Alone in first as 6-4 win makes it five straight

by Travis G on Jul 21, 2009 10:57 PM EDT in Game Recap

With another Red Sox loss (4-2 to Texas), the Yankees have vaulted into first place for the first time since June 8th.

We should be happy with Sergio Mitre's performance tonight; 5.2 ip, 3 er is more than good from a spot starter. It looked like it might get ugly early, as Mitre allowed hits to the the first two batters, but Baltimore only scored one that frame.

The offensive heroes were Baltimore's pitchers. The Yanks scored six runs on only six hits because of eight walks.

The first walk was issued to A-Rod, who proceeded to steal second, and came around to score on consecutive sac flies. In the next inning, he gave the Yanks the lead for good with a big two-out, two-run single.

Even Robbie Cano walked; he also went 2-3 with a game-breaking two-run homer in the fourth.

It was tough watching Derek Jeter slide head first into home and then get up limping. But he made a great running catch to end the game in shallow left-field which made me think the leg is fine.

Save for Cano dropping a potential pick-off throw, the defense was again great: the aforementioned Jeter catch, Tex's share of superb plays, and Cano's trademarked field-the-ball-in-short-center-and-throw-across-the-body plays.

Because of a lucky/great stab by Teixeira, Phil Hughes did not have to enter the game, meaning he could probably go two tomorrow if needed.

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Comments

Ahhh ...

Life is good … for today. Or, until someone else complains about Joba … or Phil … or Girardi … or Ransom … or Posada’s catching. LOL!!

by Ed Valentine on Jul 21, 2009 11:02 PM EDT reply actions

FIRE GIRARDI

by FreeBradshaw on Jul 22, 2009 8:07 AM EDT up reply actions

Sac flies, small ball, arod getting his uni dirty

It was like a Yankee haters nightmare.

Strikeouts are boring- Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.

by CasanovaWong on Jul 21, 2009 11:08 PM EDT reply actions

Nice win...Grindin' em' out.

Man oh man, if they keep winning……what the hell do we post about? Who gets the next Yankeeography? Are those custard pies or shaving cream? Winning is so complicated.

by ReggieARodJeter on Jul 21, 2009 11:23 PM EDT reply actions

Don't worry, there's still plenty of things to complain about for the Universe

John Sterling
Kei Igawa
John Sterling
Cody Ransom continuing to be a Yankee (the heir to the Tomko throne)
John Sterling

to name a few…..

by Lord Duggan on Jul 21, 2009 11:26 PM EDT up reply actions

Good ones.

Don’t 4get Suzyn" I might be Satan" Waldman

by ReggieARodJeter on Jul 21, 2009 11:31 PM EDT up reply actions

Ransom surprisingly had a decent game

by Brian5517209 on Jul 22, 2009 1:06 AM EDT up reply actions

Back in 1st

The Yanks seem to be on a roll, five in a row, and back where they belong in 1st place. They are showing that good pitching and defense are the keys to success. They had ok pitching tonight from Mitre and still got the job done. If the Yanks can keep winning series they will be in a good place at the end of the season. Let’s keep this train a rolling going.

Check out this video a friend shared with me. http://tinyurl.com/km2lxw

by 2bayankfan on Jul 21, 2009 11:32 PM EDT reply actions

Doubleplusgood

one synonym for “more than good.” Wait, Emmanuel Goldstein is jamming the transmission and taking over my keyboard!

THE VOICE OF GOLDSTEIN:
“The unearned run scored on Mitre’s own error.
Mitre is averaging 6.47 runs per 9 innings.
If I wanted to help people evaluate Mitre’s performance, I would not forget to mention the unearned run (and the error, and the 8 hits).”

by twinight on Jul 21, 2009 11:39 PM EDT reply actions

the error may have been

credited to Mitre, but i completely disagree with the official scorer. that error was clearly Cano’s fault.

regardless, even 4 runs in 5.2 ip is fine for a spot starter.

by Travis G on Jul 22, 2009 12:36 AM EDT up reply actions

Word

Mitre put it right on the bag, robbie just flat out missed it. He;s been playing stellar defense all season so it’s forgivable.

Strikeouts are boring- Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.

by CasanovaWong on Jul 22, 2009 8:10 AM EDT up reply actions

Detroit and Baltimore are not good teams

I want to feel like we’ve turned the corner. But until we start winning against good teams (Beating Verlander I can be proud of) I’m a bit hesitant to be confident. Am I wrong?

by dorsal on Jul 22, 2009 12:43 AM EDT reply actions

what about beating Jackson?

by Brian5517209 on Jul 22, 2009 1:05 AM EDT up reply actions

And that verlander guy is pretty good.

