 2 innings in a good 3-4 weeks, and Aceves usually burns out around 45-50 pitches. What they can do is possibly call up someone such as Sergio Mitre from AAA.

Tommorow:

Yankees vs Blue Jays 1:05 ET Yankee Stadium

Chamberlain (4-2, 3.89) vs Scott Richmond (6-5, 3.69)

I'll be at the game tommorow, pending if Jim has work, their may not be an in-game thread.

See Ya!

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GAME 80:Yankees vs Blue Jays

YANKEES (46-33, Second Place AL East)
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Posada C
Matsui DH
Cabrera RF
Gardner CF
Pitching: RHP Chien-Ming Wang (1-6, 10.06).

BLUE JAYS (42-39, Fourth Place AL East)
Scutaro SS
Hill 2B
Lind DH
Rolen 3B
Overbay 1B
Wells CF
Rios RF
Dellucci LF
Barajas C
Pitching: RHP Roy Halladay (10-2, 2.56).
TIME/TV: 1:05 p.m., YES.

Closing in on Boston: The Yankees have won 8 of their last 9 games and trail the Red Sox by 2 games.
Happy Birthday George...and America: Today is George Steinbrenner's 79th birthday. The Yankees have lost 3 straight Fourth of July games, and 7 of their last 10.
Happy Halladay:The Yankees face Roy Halladay on the holiday. Halladay is 16-5 with a 2.79 ERA against the Yankees in his career. He beat them on May 12 allowing 1 run on 5 hits in a complete game effort.
Hot Streaks: Derek Jeter has a nine-game hit streak and Hideki Matsui is 4 of 9 with three RBI and three extra-base hits. On the other side of the diamond, Scott Rolen has a 20-game hitting streak.

UPDATE 1:34: The Good: The Yankees got a 1-0 lead early of Doc Halladay. The Bad: Chien-Ming Wang gave it right back and then some. 2-1 Blue Jays after two and a half.

UPDATE 1:40: Holy Cow! I just saw something I didn't think I'd see at all today. A home run from Hideki Matsui off of Roy Halladay. Two runs in two innings off the invincible Halladay? Whatever has gotten into this team...I like it. Now if Wang can only hold down the Blue Jays...

UPDATE 1:56: I walk into my living room seeing David Cone cleaning ice cream off his mouth. What the hell is it with these Yankees broadcasts? Nobody wants to see that. Although on a side note I do think Cone is hilarious at times in the booth.

UPDATE 2:10: Since when do the Yankees hit Roy Halladay?? Posada solo home run makes it 3-2. Not to take anything away from the Yankees, but I wonder if Hallladay is still hurting since coming off the DL. Either that or he was bound to come back down to earth at some point.

UPDATE 3:23: Chien Ming Wang left the game with a strained right shoudler. Also never fall asleep when the Yankees are winning because you may jsut wake up to see that they are losing 5-3. But now that Ronan Tynan sung "God Bless America" the Yankees will get a rally going.

UPDATE 3:25: What did I say... Johnny Damon hits a long fly ball to right field that ends up in the seats and the Yankees tie the game up at 5. Halladay probably isn't liking this new Stadium because that was a Yankee Stadium home run.

UPDATE 4:14: A-Rod intentionally walked to bring in the lefthander Carlson to face Cano. He's gotta get a hit with RISP sometime right?...right?

UPDATE 4:20: Will anyone be surprised if Cano bats seventh tommorow?

UPDATE 5:00: Get Tomko the hell out of my sight.

UPDATE 5:17: Cano's an idiot but Posada bails him out. Yankees win.

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Yankees 4 Blue Jays 2

Blue Jays 2 7 0
Yankees 4 8 0

WP: Burnett (7-4)
LP:Tallet (5-6)
S: Rivera (21)

PLAYER OF THE GAME: A.J. Burnett. Burnett struck out 7 and gave up 2 runs in 7 innings of work. This game was a pitchers duel and he did enough to hold the Yankees lead.

PLAY OF THE GAME: Robinson Cano's solo home run in the second inning. It put the Yankees up to an early 1-0 lead and it was a monster shot off the plexiglass of the Yankees bullpen.

