Hang 'em Javy Keeps Yanks Looking Up

You know you had your doubts coming into tonight's Yankees-Blue Jays game when you saw that Javier Vazquez would make the start in place of Andy Pettitte. Joe Girardi talked before the game about how Javy was still in the mix for the post-season roster, blah blah blah.

Vazquez gave up three home runs on a night that the Blue Jays honored retiring manager Cito Gaston. The Yankees gave Gaston their own present, an 8-4 Blue Jays win. Vazquez should be joining A.J. Burnett on the sidelines during the division series since he has done nothing to gain Girardi's confidence.

The Blue Jays are a home run hitting monstrosity and Vazquez was happy to oblige them. Travis Snider, wearing a fake lamp black mustache in tribute to Gaston, homered to lead off the bottom of the 1st and you know things would only get worse from there. Aaron Hill and John Buck also went deep, with Buck reaching 20 home runs for the first time.

One of the few bright spots for the Yankees was the continued hot hitting of Alex Rodriguez. He homered for the fifth time in six games and reached the 30 home run mark for the 13 straight season and 14th overall. (I had predicted he would finish with 28; thankfully I didn't make any wagers on that.) He also added an RBI ground out to increase his team leading RBI total to 123.

The game started a half hour later than usual as the Toronto organization brought back some of Gaston's former players, such as 1992 World Series hero Joe Carter, and presented Gaston with a painting done by outfielder Vernon Wells' father, Vernon Jr. (the ball playing Wells is the III). Gaston then gave a very heartfelt speech.

The Yankees remained a half-game back of the Tampa Bay Rays thanks to a stellar pitching effort by the Baltimore Orioles staff. Kevin Millwood, who has had a horrendous year, limited the Rays to two hits over seven innings in the 2-0 O's win. The victory gave the Orioles the series victory with all three games being shutouts. The Rays now travel to Kansas City for their final four games of the regular season.

The Yankees have Thursday off and travel to Boston for a final three game set with the Red Sox beginning on Friday night.

Oh Canada....Go Away

If you are a Yankees fan you are completely sick of the Toronto Blue Jays by now. Especially those games played up in Toronto where you hear the fans seranading the Bombers with "Yankees suck" chants. What happened to laid back Canuckers, eh?

You're especially sick of watching Jose Bautista hit home runs, ump Jerry Meals blowing calls, etc.

Unfortunately, the Blue Jays and Yankees aren't done yet-they meet again next weekend at Yankee Stadium. The Jays took 2 of 3 from the Yankees in early June and repeated the feat this week when they knocked off Phil Hughes last night, 6-3. In between the Jays, you guessed it, took 2 of 3 at the Stadium to start August. The only success the Pinstripes have had with the home run wrecking machine was their own 2 of 3 series win at home over the July 4th weekend.

Score Blue Jays 7 wins Yankees 5 wins

Oh and just to make matters worse...division/playoff race..three final games with the Blue Jays to end September...in Toronto.

Back to Back Jacks in the Bronx

August 12th, 2009 • Related • Filed Under

Filed Under: Yankees

Tags: chad gaudin • Cito Gaston • hideki matsui • Jesse Carlson • joba chamberlain • Jorge Posada • mariano rivera • Scott Richmond • Video Replay • Yankees 8/11 recap • Yankees vs. Blue Jays

	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.

Around the Horn - 6/23

Weekend Interleague Recap

Interleague play continued this past weekend and will finish up this coming Sunday. Here are the latest results.

In a rematch of the 2004 World Series, the Cardinals finally won a pair of games. Too bad some of them couldn't have been 4 years earlier. Boston salvaged the finale only after Jon Papelbon blew his 4th save of the season. He only blew 3 saves all of last year. Kevin Youkillis provided a 13th inning walk off winner on Sunday. AL:1 NL:2

The Cubbies took the battle of the windy city in a clean sweep. The Cubs are now a remarkable 32-8 at home this season. Ryan Dempster's win on Sunday gave him a 9-0 record in Wrigley. Aramis Ramirez slugged a walk off winner on Friday and hit his 3rd in two days in Saturday's win. AL:0 NL:3

The Angels had no problem going into the "City of Brotherly Love" and beating the Phillies 2 of 3. Angels pitching held the Phillies to just 4 runs in the 3 games. Francisco Rodriguez became the fastest closer to earn the 30 saves when he closed out Sunday's win in the Angels 76th game. AL:3 NL:0

The Royals won their series with the Giants thanks to a big comeback in the finale. Down 6-0 to Tim Lincecum, KC rallied to an 11-10 win. It made up for blowing a 4-0 lead on Friday. AL:2 NL:1

The Astros and Rays played three 1-run games at the Trop. Roy Oswalt out dueled Matt Garza in the opener and Brandon Backe out pitched Scott Kazmir in the finale. In between the Rays won on Gabe Gross' pinch-hit 2-run single in the bottom of the 9th or it could have been an Astros sweep. The best part of the series was the Astros donning their old '70s uniforms. AL:1 NL:2

The Pirates made it a tough return for Cito Gaston, winning 2 of 3. The two teams were scoreless until the 12th on Friday when John McDonald made a rare error to give the Pirates a 1-0 win. The Blue Jays gave Gaston his first win since 1997 with an 8-5 win in the series finale. AL:1 NL:2

The Rangers and Nationals started their series with a 14th inning marathon, won when Elijah Dukes, who had tied the game with a home run, singled in the game winner. The Rangers got strong pitching performances, how often is that said, from Kason Gabbard and Vincente Padilla to take the next two. AL:2 NL:1

The Twins took a sweep of the NL West leading Diamondbacks, including a win against ace Brandon Webb on Sunday. Scott Baker, Livan Hernandez, and Nick Blackburn helped hold the Dbacks to just 6 runs in the series. AL:3 NL:0

