09/18: Yanks Beat O's, Move Within 3.5 Games of Boston
Posted by: Seamus
The Yankees last night avoided their usual "Red Sox hangover" as they moved to within 3.5 games of the A.L. East lead with an 8-5 victory over the Orioles. The 3.5 game defecit is the closest the Yankees have been since April 21. The Tigers also lost a thriller in Cleveland, thanks to Casey Blake, giving the Yanks a 3.5 game lead in the wild card race. The Yankees' magic number to clinch the wild card is now 9.
Last night showed some good signs for the Yankees offensively. Lately the lineup as a whole had not been hitting and they've had a tough time scoring for usually 7 or 8 innings out of a game and if they do score they were usually putting up a 5 or 6 spot in an inning and hoping that'd be enough. Last night they scored in every inning except the 1st and 6th, while every Yankee starter had a hit in the game except for Giambi. Matsui broke out of a slump with a tiebreaking solo shot and Jeter, Posada, Abreu and Doug Mientkiewicz all had multi-hit games.
Phil Hughes had a rough first inning, allowing two runs before recording an out, but eventually settled down and had a pretty good outing. He finished with a line of two runs on six hits with 3 K's in 5 and 2/3 innings. Edwar Ramirez got some work in, allowing a run on 3 hits in one inning, and Luis Vizcaino turned in an impressive 1 and 1/3 inning of scoreless ball.
The 9th inning was a little scary, as Kyle Farnsworth couldn't seem to get anybody out. Farnsworth allowed a run and left the game with two runners on, inducing a save situation in an inning where he entered with a 5-run lead. Torre yanked Farnsworth for Mariano Rivera, who struck out Melvin Mora to end the game after allowing an RBI single to Aubrey Huff.
The series will resume tonight at 7:05 ET as Mike Mussina will face Jon Leicester. Mussina is coming off a solid start in his return to the Yankees' rotation. Leicester will be making just his third start of the season, carrying a record of 2-1 (he also has 5 relief appearances) and an ERA of 6.32.
Last night showed some good signs for the Yankees offensively. Lately the lineup as a whole had not been hitting and they've had a tough time scoring for usually 7 or 8 innings out of a game and if they do score they were usually putting up a 5 or 6 spot in an inning and hoping that'd be enough. Last night they scored in every inning except the 1st and 6th, while every Yankee starter had a hit in the game except for Giambi. Matsui broke out of a slump with a tiebreaking solo shot and Jeter, Posada, Abreu and Doug Mientkiewicz all had multi-hit games.
Phil Hughes had a rough first inning, allowing two runs before recording an out, but eventually settled down and had a pretty good outing. He finished with a line of two runs on six hits with 3 K's in 5 and 2/3 innings. Edwar Ramirez got some work in, allowing a run on 3 hits in one inning, and Luis Vizcaino turned in an impressive 1 and 1/3 inning of scoreless ball.
The 9th inning was a little scary, as Kyle Farnsworth couldn't seem to get anybody out. Farnsworth allowed a run and left the game with two runners on, inducing a save situation in an inning where he entered with a 5-run lead. Torre yanked Farnsworth for Mariano Rivera, who struck out Melvin Mora to end the game after allowing an RBI single to Aubrey Huff.
The series will resume tonight at 7:05 ET as Mike Mussina will face Jon Leicester. Mussina is coming off a solid start in his return to the Yankees' rotation. Leicester will be making just his third start of the season, carrying a record of 2-1 (he also has 5 relief appearances) and an ERA of 6.32.
