This is the kind of game that I love to write about. I have no reason to complain about Joe Girardi, the offense was clicking, and the pitching held up. The Yankees took hold of this game in the first inning and never looked back on their way to a third straight victory.
Freddy Garcia tossed seven innings of relatively solid work. He got hit hard a bit, but its very difficult to complain about the results. At this point in his career, Garcia is the definition of a back of the rotation starter. With that in mind, it's hard to complain about the way he pitched tonight.
Garcia's final line: 7 innings, 9 hits, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts and 3 runs. Amazingly enough, this outing raised his ERA from 3.26 to 3.34.
Luis Ayala replaced Garcia in the 8th and pitched a perfect frame. Lance Pendleton came on in the 9th to finish the game.
On to the offense.
Now the fun begins. The Yanks scored 10 runs on 12 hits. When a team scores 10 runs, you'd expect some big innings. However, tonight was not the case, as the Yanks scored runs in five different innings.
Curtis Granderson's 1st inning homer gave the Yanks a 2-0 lead. Later, A-Rod's RBI single in the 3rd inning increased the lead 3-0. Granderson's 4th inning single knocked in two runs to make the score 5-1. In the 5th, Robinson Cano's long homer made it 7-1. In the sixth, A-Rod's single plated two, and Mark Teixeira apparently "stole" home to give the Yanks their 10th and final run.
Derek Jeter, Curtis Granderson, and Alex Rodriguez all had multi-hit days. Granderson and Cano both hit home runs, their 17th and 11th homers of the year, respectively. Tex, Nick Swisher and Andruw Jones also pitched in with a hit and a walk apiece.
Of the starters, only Brett Gardner and Russell Martin failed to walk or get a hit. On days like this, someone always fails to get an invitation.
And, I saved the best for last. The Red Sox lost today, giving the Yankees sole possession of first place in the American League East.
Tomorrow, A.J. Burnett will take the hill to try and complete a sweep of Oakland's new Big 3.
Play of the Game: The Grandy Man's first inning homer.
Comment of the Game: Nominate them. There were a lot of funny ones tonight, and there's no way I could single out just one.