Jim Riggleman got a present in Friday's 10-2 romp by the Mariners over the Braves, but it was downhill after that. Mark Texeira belted 3 home runs on Sunday for the second time in his career. AL:1 NL:2

Aubrey Huff hit a pair of home runs on Friday as the Orioles topped the Brewers for their 4th straight win. But the Brewers owned the rest of the series behind home runs from Prince Fielder and Corey Hart. AL:1 NL:2

After putting together no offense in a weekday series against the Yankees, the Padres put 6 runs on the board Friday to beat the Tigers, 6-2. They managed to score 5 and 3 the next two games, but this time the pitching let down and the Tigers took both. Justin Verlander won on Sunday, but continued his odd season, walking 5 and striking out 10 in 5.1 innings. AL:2 NL:1

The injury riddled Indians still managed to take 2 of 3 from the struggling Dodgers, dropping the finale on Sunday. The first two games went extra innings and included a 6-run 11th inning for the Indians on Saturday. C.C. Sabathia started that game, allowing 1 run over 7 innings and recorded 10 strikeouts. He also hit his first home run of the season. The big man is 2-0, 1.50 in his last 3 starts. AL:2 NL:1

The A's and Marlins played a thriller to start their series on Friday night. Dan Uggla's 2nd home run of the season tied the game in the 9th against Huston Street, but Kurt Suzuki doubled in the game winner in the 11th. Saturday's game came down to the 9th again, and again Uggla delivered, this time with a game winning 3-run double. The A's took the series with a laugher on Sunday. AL:2 NL:1

FINAL TALLY
AL: 22 NL: 20

Around the Horn - 6/23

Weekend Interleague Recap

Interleague play continued this past weekend and will finish up this coming Sunday. Here are the latest results.

In a rematch of the 2004 World Series, the Cardinals finally won a pair of games. Too bad some of them couldn't have been 4 years earlier. Boston salvaged the finale only after Jon Papelbon blew his 4th save of the season. He only blew 3 saves all of last year. Kevin Youkillis provided a 13th inning walk off winner on Sunday. AL:1 NL:2

The Cubbies took the battle of the windy city in a clean sweep. The Cubs are now a remarkable 32-8 at home this season. Ryan Dempster's win on Sunday gave him a 9-0 record in Wrigley. Aramis Ramirez slugged a walk off winner on Friday and hit his 3rd in two days in Saturday's win. AL:0 NL:3

The Angels had no problem going into the "City of Brotherly Love" and beating the Phillies 2 of 3. Angels pitching held the Phillies to just 4 runs in the 3 games. Francisco Rodriguez became the fastest closer to earn the 30 saves when he closed out Sunday's win in the Angels 76th game. AL:3 NL:0

The Royals won their series with the Giants thanks to a big comeback in the finale. Down 6-0 to Tim Lincecum, KC rallied to an 11-10 win. It made up for blowing a 4-0 lead on Friday. AL:2 NL:1

The Astros and Rays played three 1-run games at the Trop. Roy Oswalt out dueled Matt Garza in the opener and Brandon Backe out pitched Scott Kazmir in the finale. In between the Rays won on Gabe Gross' pinch-hit 2-run single in the bottom of the 9th or it could have been an Astros sweep. The best part of the series was the Astros donning their old '70s uniforms. AL:1 NL:2

The Pirates made it a tough return for Cito Gaston, winning 2 of 3. The two teams were scoreless until the 12th on Friday when John McDonald made a rare error to give the Pirates a 1-0 win. The Blue Jays gave Gaston his first win since 1997 with an 8-5 win in the series finale. AL:1 NL:2

The Rangers and Nationals started their series with a 14th inning marathon, won when Elijah Dukes, who had tied the game with a home run, singled in the game winner. The Rangers got strong pitching performances, how often is that said, from Kason Gabbard and Vincente Padilla to take the next two. AL:2 NL:1

The Twins took a sweep of the NL West leading Diamondbacks, including a win against ace Brandon Webb on Sunday. Scott Baker, Livan Hernandez, and Nick Blackburn helped hold the Dbacks to just 6 runs in the series. AL:3 NL:0

Jim Riggleman got a present in Friday's 10-2 romp by the Mariners over the Braves, but it was downhill after that. Mark Texeira belted 3 home runs on Sunday for the second time in his career. AL:1 NL:2

Aubrey Huff hit a pair of home runs on Friday as the Orioles topped the Brewers for their 4th straight win. But the Brewers owned the rest of the series behind home runs from Prince Fielder and Corey Hart. AL:1 NL:2

After putting together no offense in a weekday series against the Yankees, the Padres put 6 runs on the board Friday to beat the Tigers, 6-2. They managed to score 5 and 3 the next two games, but this time the pitching let down and the Tigers took both. Justin Verlander won on Sunday, but continued his odd season, walking 5 and striking out 10 in 5.1 innings. AL:2 NL:1

The injury riddled Indians still managed to take 2 of 3 from the struggling Dodgers, dropping the finale on Sunday. The first two games went extra innings and included a 6-run 11th inning for the Indians on Saturday. C.C. Sabathia started that game, allowing 1 run over 7 innings and recorded 10 strikeouts. He also hit his first home run of the season. The big man is 2-0, 1.50 in his last 3 starts. AL:2 NL:1

The A's and Marlins played a thriller to start their series on Friday night. Dan Uggla's 2nd home run of the season tied the game in the 9th against Huston Street, but Kurt Suzuki doubled in the game winner in the 11th. Saturday's game came down to the 9th again, and again Uggla delivered, this time with a game winning 3-run double. The A's took the series with a laugher on Sunday. AL:2 NL:1

FINAL TALLY
AL: 22 NL: 20