Yankees Strike Down Padres

The Mantlemurcers made their firs trip of the season yesterday, and except for the traffic getting to the GWB on the way home, it was a very successful day. The Yankees pitching, which was so mediocre the night before, dominated on Thursday afternoon. Joba Chamberlain and 3 relievers combined for 15 strikeouts as the Yankees completed a 3-game sweep of the San Diego Padres with a 2-1 win.

Joba wasn't around when the Yankees took the lead on an Alex Rodriguez single in the 6th, but he was pretty impressive in his 5.2 innings pitched. His final pitch, his 100th on the day, finished off his 9th strikeout. Joe Girardi was greeted with a chorus of boos as he came out to the mound and called on Jose Veras, wary that Joba would go far past his 105 pitch max limit should he face one more batter.

Those were the only boos on the day, well except when Kyle Farnsworth came out of the bullpen, on a beautifully sunny day. We had seats behind home plate about 2 or 3 rows from the top of the Stadium, but when we got there we nestled into some loge box seats by 3rd base and lucked out when their owners never showed up.

As for the game itself, Joba did indeed struggle with his control at times, walking 3, but his pitch location continued to improve and he regularly reached the upper 90s with his fastball. His strikeout prowess and some hustle avoided the Padres building a big inning in the 2nd.

Adrian Gonzalez drew a lead off walk and rookie Chase Headley poked a ground rule double into the left field corner. Former Yankee Tony Clark drew another walk to load the bases with no one out. But Joba brought the heat and blew strike three past Scott Hairston. With Khalil Greene hitting, a Joba pitch scurried past Jose Molina, but both players hustled and Molina threw to Joba, who actually blocked the plate, to tag out Gonzalez as he attempted to score. Greene then went down swinging, eliciting a modified fist pump from Joba for out number three.

The Yankees weren't doing much against Padres starter Josh Banks, who has an impressive array of pitches himself. He escaped a 1st inning jam after Johnny Damon and Derek Jeter lead off with back to back singles, striking out Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi after Damon had advanced to 3rd base on Bobby Abreu's fly out. He only allowed one base runner, hitting Giambi with a pitch, over the next 3 innings.

The Padres broke through first in the 4th inning. Brian Giles lead off with a single and Gonzalez drew a walk. Joba struck out out Headley, but Clark sliced a pitch into the left field corner for a ground rule RBI double. Pitching and defense then stopped the Padres from a big inning. Hairston grounded a pitch to A-Rod who came home with his throw. Gonzalez, running on contact, was a dead duck and lamely let himself be tagged out by Molina. (How do you not run over the catcher or slide?) Greene then lined to Abreu in deep right to end the inning.

The Yankees tied things up in the 5th by taking advantage of the Padres inability to throw out base stealers. Melky Cabrera drew a one out walk and stole 2nd and 3rd, easily beating throws from Michael Barrett. Molina shot to deep center easily plated Cabrera with the tying run.

The Yankees ran into another run an inning later when Jeter singled and stole 2nd base. The Yankees were 8 for 9 in thefts in the 3-game series. Abreu's ground out to the right side to move Jeter to 3rd and A-Rod brought him home with a line drive single to right for a 2-1 Yankees lead.

Jose Veras picked up the victory with 1.1 innings of worked and Farnsworth turned the boos to cheers when he struck out Headley and Clark to strand a Padres runner on 1st. Mariano Rivera then entered to deafening cheers, which got even louder when he struck out the side to record his 20th save in as many attempts.

News and Notes

The announced crowd was 54,000 plus, but looked to be 50,000 tops. In the AL the announced attendance is based on ticket sales rather than how many people actually go threw the turnstyles.

Hall of Famer Jerry Coleman, a Padres announcer and Phil Rizzuto's former double play partner on the Yankees, pulled the lever to reduce the number of home games from 46 to 45.

GWB $8
Parking $17
Hot Pretzel and a Diet Coke $8.75
Sitting in Yankee Stadium on a beautifully sunny day and winning PRICELESS