04/19: April 19th vs. The Indians
Posted by: James
First off...Wow. Just wow...what an amazing end to this game. By now, you probably know that the Yankees won but here's how it went down.
Darrell Rasner started (the first time since 1991 three rookies had started in a series for the Yanks) and was fairly effective for the first four innings. He got into trouble in the fourth, giving up a solo home run to David Dellucci and then loading the bases with one out. He was able to get out of that by getting Casey Blake to pop out and then setting Johnny Peralta down on strikes. In the fifth with one on and one out and sitting at 81 pitches, Joe decided to pull Rasner, which begs the question of if there is something going on with Rasner. Does he not have enough arm strength to throw more than 80 pitches? He's thrown 76, 78 and now 81 pitches in each of his three starts so far.
The Yankees scored their first run in the 3rd when Johnny Damon stole second after getting on with a single. A Bobby Abreu single (one of his four hits on the day) brought Damon home. Their second run came on Jason Giambi home run to right field in the sixth. Giambi is really getting hot now, with back to back games with homeruns and a 6 game hitting streak (3 HRs and 1 2B during the streak).
The Indians took the lead in the 7th when Luis Vizcaino came in. Luis had nothing today. He walked Jason Michaels to start, gave up a double to Grady Sizemore and a RBI groundout to Delluci. An intentional walk to Travis Hafner brought up Victor Martinez who promptly deposited a 3-1 pitch from Viscaino in right-center, 5-2 Indians. The Indians scored an insurance run in the 9th when after two singles by Hafner and Martinez. an A-Rod error allowed Hafner to score though it's debatable whether it should really have even been an error actually.
In any case, the Yankees started off the ninth against Joe Borowski and racked up two quick outs...but then Josh Phelps strode to the plate. He started the scoring with a deep home run to left and now has the same number of hits as Doug Mientkiewicz (in less than half the at-bats). Johnny Damon followed a Jorge Posada single (Jorge was down to his last strike) with a walk. Posada scored on a Derek Jeter single and Damon followed him in on Bobby Abreu's single (Bobby was also down 1-2 in the count). 6-5 Indians, two men on and two out and A-Rod stepping in. He had gone hitless in his first four at-bats (2 Ks) but redeemed himself in the best way possible by depositing a fat 1-0 fastball into the Yankees bullpen, extending his hitting streak to 19 games (dating back to last season). A-Rod and the rest of the players and coaches (and the fans that stuck around) had one heck of a celebration when he crossed home plate. It was simply amazing to watch and one heck of a wedding present for Mr. and Mrs. Alex Bleth. Big old congrats to Alex!
When it was all said and done, Yankees 8, Indians 6 and Sean Henn got his first major league victory in relief. Oh and A-Rod's line is now .351/.418/.965 with 10 HRs and 26 RBIs and moves one HR behind Stan Musial and Willie Stargell for 25th on the all-time HR list. Not too shabby.
Darrell Rasner started (the first time since 1991 three rookies had started in a series for the Yanks) and was fairly effective for the first four innings. He got into trouble in the fourth, giving up a solo home run to David Dellucci and then loading the bases with one out. He was able to get out of that by getting Casey Blake to pop out and then setting Johnny Peralta down on strikes. In the fifth with one on and one out and sitting at 81 pitches, Joe decided to pull Rasner, which begs the question of if there is something going on with Rasner. Does he not have enough arm strength to throw more than 80 pitches? He's thrown 76, 78 and now 81 pitches in each of his three starts so far.
The Yankees scored their first run in the 3rd when Johnny Damon stole second after getting on with a single. A Bobby Abreu single (one of his four hits on the day) brought Damon home. Their second run came on Jason Giambi home run to right field in the sixth. Giambi is really getting hot now, with back to back games with homeruns and a 6 game hitting streak (3 HRs and 1 2B during the streak).
The Indians took the lead in the 7th when Luis Vizcaino came in. Luis had nothing today. He walked Jason Michaels to start, gave up a double to Grady Sizemore and a RBI groundout to Delluci. An intentional walk to Travis Hafner brought up Victor Martinez who promptly deposited a 3-1 pitch from Viscaino in right-center, 5-2 Indians. The Indians scored an insurance run in the 9th when after two singles by Hafner and Martinez. an A-Rod error allowed Hafner to score though it's debatable whether it should really have even been an error actually.
In any case, the Yankees started off the ninth against Joe Borowski and racked up two quick outs...but then Josh Phelps strode to the plate. He started the scoring with a deep home run to left and now has the same number of hits as Doug Mientkiewicz (in less than half the at-bats). Johnny Damon followed a Jorge Posada single (Jorge was down to his last strike) with a walk. Posada scored on a Derek Jeter single and Damon followed him in on Bobby Abreu's single (Bobby was also down 1-2 in the count). 6-5 Indians, two men on and two out and A-Rod stepping in. He had gone hitless in his first four at-bats (2 Ks) but redeemed himself in the best way possible by depositing a fat 1-0 fastball into the Yankees bullpen, extending his hitting streak to 19 games (dating back to last season). A-Rod and the rest of the players and coaches (and the fans that stuck around) had one heck of a celebration when he crossed home plate. It was simply amazing to watch and one heck of a wedding present for Mr. and Mrs. Alex Bleth. Big old congrats to Alex!
When it was all said and done, Yankees 8, Indians 6 and Sean Henn got his first major league victory in relief. Oh and A-Rod's line is now .351/.418/.965 with 10 HRs and 26 RBIs and moves one HR behind Stan Musial and Willie Stargell for 25th on the all-time HR list. Not too shabby.
www.nyystadiuminsider.com NICK wrote:
This comeback was GREAT. Gotta be so happy for A Rod. The Monkey has been flung off his back! I think he's a "real" Yankee now!