Back to Back Jacks in the Bronx
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |  | R | H | E | |
| Toronto | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 0 | |
| NY Yankees | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | X | 7 | 14 | 0 |
WP - Robertson (2-1) SV - Rivera (33) LP - Carlson (1-5)
The Yankees were 5 outs away last night from back to back losses to the Toronto Blue Jays. But the phrase “back to back” has a good, no, great connotation in the Bronx these days. Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada hit back to back home runs off left-hander Jesse Carlson in the bottom of the 8th inning and the Yankees went on to beat the Blue Jays 7-5, snapping their brief 1-game losing streak. It was the third straight game the Yankees had hit back to back home runs (the first time since May ‘83 when Dave Winfield and Don Baylor, Steve Kemp and Lou Piniella, and Roy Smalley and Winfield again accomplished the feat) and they now lead the majors with 13 occurrences.
The late rally overcame another shaky home performance by Joba Chamberlain, who turned a 3-0 lead into a 4-3 deficit. Scott Richmond settled down after a rough start and put up zeroes after the 2nd inning. After right-hander Jeremy Accardo tossed a scoreless 7th, manager Cito Gaston went to Carlson to face lefties Robinson Cano and Matsui, plus the switch hitting Posada.
Matsui worked the count full before depositing one of the new Stadium’s deepest shots into the right field seats. Posada’s home run wasn’t clear cut at first. His opposite field blast barely cleared the right field wall and immediately got Gaston out of the visiting dugout to question whether or not a fan had interfered with right fielder Joe Inglett’s ability to catch the baseball. Replays clearly showed that the ball sailed over Inglett’s glove before coming to rest in the glove of fan, who had it perched on the top of the wall. The Stadium erupted again when crew chief Joe West confirmed the call after watching instant replays. (Both Matsui and Posada had taken curtain calls.)
Melky Cabrera and Johnny Damon added big insurance runs later in the inning with RBI singles for a 7-4 Yankees lead. Mariano Rivera would need it as he wasn’t at his sharpest. A solo home run by Edwin Encarnacion in the 9th cut the Jays’ deficit to two and a single by Rod Barajas brought the tying run to the plate. But Rivera struck out Inglett and Marco Scutaro to nail down his 29th consecutive save chance.
Chamberlain started out nicely. He breezed through the first two innings, but the “bad” Joba returned in the 3rd. Two walks and two hits later, including a 2-run double by Lyle Overbay, the game was tied 3-3. An inning later, Randy Ruiz, had been recalled earlier in the day, hit his first home run of the season to give the Blue Jay a 4-3 lead.
Chamberlain settled back down for his final two innings, and Brian Bruney, Phil Coke, and David Robertson kept the score as is and gave the Yankees the chance to go “back to back, and a belly to belly”.
Game Notes
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Yankees are 19-6 since the All-Star break, their best 25 game stretch since the 1994 All-Star break.
David Robertson retired one batter, Vernon Wells, to earned his 2nd win of the year.
In picking up his 515th career save, Mariano Rivera gave up his first earned run since June 12.
Chad Gaudin will make his first start as a Yankee on Sunday in Seattle. Joba Chamberlain is being pushed back two days to get extra rest with Gaudin filling in. Joe Girardi also said that Sergio Mitre will make his next scheduled start.
The rubber game of the series is an afternoon affair beginning at 1:05 p.m. ET. A.J. Burnett faces his old team and left-hander Ricky Romero.
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