This was a surprisingly close game. Sabathia had one bad inning, and it nearly cost the Yankees the game. But the difference was defense - the Yankees played it, the Nats didn't.
Robbie Cano made several nice plays, as did Nick Swisher and the SS combo of Jeter and Pena. Melky Cabrera made a diving catch in center and Teixeira scooped a couple balls out of the dirt.
On the other side, Ryan Zimmerman made an error that led to a Yankee run, Elijah Dukes (I won't say 'should have') could have caught two hits in the seventh that would've prevented two runs, and Nick Johnson mishandled a sharp liner that, instead of a DP, became a hit.
Just as we were denigrating Cano's ability to hit w/ RISP, he goes 2-2 in that category and 4-4 overall. The Yanks had seven walks and eight hits; every hitter reached base, but only five runs were scored - they probably should have scored about seven.
The impatient National hitters swung early and often, which is why Sabathia only struck out two. Anderson Hernandez, the holder of one career homer, took Sabathia deep in the fifth for Washington's only runs.
No more Aceves in the eighth this time; when Sabathia walked Nick Johnson, we saw the return of Brian Bruney in an important situation: runner on first, up by one, D.C.'s #3 hitter up. Topping out at 96 MPH, Bruney induced a groundout on a slider.
Only one homerun tonight (by a guy with a .309 career SLG), how about that?!
PS: Veras was DFA'd and Slade Heathcott was on hand for the game.