Late Rally Bats Down O's

Mike Mussina wasn't able to garner his 17th win, but the Yankees rallied from 3-1 and 4-3 deficits to beat the Orioles, 9-4, last night at Camden Yards in Baltimore. Mussina didn't have his best stuff and fell behind 3-1 on a pair of Aubrey Huff RBI singles and a Ramon Hernandez solo home run.

The Yankees tied things up in the 5th inning on back-to-back solo home runs by Robinson Cano and Jose Molina, but the Orioles took the lead against Mussina again in the sixth on Kevin Millar's sac fly.

With Mussina out of the game, the Yankees came back against the Orioles bullpen, which was without closer George Sherrill. Bobby Abreu greeted lefty specialist Jamie Walker with his fourth of five hits on the night, and Alex Rodriguez ripped a double to left to put two men in scoring position with no one out.

Jason Giambi failed in the clutch for a change, popping out to Juan Castro at shortstop, but reliever Kam Mickolio uncorked a wild pitch, allowing Abreu to score just ahead of Hernandez's retrieval and throw to the plate. Xavier Nady then singled to right to put the Yankees ahead for good.

Damaso Marte retired the first two Orioles in the bottom of the eighth, but when he hit Huff with a pitch, Joe Girardi immediately went to Mariano Rivera for a four-out save. Rivera retired Yankees killer Millar on a pop up to Derek Jeter to end the inning and then the Yankees piled it on in the ninth.

With two away, Abreu singled for hit number five, and A-Rod followed with another double, this one a one-hopper into the seats. Cody Ransom, who had replaced Giambi for defense in the eighth and homered in his only Yankees at-bat last Sunday, made it two home runs in two at-bats. He crushed a Francisco Cabrera pitch into the left field seats to bust the game open. Nady wanted in on the act too though, and hit his eighth home run since joining the Yankees and his 21st of the season overall.

Armed with a four-run lead, Rivera easily retired the Orioles in order in the ninth for this 29th save in 30 attempts.


News and Notes

When Derek Jeter was asked after the game about hit number 2,500, he said he was only focused on 2,501 on Saturday. Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth are the only other two Yankees to reach the 2,500 hit mark.

Xavier Nady is hitting .321-8-21 in 25 games, with a 1.012 OPS.

Bobby Abreu's 5 hits tied a career-high mark he set on Aug. 8, 1999. No fans were happier than the Venezuelan little league team that Abreu paid to have transported from Williamsport, PA to the game. Abreu also made a great running catch on a foul ball in the right field corner. Unfortunately, he also shied away from a ball in right-center field that led to the Orioles taking a 4-3 lead in the sixth inning.

August 22, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
NY Yankees	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	2	4		9	16	0
Baltimore	1	0	1	1	0	1	0	0	0		4	9	1

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, CF	5	1	1	0	0	0	2	.312
Jeter, SS	5	0	1	0	0	2	0	.296
Abreu, RF	5	2	5	1	0	0	0	.295
Rodriguez, A, 3B	5	2	2	0	0	1	4	.309
Giambi, 1B	4	0	1	0	0	2	3	.250
Ransom, 1B	1	1	1	3	0	0	0	1.000
Nady, LF	5	1	2	2	0	2	0	.328
Matsui, DH	3	0	0	0	2	1	1	.313
Cano, 2B	4	1	2	1	0	0	1	.263
Molina, C	4	1	1	1	0	2	4	.227
Totals	41	9	16	8	2	10	15
BATTING 2B: Damon (26, Liz), Rodriguez, A 2 (28, Walker, Cabrera, F). HR: Cano (11, 5th inning off Liz, 0 on, 0 out), Molina (2, 5th inning off Liz, 0 on, 0 out), Ransom (2, 9th inning off Cabrera, F, 2 on, 2 out), Nady (21, 9th inning off Cabrera, F, 0 on, 2 out). TB: Damon 2; Jeter; Abreu 5; Rodriguez, A 4; Giambi; Ransom 4; Nady 5; Cano 5; Molina 4. RBI: Abreu (82), Cano (56), Molina (14), Nady 2 (78), Ransom 3 (5). 2-out RBI: Ransom 3; Nady. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Giambi; Damon 2; Molina. GIDP: Rodriguez, A. Team LOB: 7. BASERUNNING CS: Abreu (10, 2nd base by Liz/Hernandez, R). FIELDING DP: (Rodriguez, A-Cano-Giambi).