TURNING POINT: The passed ball in the fifth inning allowing Johnny Damon to score. It was a heads up play by Damon as the backstop is short at the Stadium, but he scored bringing the Yankees lead 3-1, and they had just scored 2 runs without hitting the ball out of the infield that inning. It would also be the difference in the game.

MICHAEL KAY QUOTE OF THE DAY:
On a fly ball that Swisher caught as Gardner ran past him on the play.:
"Annnd...Somebody caught the ball!...IT WAS NICK SWISHER!!!"

GAME NOTES:

• Apparently the Yankees gave those guys dressed as umpires those tickets for free.
• I hate the red hats. Every player looks stupid wearing them. Both the Yankees and Blue Jays. MLB says it's to show "patriotism." Nothing says patriotism than a business making people wear stupid hats to make a profit off of it.
• Check out some of these Yankees pitchers stats: Burnett last 4: at least 6.1Ip, 2 or fewer ER. Totals: 0.99 ERA, 27.1IP, 16Hs, 12 BBs, 33Ks. Hughes last 7 appearances: 9IP, 4 Hs, 1 BB, 10Ks. Rivera last 10 games: 9-9 Svs, 1-0 W-L, 10.1IP, 2H, 1 R, 1BB, 14Ks. All this via Joel Sherman's Twitter account. Good, consistent pitching is something we have not seen in a while in Yankeeland. Let's hope they keep it up.

Tommorow:

Yankees vs Blue Jays 1:05 ET Yankee Stadium

Wang (1-6. 10.06) vs Roy Halladay (10-2, 2.56)...should we even bother watching this one?

See Ya!

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GAME 79: Yankees vs Blue Jays

YANKEES (45-33, Second Place AL East)
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Matsui DH
Cervelli C
Gardner CF
Pitching: RHP A.J. Burnett (6-4, 3.93).

BLUE JAYS (42-38, Fourth Place AL East)
Lineup TBA
Pitching: LHP Brian Tallet (5-5, 4.47).

TIME/TV: 1:05 p.m., YES.

Streak Snapped: The Yankees 7-game winning streak was snapped yesterday in an 8-4 loss to the Mariners. They send A.J. Burnett to get back on track today.
Facing Old Friends Again: This will be Burnett's second start against his former team. He lost the first time pitching 7.2 innings, giving up 5 runs and 7 hits and striking out 3 batters.
Tex Mess: Mark Teixeira made his first error yesterday in 72 games as a Yankee and 102 games dating back to last season. He has also not homered in his last 65 at-bats. That goes back to June 12.
Birthday Record: Well, today is my birthday and the Yankees have gone 10-6 on this date since 1990. It's also Brian Cashman's birthday but I am not looking every game played on July 3 from 1967.

UPDATE 1:06: Ok, so I turn on the TV and Michael Kya is by himself in the booth...are we in for a solo broadcasted game from Kay? I hope not. Secondly, those damn red hats. It's not even the Fourth of July yet and they are still wearing them. They look ridiculous and pathetic. Teams like the Yankees, Dodgers, Cubs, Red Sox, and Cardinals should never change anything to their uniforms. What happened to the hats with the American flag on the side? Or the ones they had last year those were fine. Man, I hate people who run the MLB.

UPDATE 1:20: Remember those fans dressed up as umpires at the game in Toronto about a month ago? Well they are back behind home plate for this game. For two complete clowns, they must be getting some decent money somewhere to sit in those seats.

UPDATE 1:37: Robbie Cano whaddya know? 1-0 Yankees. There has been recent talk about whether or not he should be in the 5-spot in the lineup. Yesterday he goes 3-3 and today he hits a home run. Think he may just be silencing the critics.

UPDATE 3:03: Time to catch the readers up to date. Yankees took a 3-1 lead on a bases loaded walk by Teixeira and a wild pitch by Tallet. Now Vernon Wells just hit a bomb into leftcenter field. 3-2 Yankees in the top of the sixth.

UPDATE 3:23: That is probably it for Burnett. His line: 7 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, and 7 strikeouts. He's been pitching pretty well lately.

UPDATE 3:35: Phil Coke in for the eighth. The other Phil, Hughes, warming up in the pen...so much for Bruney being the definate eighth inning guy.

UPDATE 3:50: A-Bomb for A-Rod. 4-2 Yankees and you know A-Rod is hitting the ball well when he is hitting opposite field home runs.

