08/14: Yanks Squeak One By in the 9th, Beat O's
Posted by: Seamus
The Yankees are now winning every which way possible, this time in the form of a 7-6 walk-off victory over the Orioles, who actually look a lot more scary at this point than all these "powerhouse" teams the Yanks face in the coming weeks. A win by Boston keeps the Yankees 4 games back of the A.L. East lead.
After the Orioles tacked on 3 runs in the top of the 1st off Chien-Ming Wang, the Yankees got two back via a home run off the bat of Bobby Abreu. Wilson Betemit put the Yanks up 4-3 in the 2nd with a two-run shot of his own. Wang eventually settled down a bit, but still finished the game with a line of 5 runs on 8 hits in 6 innings. He left the game with a 6-4 lead before Tike Redman was able to score on a wild pitch by Ron Villone to bring the Orioles within a run.
Redman would be the catalyst again in the top of the 9th, as he singled in Melvin Mora off of Mariano Rivera, who struggled for the second straight day but still recorded only his third blown save of the season, to tie the score at 6 apiece.
Baseball players don't receive paid overtime, and knowing that, the Yankees went straight to business in the bottom of the inning. After Melky Cabrera was hit by a pitch, Jason Giambi singled to right, advancing Cabrera to third. Derek Jeter followed that up with a ground ball to second. The throw by Brian Roberts was late, allowing Melky to score the winning run.
Consider this: After all the talk all year about how bad the Yankees have been and considering the fact that they were at one point 21-29 and 14.5 games behind Boston, the Yankees now have the third best record in all of baseball and have a better record than every team in the National League. They are now within 4 games of not only catching Boston, but also gaining homefield advantage throughout the postseason.
Also, I gotta say I like the way Jason Giambi's come along so far in the few games since his return just last week. He seems to have adapted to the pinch-hit, spot starter role (no telling how long Torre plans to keep him in that role) quite nicely. He's 4-10 with 2 HR's in the four games since he's been back. It's probably a good role for him to have. The guy can still be deadly but let's face it, that body can't handle a 500 AB season anymore.
The series resumes in the Bronx tonight as Jeff Karstens will be making his first start since he was hit in the leg by a batted ball against Boston earlier this year. He is 0-2 with an E.R.A. of 10.13 including two starts earlier in the year and a couple of relief appearances earlier this month. His counterpart will be O's pitcher Daniel Cabrera. Game time is 7:05 E.T.
After the Orioles tacked on 3 runs in the top of the 1st off Chien-Ming Wang, the Yankees got two back via a home run off the bat of Bobby Abreu. Wilson Betemit put the Yanks up 4-3 in the 2nd with a two-run shot of his own. Wang eventually settled down a bit, but still finished the game with a line of 5 runs on 8 hits in 6 innings. He left the game with a 6-4 lead before Tike Redman was able to score on a wild pitch by Ron Villone to bring the Orioles within a run.
Redman would be the catalyst again in the top of the 9th, as he singled in Melvin Mora off of Mariano Rivera, who struggled for the second straight day but still recorded only his third blown save of the season, to tie the score at 6 apiece.
Baseball players don't receive paid overtime, and knowing that, the Yankees went straight to business in the bottom of the inning. After Melky Cabrera was hit by a pitch, Jason Giambi singled to right, advancing Cabrera to third. Derek Jeter followed that up with a ground ball to second. The throw by Brian Roberts was late, allowing Melky to score the winning run.
Consider this: After all the talk all year about how bad the Yankees have been and considering the fact that they were at one point 21-29 and 14.5 games behind Boston, the Yankees now have the third best record in all of baseball and have a better record than every team in the National League. They are now within 4 games of not only catching Boston, but also gaining homefield advantage throughout the postseason.
Also, I gotta say I like the way Jason Giambi's come along so far in the few games since his return just last week. He seems to have adapted to the pinch-hit, spot starter role (no telling how long Torre plans to keep him in that role) quite nicely. He's 4-10 with 2 HR's in the four games since he's been back. It's probably a good role for him to have. The guy can still be deadly but let's face it, that body can't handle a 500 AB season anymore.
The series resumes in the Bronx tonight as Jeff Karstens will be making his first start since he was hit in the leg by a batted ball against Boston earlier this year. He is 0-2 with an E.R.A. of 10.13 including two starts earlier in the year and a couple of relief appearances earlier this month. His counterpart will be O's pitcher Daniel Cabrera. Game time is 7:05 E.T.