NY Yankees	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Mussina	6.0	9	4	4	0	3	1	3.45
Veras (W, 4-2)	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2.78
Marte (H, 20)	0.2	0	0	0	0	0	0	4.45
Rivera (S, 29)	1.1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.60

Baltimore	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Roberts, 2B	4	1	1	0	0	0	0	.299
Markakis, RF	4	1	1	0	0	2	1	.301
Mora, 3B	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	.283
Huff, DH	3	0	2	2	0	0	0	.301
Millar, 1B	4	1	2	0	0	0	3	.249
Scott, LF	4	0	1	0	0	0	2	.272
Hernandez, R, C	3	1	1	2	0	0	0	.257
Payton, CF	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	.239
Castro, J, SS	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	.202
Totals	33	4	9	4	0	3	7
BATTING 2B: Millar (24, Mussina). HR: Hernandez, R (14, 4th inning off Mussina, 0 on, 1 out). TB: Roberts; Markakis; Mora; Huff 2; Millar 3; Scott; Hernandez, R 4. RBI: Huff 2 (89), Hernandez, R 2 (56). 2-out RBI: Huff. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Scott. SF: Hernandez, R. GIDP: Millar. Team LOB: 4. BASERUNNING SB: Roberts (32, 2nd base off Mussina/Molina). CS: Scott (2, 2nd base by Mussina/Molina). FIELDING E: Castro, J (3, fielding). PB: Hernandez, R (9). Outfield assists: Markakis (Giambi at 2nd base). DP: 2 (Hernandez, R-Roberts, Mora-Roberts-Millar).

Baltimore	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Liz	4.2	9	3	3	1	4	2	7.32
Sarfate	1.1	0	0	0	1	2	0	5.09
Cherry (H, 2)	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	7.20
Walker (H, 8)(L, 1-1)	0.1	2	2	2	0	0	0	5.64
Mickolio (BS, 1)	0.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	9.00
Castillo, A	1.1	1	1	1	0	2	0	2.84
Cabrera, F	0.1	3	3	3	0	1	2	4.24

Mickolio pitched to 1 batter in the 8th.

WP: Mickolio.
HBP: Huff (by Marte).
Pitches-strikes: Mussina 110-75, Veras 11-5, Marte 6-4,
Rivera 15-10, Liz 83-52, Sarfate 23-12, Cherry 11-8,
Walker 13-7, Mickolio 6-4, Castillo, A 29-16, Cabrera, F 13-8.
Ground outs-fly outs: Mussina 7-7, Veras 2-1,
Marte 0-2, Rivera 1-3, Liz 5-3, Sarfate 1-1, Cherry 0-2,
Walker 0-1, Mickolio 0-0, Castillo, A 2-0, Cabrera, F 0-0.
Batters faced: Mussina 25, Veras 3, Marte 3, Rivera 4,
Liz 21, Sarfate 5, Cherry 3, Walker 3, Mickolio 1, Castillo, A 6, Cabrera, F 4.
Inherited runners-scored: Rivera 1-0, Sarfate 1-0,
Mickolio 2-2, Castillo, A 1-0, Cabrera, F 1-1.
Umpires: HP: CB Bucknor. 1B: Joe West. 2B: Ed Rapuano. 3B: Ed Hickox.
Weather: 80 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 7 mph, R to L.
T: 3:23.
Att: 43,543.