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Mariners 8- Yankees 4

Mariners 8 12 1
Yankees 4 7 1

WP: Miguel Batista (5-2)
LP: CC Sabathia (7-5)


PLAYER OF THE GAME: Ichiro. He went 2-4 with 2 RBIs and 2 runs scored and sparked the Mariner's offense to the win in the final game of the series to avoid the sweep.

Ichiro Suzuki joined the Mariners in 2001" style="border: medium none ; display: block;" width="300" height="451">Image via Wikipedia

PLAY OF THE GAME: Russel Branyan's home run. It's the first home run to hit the Mohegan Sun Sports Bar in center field. Weird how the first player to hit the bar, and the first player to hit the black seats at the old Stadium (Ken Singleton) were both visiting players.

TURNING POINT OF THE GAME: The top of the fourth inning when CC surrendered 3 runs to make it 6-2 Mariners.

GAME NOTES:

• This loss snapped the Yankees 7-game winning streak.
• The error by Teixeira was his first in 106 games.
• Hideki Matsui and Robinson Cano combined to go 5-6 with 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored, while the rest of the lineup only managed 2 hits.

TOMORROW:
Blue Jays @ Yankees 1:05 pm(?)


SEE YA!

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Game 78: Mariners at Yankees

YANKEES (45-32)
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Matsui DH
Cabrera CF
Cervelli C

Pitching: LHP CC Sabathia (7-4, 3.55).

MARINERS (39-38)
Suzuki RF
Branyan 1B
Lopez 2B
Sweeney DH
Gutierrez CF
Johjima C
Langerhans LF
Woodward 3B
Cedeno SS

Pitching: LHP Jason Vargas (3-3, 3.79).

Rollin' Along: Sabathia has pitched extremely well of late, going 6-1 in his last 10 games. He also has a 2.95 career ERA against the Mariners, so look for his dominance to continue tonight.

Fantastic Four: The relieving corps of Mariano Rivera, Phil Hughes, Alfredo Aceves, and Phil Coke have allowed only 5 runs over a combined 48 innings of work.

Power Outage: Mark Teixeira is not helping his candidacy for the All-Star Game as he has not hit a home run since June 12 against Livan Hernandez and the Mets.

UPDATE 8:30: I was outside enjoying some of the scarce nice weather we've had here in a while, and I come back and we're down for the first time since the Braves series.

UPDATE 8:40: If that throw is off by 2 inches in any direction, Jeter's probably safe. Great throw by Johjima.

UPDATE 8:51: Come on guys, it's only the fourth inning you can't have already run out of things to talk about that actually have to do with baseball.

UPDATE 8:53: Jeter should have worn his PF Flyers instead.

UPDATE 8:55: Wow. Imagine being Ichiro's older brother. Your dad names your younger brother "first son" and massages his feet every night? The younger siblings always get it better.

UPDATE 9:00: CC is having a rough night. At least with Russel Branyan in the lineup, he's guaranteed at least one strikeout each time through the order.

UPDATE 9:04: After 7 years, wouldn't you ask for the DVD back, Ken?

UPDATE 9:29: I don't know if the umpire just felt sorry for Branyan there or what, but CC's now out of the game. I won't be surprised if Girardi says something on the way back to the dugout.

UPDATE 9:55: That's the second night in a row the Mariners have done something stupid on a steal.

UPDATE 10:08: I've always wondered what it's like to be the camera man that has to walk around the outside of the Stadium and get the shots for when they come back from commercial. That has to be pretty boring because you don't even get to watch the game.

UPDATE 10:11: What? Johnny Damon just got an outfield assist? He usually needs 2 cutoff men just to get it back to the infield. So he made a good throw there and now he won't be able to throw the ball more than 5 feet for a month.

UPDATE 10:18: IT'S A DEEP FLY BALL TO CENTER FIELD AND GUTITIEREZ MAKES THE CATCH! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WHAT A FLYOUT BY A-ROD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

UPDATE 10:22: Branyan strikes out 1,000 times in the series and then bombs one off the restaurant in center field. WTF?

UPDATE 10:32: Well obviously Michael Kay didn't read our new segment.

