Yankees Outlast Mets and Rain

Yesterday's Yankees-Mets contest was delayed at the start and in the middle of the 6th inning by rain, but there was no stopping Andy Pettitte as he pitched the Yankees to a 3-2 win at Shea Stadium. A 57-minute stoppage didn't prevent Pettitte from returning in the bottom of the 6th, and though he gave up a solo home run to David Wright, he finished the inning and picked up his 9th win of the season.

A low scoring game was expected with Pettitte and Mets ace Johan Santana on the mound and that's exactly what the fans got. The Mets struck first when Ramon Castro drilled a Pettitte breaking ball over the wall in left-center field in the bottom of the 2nd for a 1-0 lead.

That would hold up until the 4th when Santana issued back to back walks to Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu to start the inning. Alex Rodriguez then lined a single to left to load the bases with no one out. Jason Giambi hit a grounder up the middle that shortstop Jose Reyes fielded on the 2nd base side of the bag. His only play was to retire Giambi at 1st base as Jeter scored the tying run. Jorge Posada's deep fly to Carlos Beltran in center sent home Abreu with the go ahead run.

The Mets put two aboard with 2 outs in the 5th when Reyes singled and Damien Easley walked. But Pettitte waited out an aggressive Reyes, spun around and threw to Jeter covering 2nd base to pick off the Mets speedster to end the inning.

The rains started coming down heavily in the top of the 6th as the Yankees added what proved to be the winning run. A-Rod drew a 1-out walk and was balked to 2nd base. Santana struck out Giambi for the 2nd out and the Mets opted to walk the switch-hitting Posada to face the left-handed hitting Robinson Cano instead. But the move backfired when Cano singled through the right side to score A-Rod for a 3-1 lead.

Pettitte was finished after the 6th inning and Joe Girardi finished the game by rote. Jose Veras and Kyle Farnsworth pitched one inning each and handed things over to Mariano Rivera who saved his 22nd game in as many tries with a 1-2-3 9th inning.


News and Notes

Mariano Rivera has now saved 54 of Andy Pettitte's wins. The only higher total in baseball are the 55 saves Dennis Eckersley had for A's teammate Bob Welch.

Derek Jeter's 18-game hitting streak against the Mets and 15-game current hitting streak both came to an end with an 0 for 4 day. But Jeter did reach safely on a walk and has done so in 42 straight interleague games.

Robinson Cano has a career best 5-game RBI streak.

Knicks' 1st round pick Danilo Gallinari threw out the first pitch.

Interesting conversation on yesterday's telecast between Joe Buck and Tim McCarver as to whether or not Andy Pettitte could be Hall of Fame material. They pointed out the fact that every pitcher 100 games over .500 is in the Hall. Pettitte is 92 games over .500 after yesterday's win. One problem though and it's spelled HGH. No telling how that would affect Hall voters.

Johan Santana is 0-4 with 1 no decision, despite a 2.53 ERA, since June 1. Guess that must be Willie Randolph's fault too.

Since Joba Chamberlain threw 114 pitches in his last start, the Yankees have moved his start back to Tuesday against Texas. Mike Mussina, who had his start called after 2 innings on Thursday, will go on Monday.


June 28, 2008

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

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, LF	4	0	0	0	1	2	0	.317
Jeter, SS	4	1	0	0	1	1	2	.281
Abreu, RF	3	1	1	0	1	1	0	.286
Rodriguez, 3B	3	1	1	0	1	0	1	.327
Giambi, 1B	4	0	0	1	0	3	4	.263
Farnsworth, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Rivera, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Posada, C-1B	2	0	0	1	1	1	1	.297
Cano, 2B	4	0	2	1	0	1	0	.244
Cabrera, CF	4	0	0	0	0	0	4	.249
Pettitte, P	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
a-Betemit, PH	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.267
Veras, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Molina, C	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	.230
Totals	32	3	5	3	5	11	12
a-Struck out for Pettitte in the 7th.
BATTING TB: Abreu; Rodriguez; Cano 2; Molina. RBI: Giambi (46), Posada (20), Cano (33). 2-out RBI: Cano. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Cabrera 2; Posada; Jeter. SF: Posada. Team LOB: 8. BASERUNNING SB: Rodriguez (10, 2nd base off Sanchez/Castro). FIELDING DP: (Jeter-Giambi). Pickoffs: Pettitte (Reyes at 2nd base).

NY Yankees	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Pettitte (W, 9-5)	6.0	5	2	2	3	4	2	3.98
Veras (H, 4)	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2.96
Farnsworth (H, 9)	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	4.00
Rivera (S, 22)	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0.74

NY Mets	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Reyes, SS	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	.294
Easley, 2B	2	0	1	0	2	0	0	.252
Wright, 3B	3	1	1	1	1	0	1	.288
Beltran, CF	4	0	0	0	0	4	3	.273
Delgado, 1B	4	0	0	0	0	1	2	.230
Tatis, RF	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	.256
Phillips, A, LF	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.120
a-Castillo, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.253
Sanchez, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
c-Nixon, PH	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.171
Castro, C	3	1	1	1	0	0	0	.259
Santana, P	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	.147
Feliciano, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
b-Anderson, PH-LF	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	.200
Totals	31	2	6	2	3	7	8
a-Popped out for Phillips, A in the 7th. b-Singled for Feliciano in the 7th. c-Struck out for Sanchez in the 9th.
BATTING HR: Castro (2, 2nd inning off Pettitte, 0 on, 2 out), Wright (15, 6th inning off Pettitte, 0 on, 0 out). TB: Reyes; Easley; Wright 4; Tatis; Castro 4; Anderson. RBI: Castro (8), Wright (63). 2-out RBI: Castro. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Delgado. GIDP: Phillips, A. Team LOB: 5. BASERUNNING PO: Reyes (2nd base by Pettitte). FIELDING E: Wright (11, throw).

NY Mets	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Santana (L, 7-7)	6.0	4	3	3	4	8	0	3.01
Feliciano	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	0	2.87
Sanchez	2.0	1	0	0	1	1	0	3.89

Balk: Santana.
IBB: Posada (by Santana).
Pitches-strikes: Pettitte 88-56, Veras 14-9, Farnsworth 11-8,
Rivera 12-10, Santana 113-66, Feliciano 15-10, Sanchez 34-20.
Ground outs-fly outs: Pettitte 8-5, Veras 1-2, Farnsworth 0-2,
Rivera 0-1, Santana 6-4, Feliciano 1-0, Sanchez 1-4.
Batters faced: Pettitte 24, Veras 4, Farnsworth 3, Rivera 3,
Santana 26, Feliciano 3, Sanchez 9.
Umpires: HP: Mike Everitt. 1B: Mike DiMuro.
2B: Tim McClelland. 3B: Larry Vanover.
Weather: 82 degrees, cloudy.
Wind: 16 mph, R to L.
T: 3:00 (1:19 delay).
Att: 56,172.