Yankees Grab Share of 1st Place

Burnett Tosses Yankees into 1st Place

Filed Under: Yankees

Tags: a.j. burnett • chien-ming wang • Chris Davis • Derek Holland • hideki matsui • Ian Kinsler • Jorge Posada • josh hamilton • Kevin Cash • Mark Teixeira • Michael Young • Yankees 5/27 recap • Yankees vs. Rangers

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
NY Yankees	2	1	0	0	0	3	2	0	1		9	15	0
Texas	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0		2	5	1

WP - Burnett (3-2) LP - Holland (1-2)

A.J. Burnett wasn’t happy with his performance last night - he lasted only six innings - but Joe Girardi was ecstatic that his second highest paid starter did more than deliver a whipped cream facial. Burnett threw shutout ball and the Yankees moved into a tie for first place with Boston in the AL East after a 9-2 win over the Texas Rangers.

Burnett wasn’t efficient - he threw 118 pitches - but he was effective enough to limit the Rangers to three hits and struck out seven. The four walks he issued got him into trouble, but he always made the big pitch to get out of a jam. He struck out Chris Davis with two aboard in the 4th and repeated the feat in the 6th.

The Yankees rolled out the home run machine early, taking a 2-0 lead in the 1st inning on Mark Teixeira’s 15th home run of the season, and 11th this month. Up 3-0 in the 6th, the Yankees broke the game open. Hideki Matsui belted a solo home run off of rookie Derek Holland, and Kevin Cash drove home a pair of runs with a double for a 6-0 Yankees’ advantage. An inning later, Godzilla struck again, hitting a 2-run shot off of Warner Madrigal that barely cleared the right field fence.

Joe Veras lost the shutout in the 7th when he gave up a double - one has to wonder if Veras has something on the organization in order to stay in the majors - to Jarrod Saltalamacchia and a 2-run home run to Ian Kinsler. On a more positive note, Chien-Ming Wang finally got back into another game and threw two very effective, scoreless innings. In two appearances, Wang has cut his ERA From 40.50 to 20.45.

Game Notes

Robinson Cano added a solo home run in the 9th inning, his 9th of the year.

Melky Cabrera is expected to be out 5-7 days with a sprained shoulder, but will be re-evaluated by the Yankees team doctor to determine if he might be out longer.

Jorge Posada has caught in back to back extended spring training games and could be activated for Friday’s game in Cleveland.

Dr. James Andrews examined Brian Bruney’s right elbow and found no structural damage. Bruney will work on strengthening the muscles around the elbow.

The Elias Sports Bureau reports that Brett Gardner became only the second major leaguer in the last 50 years, joining Rich Amaral of the ‘98 Seattle Mariners, to get a least 3 hits and 3 stolen bases after coming off the bench in Tuesday night’s game.

A Texas Sized Stinker

Rusty Joba and Yankees Falter

May 27th, 2009 • Related • Filed Under

Filed Under: Yankees

Tags: al aceves • hideki matsui • Ian Kinsler • joba chamberlain • josh hamilton • Kevin Millwood • Mark Teixeira • Michael Young • nick swisher • phil coke • Yankees 5/27 recap • Yankees vs. Rangers

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
NY Yankees	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	0		3	13	0
Texas	2	0	0	1	0	1	2	1	X		7	9	0

WP - Jennings (2-1) LP - Aceves (3-1)

The Texas Rangers may want to send a “thank You” note to the Baltimore Orioles‘ Adam Jones. It was Jones’ line drive that knocked Joba Chamberlain out of his last start after facing only four batters. The rust was apparent last night as Chamberlain threw an ineffective four innings and the Yankees lost to the Texas Rangers 7-3.

Though the Yankees rallied from the 3-0 deficit Chamberlain put them in, Joe Girardi had to go to the bullpen early. Al Aceves had his worst outing of the season; he allowed three runs in two innings and was handed his first loss of the year. But the story of last night’s game was Chamberlain’s inability to throw strikes and the Yankees failure to take advantage of the situations handed to them later in the game.

After waiting out a 2-hour, 24 minute rain delay, Ian Kinsler led off the ball game with a drive to center that hurt the Yankees two-fold. Melky Cabrera couldn’t come up with the catch and crashed into the center field wall. Kinsler ended up with a triple and Cabrera had to leave the game with what was later determined to be a sprained shoulder.

Trouble was temporarily avoided when Alex Rodriguez made a spectacular play to nail Kinsler, who was trying to get back to third base. A-Rod moved to his left to field Michael Young’s grounder. He double pumped, and seeing Kinsler start to move down the line towards home, held on to the ball and raced Kinsler back to third. A-Rod dove and tagged Kinsler out before he could get back to the base safely.

But Chamberlain’s lack of a good fastball put him in 2-2 and 3-2 counts all night. A Nelson Cruz double and a walk to David Murphy loaded the bases. Marlon Byrd chased a pitch out of the strike zone and flicked it into right for a 2-run single. Chamberlain struck out Chris Davis to end the inning and struck out the first two hitters in the 2nd, but the handwriting was on the wall. Chamberlain walked one batter in the 2nd and two more in the third, but escaped the latter jam with a double play ball.

Davis took Chamberlain deep, for the first of his two home runs on the night, in the 4th for a 3-0 Rangers lead. The Yankees left runners in scoring position against Rangers starter Kevin Millwood in each of the first four innings. Mark Teixeira finally broke through with a solo home run in the top of the 5th and the Yankees tied things up with a pair of runs in the 6th.

Brett Gardner, who replaced Cabrera in the first, singled, stole second base and came home on Hideki Matsui’s double. One batter later, Francisco Cervelli tied the game with a single back through the middle. But the Rangers answered immediately with a run in their half of the sixth against Aceves, who had entered the game in the 5th. The right-hander hadn’t been scored upon in six straight appearances before allowing a run in the series opener on Monday, and he couldn’t work out of trouble last night.

Phil Coke didn’t help Aceves either. He came on to pitch after Kinsler and Young reached on a single and a double, respectively, in the 7th. Josh Hamilton and Murphy brought them home with productive outs for a 6-3 Texas lead. Davis put the icing on the cake when he went deep on Coke for his second long ball of the night.

The Yankees had an opportunity to break the 3-3 tie in the top of the 7th when they loaded the bases with one out. Robinson Cano and Gardner singled, and left-hander C.J. Wilson hit Matsui with a pitch. But Wilson made up for it by getting Nick Swisher to bounce into an innning ending double play.

Game Notes

Mark Teixeira’s home run was his 11th this month and the RBI was his 27th in May.

David Robertson pitched a scoreless inning after being recalled to replace Brian Bruney.

The finale of the series is tonight at 8:05 p.m. ET with A.J. Burnett (2-2, 5.28) facing rookie left-hander Derek Holland (1-1, 4.82), who is making his second major league start. Burnett is 0-2 with five no decisions since winning his first two starts of the year.