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News and Notes

• Fan Voting for the All-Star Game ends tonight at midnight. Mark Teixeira is a mere 40,000 votes behind Kevin Youkilis for the starting first base spot. If Youkilis wins the vote, the Red Sox will have had the starting first baseman in the AL Lineup for four straight years. We cannot take four years of more of the same, so Vote for Teixeira as many times as possible. There is a loophole: You don't have to put in a valid e-mail address to vote, so you can just make one up. This allows you to vote more than the maximum 25 times. ESPN said who they thought should be voted in for the AL and NL lineups. Derek Jeter is there starting shortstop. Considering this is ESPN, I am honestly surprised they deemed a Yankee worthy of the All-Star Game.
  
• Aroldis Chapman, considered the best Cuban pitching prospect, has defected. Chapman is considered the "best player to defect since Jose Contreras." Yeah, we all know how that turned out. He pitched for Cuba in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. He was 0-1 in 2 starts with a 5.68 ERA. He struck out 8 in the 6.1 innings and showed off a 100-mph fastball. According to the article, there are some questions about his other pitches. 8th inning reliever anyone?
• Major League Baseball has now added another player to the All-Star teams. So now 33 players will represent their teams for their respective league.
  
• Lou Pinella got ejected last night for the first time this season. Really? It took him until July 1 to get ejected? That has to be a personal record.
  
• We saw Public Enemies last night, and it was very good. Johnny Depp was born to play criminals and Christian Bale traded the Batman growl for a Southern accent.
• I'm watching the Shaquille O'Neal introductory press conference, and it is nothing like a Yankees press conference. It's set up more like a talk-show. And Shaq is rocking a pink tie and a pink shirt, only he could actually pull that off.

A couple of housekeeping things:

• As of last night, we are one month old. We have already had over 800 visitors and 1,400 page views, so we thank you for reading our blog.
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Yankees 4 Mariners 2

Mariners 2 6 0
Yankees 4 9 0

WP: Pettitte (8-3)
LP: Washburn (4-6)
S: Rivera (20)

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Andy Pettitte. It's been a while since he last saw the 7th inning. Six hits, 2 runs, and 5 strikeouts. That's the Andy Pettitte we need to see more often.

PLAY OF THE GAME: A-Rod's go-ahead home run in the 6th. He gave the Yankees the lead and never looked back. Also that ball was crushed to straight away center field.

TURNING POINT OF THE GAME: Melky Cabrera's solo home run. I think this is the turning point because the ball went over the foul pole and could have been called foul. The Mariners "challenged the play" and it stood as a homer. If it is ruled foul, it changes the whole dynamic of the game. But it was fair, and helped give the Yankees a victory.

GAME NOTES:

• This game flew by. It was a "delightfully manageable" 2 hours and 17 minutes. Nice to have one of those considering the Yankees play an awful lot of games that are over 3 hours.
• The Yankees snapped Ichiro's 12 game hitting streak today as he went 0-4.
• The Yankees have not trailed in a game since Joe Girardi's 6th inning ejection last Wednesday.
• The Yankees have a quiet 7 game winning streak going on now. I say quiet because last long winning streak there were walk-off home runs, come-from behind victories, and pies in the face that made it an exciting, emotional ride. Tis one has gone a little under the radar.
• Oh yeah, voting ends midnight tommorow, VOTE TEX!
  

Tommorow:

Yankees vs Mariners 7:05 ET Yankee Stadium
CC Sabathia (7-5, 3.55) vs Jason Vargas (3-3, 3.79)

See Ya!

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GAME 77: Yankees vs Mariners

YANKEES (44-32, Second Place AL East)
Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Cabrera CF
Ransom 3B
Pitching: LHP Andy Pettitte (7-3, 4.38).

MARINERS (39-37, Third Place AL West)
Suzuki RF
Branyan 1B
Lopez 2B
Griffey DH
Gutiuerrez CF
Balentien LF
Woodward 3B
Johnson CF
Cedeno SS
Pitching: LHP Jarrod Washburn (4-5, 3.22).

TIME/TV: 7:05, YES.

