First off, YES!!!!!!!!!!!
On a beautiful Mother's Day down in Arlington, the New York Yankees earned their stripes and a series win over the Texas Rangers after crushing them 12-5. Every Yankee starter, with the exception of Cano (who walked), reached base via hit.
Texas jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the 1st inning after a two-run single by catcher Mike Napoli and a sacrifice fly by David Murphy. Elvis Andrus would tack on another run with an RBI single in second inning to extend their lead to 4-0.
But once the third inning came around, it was all New York from then on. Back to back singles by Jeter and Granderson cut the Ranger lead in half. Jeter's fifth inning homer brought the Yankees within striking distance and Alex Rodriguez tied the game with an RBI groundout.
Jeter and Granderson would go back to back again in the seventh, but this time using the long ball as their weapon of choice, to make the score 6-4 New York.
The highlight of the afternoon is definitely a tossup. Derek Jeter pieced together four hits, including his first two homers of the 2011 campaign (after going the first 31 games without one). As a matter of fact, Jeter's batting average jumped .034 the past three games. However, Almighty Francisco Cervelli may have one-upped him with a heroic grand slam in the top of the eighth inning to put the Yankees up 10-5 and shut the door on any Ranger thoughts at a comeback.
The Yankees used their ultimate weapon today not once, not twice, but five times. Mark Teixeira added a two-run homer for good measure in the eighth.
CC Sabathia was, again, not at his best today. His final line was 6.0+ innings, five runs on five hits, four walks and merely two strikeouts. Like we've heard plenty of times, even when Sabathia isn't at his best, he'll give the Yankees a chance to win. His efforts paid off today and he was awarded a win.
Joba Chamberlain, Rafael Soriano and Lance Pendleton worked the seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively, without allowing any earned runs. Joba inherited a runner in the seventh and allowed him to score, though. The bullpen wasn't shutdown today, but they managed to get by.
The Yanks are truly fortunate to have found their offensive stride today after showing less than stellar defense. Plenty of head scratchers that had everyone thinking this was one of the more bizarre games of the year prior to the eighth inning.
16 hits for the Bombers is the most in a single game thus far in 2011.
The Yankees will return home to the for a three game series against the Kansas City Royals starting on Tuesday (I'll be there, finally!).
Play of the game: Derek Jeter's seventh inning homer increased New York's odds of winning by 18.8%. We all know what the REAL play of the game was, though.
Comment of the game: Long Time Listener's impressive call of Jeter's first homer of 2011.