Pettitte Puts on the Brakes

Andy Pettitte beat the Baltimore Orioles for the 24th time in 30 career decision and the Yankees ended a two game losing streak with a 4-2 win over the O's. Jason Giambi hit another bomb and Johnny Damon continued a torrid trip to the harbor.

Pettitte was shaky early, but got stronger as the game went on, retiring the first two batters in the 7th before departing for Joba Chamberlain. Chamberlain threw 2 innings before turning things over to Mariano Rivera who picked up his 13th save in as many tries.

The Yankees had taken an early lead when Hideki Matsui, the AL's leading hitter, doubled and scored on Giambi's RBI single off Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie. But Pettitte surrendered a 2-run home run to Melvin Mora, the Orioles 8th home run in the 3-game series, for a 2-1 O's lead.

Giambi hit his 2nd home run of the series on to Eutaw seats beyond the right field seats to tie the game 2-2 in the 4th. State Trooper Giambi is 14-34 (.412) with 4 HR and 7 RBI over his last 10 games. The streak has raised his average from .181 to .244.

Melky Cabrera, trying to bust out of a month long slump, had his second double of the game in the 5th and moved to 3rd on Johnny Damon's single. Derek Jeter's sacrifice fly to left brought home Cabrera to give the Yankees the lead for good. Damon, who went 8-14 in the series to raise his average 23 points, added an insurance run in the 9th with an infield RBI single.

Pettitte (5-5) worked out of a two on, none out jam in the 1st and ran into trouble again in the 5th. But the tricky left-hander, who has picked off many runners, this time nailed Brian Roberts, who had doubled, at 2nd Base for the 2nd out of the inning. It would prove to be huge out, because Pettite than walked Mora and gave up a double to Nick Markakis. But Pettite came back to retire Kevin Millar on an inning ending fly out.

Chamberlain ran into trouble with the same batters when he entered the game with 2 outs in the 7th. Mora singled to right and Markakis walked, prompting a quick trip to the mound by pitching coach Dave Eiland. Whatever he said apparently worked as Chamberlain blew a 96-mph fastball by Millar for strike three. Chamberlain tossed an easy 8th inning and then went to the bullpen to complete his throwing.

Rivera breezed through the 9th though the Orioles were able to bring the tying run to the plate when pinch-hitter Luke Scott's grounder went through Alex Rodriguez's legs. Thankfully for A-Rod, Mo was on the mound and not LaTroy Hawkins. The greatest closer of all time retired Roberts and Mora on consecutive infield pop ups and the Yankees 2-game losing streak was over.

News and Notes

When Derek Jeter was picked off of 2nd Base in Tuesday night's game it was even rarer than you thought. He hadn't been picked off since September, 1998. Jeter played in his 1,882nd game last night, moving past Roy White for 6th place on the all-time team list.

Hideki Matsui was 2-4 and is 14-27 over the last 7 games, 5 of which have been multi-hit games.

Of the 42 home runs hit on to Eutaw St., 3 of the last 5 have been by Jason Giambi.

May 28, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
NY Yankees	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	1		4	9	1
Baltimore	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0		2	9	0

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, LF	5	0	3	1	0	0	1	.288
Jeter, SS	4	0	0	1	0	1	5	.280
Abreu, RF	4	0	0	0	0	1	3	.286
Rodriguez, 3B	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	.276
Matsui, DH	4	2	2	0	0	0	0	.330
Giambi, 1B	3	1	2	2	1	0	0	.244
Cano, 2B	4	0	0	0	0	1	3	.219
Moeller, C	3	0	0	0	1	0	1	.250
Cabrera, CF	4	1	2	0	0	2	3	.254
Totals	35	4	9	4	2	5	17
BATTING 2B: Matsui 2 (11, Guthrie, Walker), Cabrera 2 (7, Guthrie, Guthrie). HR: Giambi (11, 4th inning off Guthrie, 0 on, 2 out). TB: Damon 3; Matsui 4; Giambi 5; Cabrera 4. RBI: Giambi 2 (27), Jeter (25), Damon (24). 2-out RBI: Giambi; Damon. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Abreu; Rodriguez; Jeter 2. SF: Jeter. Team LOB: 7. FIELDING E: Rodriguez (5, fielding). Pickoffs: Pettitte (Roberts at 2nd base).

NY Yankees	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Pettitte (W, 5-5)	6.2	8	2	2	1	3	1	4.11
Chamberlain (H, 12)	1.1	1	0	0	1	3	0	2.28
Rivera (S, 13)	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0.39

Baltimore	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Roberts, 2B	5	1	3	0	0	0	1	.271
Mora, 3B	4	1	3	2	1	0	1	.258
Markakis, RF	3	0	1	0	1	0	2	.251
Millar, 1B	4	0	0	0	0	3	6	.241
Huff, DH	4	0	0	0	0	0	2	.244
Hernandez, R, C	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	.222
Payton, LF	4	0	1	0	0	1	0	.238
Jones, CF	4	0	1	0	0	1	1	.253
Cintron, SS	3	0	0	0	0	1	1	.412
a-Scott, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.247
Totals	36	2	9	2	2	7	14
a-Reached on error for Cintron in the 9th.
BATTING 2B: Roberts (13, Pettitte), Markakis (7, Pettitte). HR: Mora (7, 3rd inning off Pettitte, 1 on, 0 out). TB: Roberts 4; Mora 6; Markakis 2; Payton; Jones. RBI: Mora 2 (29). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Huff 2; Millar 3; Mora. Team LOB: 9. BASERUNNING SB: Markakis (7, 2nd base off Pettitte/Moeller). CS: Roberts (5, 3rd base by Pettitte/Moeller). PO: Roberts (2nd base by Pettitte).

Baltimore IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Guthrie (L, 2-6) 7.0 6 3 3 0 4 1 3.64 Johnson 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1.23 Walker 0.2 2 1 1 2 1 0 4.60 Bradford 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.65

WP: Guthrie. IBB: Moeller (by Walker). Pitches-strikes: Pettitte 96-59, Chamberlain 28-16, Rivera 18-11, Guthrie 104-68, Johnson 15-10, Walker 27-14, Bradford 1-1. Ground outs-fly outs: Pettitte 8-8, Chamberlain 1-0, Rivera 0-2, Guthrie 9-8, Johnson 2-1, Walker 1-0, Bradford 1-0. Batters faced: Pettitte 28, Chamberlain 6, Rivera 4, Guthrie 27, Johnson 4, Walker 6, Bradford 1. Inherited runners-scored: Bradford 3-0. Umpires: HP: Ted Barrett. 1B: Dana DeMuth. 2B: Lance Barksdale. 3B: Doug Eddings. Weather: 74 degrees, clear. Wind: 3 mph, In from CF. T: 2:53. Att: 24,791.