Yankees Rollin': They Yankees are currently on a 6 game winning streak and are at a season-high 12 games over .500. After Boston's victory today, the Yankees are 3 games behind.
Bronx Blues: The Seattle Mariners have lost their last 9 games in the Bronx.
Clutch Cabrera: Melky Cabrera hit the go-ahead RBI double in the eigth inning last night. He has 12 RBIs that have either tied the game or given the Yankees the lead in the seventh inning or beyond.
As He Goes, So Do The Yankees: Alex Rodriguez is 8 for 19 with three homers, 11 RBI and 10 walks during the winning streak.
Pitching Equals Winning: The Yankees have a 2.56 ERA in their last 14 games and opponents are hitting .207.
Vote Tex: Go to mlb.com or yankees.com to vote Teixeira into the All Star Game. He's in a bit of a slump right now, but has good enough numbers to make the team and we cannot let Kevin Youkilis get in.

UPDATE 7:46: Michael Kay is just annoying right now. He is questioning why players sit out games for a rest and is using Ripken as an example for those who don't sit out. Maybe he never had major surgery before a season. Geeze this guy is unbearable sometimes.

UPDATE 7:56: Johnny Damon's 15th home run on the season. Is he really on pace for 30 home runs? He's gotta love that new stadium.

UPDATE 8:06: Well as I go to write about the bobble by Tex costing the double play Andy does what he does best and picks him off. But the run still scored on the previous play. Tied up at 1.

UPDATE 8:22: I walk out of the room come back and I see a home-run and Washburn complaining about something. Looks like the ball went over the pole and they ruled it a home-run. And the ruling on the field will be reviewed.

UPDATE 8:25: The ruling on the field stands. That was a quick review. Home run for Melky Cabrera gives the Yankees a 2-1 lead.

UPDATE 8:34: Junior partying like it's 1999. Solo home run for Griffey ties the game. Griffey now has 621 career home runs. Shame he had to suffer so many injuries, he was the Michael Jordan of baseball in his prime.

UPDATE 8:40: Always keep you head in the game kids. Gutierez thought it was a full count and went to steal and thought it was ball 4 and started jogging the rest of the way to second. Well it was a 2-2 count and it was ball 3. Inning over, Gutuierrez confused.

UPDATE8:44: An A-Bomb for A-Rod. Straightaway center field 4-2 Yanks. Has anyone hit a home run off that restaurunt yet? A-Rod came awfully close there.

UPDATE 8:53: So Michael Kay says you may just get Hughes in the 8th today. And I am like, then why is he warming up now? Then I noticed it's the 7th inning already. Andy Pettitte pitching in a fast moving game? Since when does he do such things?

UPDATE 9:08: So Aceves starts the eigth instead and now Coke is in. Odd. Why warm up Hughes then at all, and why have Aceves pitch to one batter?

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Breaking Down the Month of June

On June 1, the Yankees were 30-21 and 1 game up on the Boston Red Sox for first place in the AL East. Today the Yankees are 44-32, but they fell to 2.5 games behind the Red Sox. They went 15-11 and are 12 games over .500, but they fell out of first place. So was this a successful month for the Yankees? Let's break it down.

The Negatives:

• They were swept by the Red Sox and lost 2 of 3 to the Nationals and Marlins.
• Their record is not as good as it looks. They should have been 13-13 and lost the game to the Rays when Willie Aybar made a costly error in the eigth, and of course, the infamous Luis Castillo game.
• They scored 140 runs, 15 less runs than they did in the month of May.
• The team hit .253/.354/.433, all lower numbers than May and April.

The Positives:

• The Yankee pitchers allowed 102 runs, 25 runs less than May, and 34 runs less than April.
• A.J. Burnett and CC Sabathia are earning their paychecks. Despite a 3-2 record, Burnett gave up 7 earned runs in 30 innings pitched (2.10 ERA), and struck out 35 batters. Sabathia was 2-1 with a 3.77 ERA, striking out 22 batters, and only gave up 7 walks.
• Coke, Aceves, and Hughes all had ERAs lower than 2 coming out of the bullpen.

Overall, this was a weird month for the team. Basically the pitching was good, the hitting was not. If it were not for ending the month on a 6-game winning streak, it probably would have been a bad month. You would have to think that they won't go into many slumps with this lineup, and they just hit a bump in the road in the middle of the month. As long as they carry the momentum they have gained at the end of June into July this team should be able to hold the wild card spot and start to close in on the Red Sox.

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