05/31: Yankees End 5-Game Skid With Win Over Jays
Posted by: Seamus
If you scratched out all the names in Wednesday night's box score and just looked at the numbers, you'd probably have no idea you just saw the same Yankee team that you've seen the first two months of the season. If this was "fill in the blank," You probably wouldn't have wrote "Robinson Cano" next to 4-4 with 3 doubles to Robinson Cano, and you probably wouldn't have guessed to put Jason Giambi next to the 3-4 and 3 RBI if you were guessing solely based on the rest of this month's games. And I suppose you wouldn't have put two runs and 3 hits in just over an inning with Brian Bruney, either.
But that's how the Yankees ended their 5-game losing streak, by getting help from players who, well, haven't been helping them much at all the last month or so. The Yankees got something else that I thought was crucial that they haven't been getting, which was an early lead as Johnny Damon led the game off with a home run and the Yankees tattooed rookie Jessie Litsch for 5 runs in the first as Litsch failed to record more than two outs in his first career start against the Yankees.
Tyler Clippard pitched 5 innings, was dominant for the first two and then started to get a little rattled in the next three. Clippard gave up two runs in the third and one in the fourth inning as the Blue Jays started to creep up on the Yanks and Yankee fans who were watching thought "Uh oh, here we go." In the end, though, Clippard's performance was really not that bad with a line of 3 runs on 4 hits and 3 strikeouts.
Brian Bruney inherited a 6-3 lead in the 6th and pitched a good 6th inning but gave up a two-run shot to Matt Stairs in the 7th that brought the Blue Jays within a run before Scott Proctor came in and stopped the bleeding. Proctor was a little shaky, however, in the bottom of the 8th and Mariano Rivera came in with two outs in (gasp!) a save situation. Mariano Rivera got Lyle Overbay to ground out with runners on 1st and 2nd to end the Jays' threat and preserve the 6-5 lead.
The Yanks blew it open in a very strange 9th inning. After already scoring a run on a base hit by Alex Rodriguez, the Yankees scored again on what looked to be a routine popup to third. Turns out A-Rod shouted something as he was rounding the bases, distracting Blue Jays' 3B Howie Clark, and the ball dropped in for an RBI single by Jorge Posada. It still only got worse from there for Toronto as Jason Giambi followed that up with a two-run single to put the Yankees up 10-5. Rivera pitched a scoreless 9th to pick up his 4th save of the season.
Say what you want about what A-Rod did there, but I was kind of glad to see it. You have to grab a win any way you can get it, especially in a season where you're losing games like the one they lost against the Mariners. Also, the play prompted a few Blue Jay players to throw a few words at A-Rod which actually got a somewhat fiery response (I read some lips; words not YanksBlog.com appropriate), which I think in a way is actually a good thing. It was good to finally see a Yankee show a little bit of fire and emotion, even if he did cheat a little bit.
Another thing I liked about this game was the way the Yankees hit with two outs. They have been missing opportunities all season, but today scored a total of 6 runs in the game with two outs in a game they won by 5. I think two-out hitting so far has been the main difference between this lineup and other recent Yankee teams.
The Yanks will get today off before heading to Boston for a three-game set. They could cut the Red Sox' lead to 10.5 games or could leave Fenway behind by as much as 16.5 (OK, I probably made that sound like 10.5 games is nothing). Probably best for the Yankees to approach this as three one-game sets as opposed to a three-game series.
But that's how the Yankees ended their 5-game losing streak, by getting help from players who, well, haven't been helping them much at all the last month or so. The Yankees got something else that I thought was crucial that they haven't been getting, which was an early lead as Johnny Damon led the game off with a home run and the Yankees tattooed rookie Jessie Litsch for 5 runs in the first as Litsch failed to record more than two outs in his first career start against the Yankees.
Tyler Clippard pitched 5 innings, was dominant for the first two and then started to get a little rattled in the next three. Clippard gave up two runs in the third and one in the fourth inning as the Blue Jays started to creep up on the Yanks and Yankee fans who were watching thought "Uh oh, here we go." In the end, though, Clippard's performance was really not that bad with a line of 3 runs on 4 hits and 3 strikeouts.
Brian Bruney inherited a 6-3 lead in the 6th and pitched a good 6th inning but gave up a two-run shot to Matt Stairs in the 7th that brought the Blue Jays within a run before Scott Proctor came in and stopped the bleeding. Proctor was a little shaky, however, in the bottom of the 8th and Mariano Rivera came in with two outs in (gasp!) a save situation. Mariano Rivera got Lyle Overbay to ground out with runners on 1st and 2nd to end the Jays' threat and preserve the 6-5 lead.
The Yanks blew it open in a very strange 9th inning. After already scoring a run on a base hit by Alex Rodriguez, the Yankees scored again on what looked to be a routine popup to third. Turns out A-Rod shouted something as he was rounding the bases, distracting Blue Jays' 3B Howie Clark, and the ball dropped in for an RBI single by Jorge Posada. It still only got worse from there for Toronto as Jason Giambi followed that up with a two-run single to put the Yankees up 10-5. Rivera pitched a scoreless 9th to pick up his 4th save of the season.
Say what you want about what A-Rod did there, but I was kind of glad to see it. You have to grab a win any way you can get it, especially in a season where you're losing games like the one they lost against the Mariners. Also, the play prompted a few Blue Jay players to throw a few words at A-Rod which actually got a somewhat fiery response (I read some lips; words not YanksBlog.com appropriate), which I think in a way is actually a good thing. It was good to finally see a Yankee show a little bit of fire and emotion, even if he did cheat a little bit.
Another thing I liked about this game was the way the Yankees hit with two outs. They have been missing opportunities all season, but today scored a total of 6 runs in the game with two outs in a game they won by 5. I think two-out hitting so far has been the main difference between this lineup and other recent Yankee teams.
The Yanks will get today off before heading to Boston for a three-game set. They could cut the Red Sox' lead to 10.5 games or could leave Fenway behind by as much as 16.5 (OK, I probably made that sound like 10.5 games is nothing). Probably best for the Yankees to approach this as three one-game sets as opposed to a three-game series.