Strikeouts are boring- Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.

by CasanovaWong on Jul 22, 2009 6:39 AM EDT up reply actions

Oops, reading FAIL.

Strikeouts are boring- Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.

by CasanovaWong on Jul 22, 2009 6:39 AM EDT up reply actions

Detroit is

in first place. by your logic the only good teams would be the Rays / Sox / Angels and no one else.

by RollingWave on Jul 22, 2009 1:32 AM EDT up reply actions

While Detroit

is not a bad team, with that record they would be in or close to 4th place in any other MLB division. I’ll take any wins the Yanks get because the Sox play those teams too and if the Yanks are ahead in the standing that means it comes down to those games against the Sox. I don’t expect them to own the Yanks anymore this season. But yes, it would be nice to see some wins over the Angels and Rangers and Rays in this half.

by Jaybat on Jul 22, 2009 9:48 AM EDT up reply actions

Rays / Sox / Angels

These are our arch enemies yes. I will feel better after playing better ball against these clubs

by dorsal on Jul 22, 2009 4:22 PM EDT up reply actions

The Orioles

record aside, are very tough for the Yanks. They play them like its the WS every year, so I just don’t write them off.

And how come everyone forgets about how the Yankees handle the Rangers? Yankees beat them pretty good (4-2 overall)

They’re taking care of business against the Red Sox (Red Sox are 1-5 so far, Rangers go for sweep tonight…on ESPN for those who want to marvel in their misery) and who knows, maybe they get into the WC over the Red Sox cuz of this?

by FreeBradshaw on Jul 22, 2009 8:36 AM EDT up reply actions

So being in 1st place

means that you are not a good team? Baltimore does suck however, but division games are always tight. Be confident, we have the best record in the AL

by yankeechaser on Jul 22, 2009 1:05 AM EDT reply actions

dorsal

You can be a “tire kicker” if you want to. There is nothing wrong with that BUT you better hurry it up because you are missing out on a great ride we are on and I would, and I don’t even know you, hate to see you miss it!

by Mondoas on Jul 22, 2009 2:44 AM EDT reply actions

Couldn't agree more

Stop dwelling on the negative. The best teams all has something better they could be doing. Just enjoy it while it lasts, and hope it last into October

by Gangsta Yanksta on Jul 22, 2009 11:02 AM EDT up reply actions

Not usually a tire kicker

Just been dumped so many times after getting too excited.

by dorsal on Jul 22, 2009 4:21 PM EDT up reply actions

amazing

amazing, the All Star break must have done wonders for Girardi’s brain, they actually started to play small ball today, they must have noticed the way the Angels keep beating them, getting a runner on, bunting him over, doing a hit and run or letting him steal….their bullpen is something else with the Philthys (Coke and Hughes), Robertson, Ace, and Mo..and I guess Marte will be back soon…they are playing fundamental baseball for once and are winning.

by BlackandGoldSSgt on Jul 22, 2009 7:29 AM EDT reply actions

Hahaha come on

we’re leading the league in homeruns. We’ve been using the hit and run all season as well. A few sac flies in the 2nd inning is not the reason this team has been winning. Everything is clicking, we’re getting timely hits, our defense has been very solid (damon notwithstanding) and our starters and bullpen have been lights out. Girardi has been doing the same things we’ve just been executing much much better.
Plus it helps the Sox have lost 4 straight,.

Strikeouts are boring- Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.

by CasanovaWong on Jul 22, 2009 8:09 AM EDT up reply actions

For those saying Baltimore is a tough team...

…consider the fact that they’re 1-13 against the AL East on the road this season.

Last year they were 9-27 on the road against the division.

The Yanks are doing what they should do against them.

by New York Sports Jerk on Jul 22, 2009 9:32 AM EDT reply actions

sorry

I don’t care about last year, tho look at who those wins were against…

Yankees as a good team should beat them, and they are, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that B-More plays them tough, or at least they did in the beginning of the season when they didn’t know any better.

Yanks are undefeated against them since May.

by FreeBradshaw on Jul 22, 2009 4:07 PM EDT up reply actions

Like it or not...

…this Yankees season is going to come down to whether or not they can find a way to beat the Red Sox and Angels.

They’re taking care of business against the bad teams, which they should be doing, but it’s all for naught if they can’t get past Boston or LAA.

And I don’t care about the Orioles “playing them tough” … that’s a last place team that came in here and for the last two days started pitchers with ERAs of 7.64 and 6.55. That’s a bad team, and beating them does nothing for me.

by New York Sports Jerk on Jul 22, 2009 6:39 PM EDT up reply actions