Pavano Out Pitches Burnett

They were teammates on the 2003 Florida Marlins team that bested the Yankees for the World Series title and then left for big free agent money. Tonight, Carl Pavano and A.J. Burnett faced off as the Yankees met the Blue Jays at the Stadium. And it was Pavano who came out on top, with help from the bullpen, in a 2-1 Yankees win.

The victory improved Pavano's record to 2-0 as he won his first home game since April 26, 2005. He threw five scoreless frames before running into trouble in the sixth, but after the Jays scored a run, he struck out Alex Rios with the tying run on first base.

Burnett entered the game with 16 wins, tied for second best in the AL with his teammate Roy Halladay, and the Yankees' Mike Mussina. He already dominated the Yankee twice in the last two months, including a sizzling 13 strikeout performance on August 19. It looked like more of the same after Burnett limited the Yankees to one hit over the first three innings.

But Johnny Damon started the fourth with his second single of the game, and after stealing second base, scored on Bobby Abreu's double to the gap in left-center field. Alex Rodriguez reached on an infield single as Abreu just beat shortstop Marco Scutaro's throw to third base. Jason Giambi then picked up a sacrifice fly and an RBI when his foul pop was caught by rookie Travis Snider in left field. Making his major league debut, the twenty year old reached over the wall in foul territory, leaving him no chance to throw out Abreu at home plate.

Pavano allowed just two base runners through the first five innings, but Snider doubled, for his first major league hit, with one out in the sixth. Joe Inglett lined out to Xavier Nady in left for the second out, but Scutaro singled to center to cut the lead in half. With steady raining falling and Brian Bruney warming in the pen, Pavano got Rios to wave at a strike three breaking ball, pitch number 72, to complete his night.

Joe Girardi mixed and match the rest of the night, using Bruney and Damaso Marte in the seventh inning, before turning things over to Jose Veras in the eighth. But for the second consecutive appearance, Veras struggled, allowing a lead off ground rule double to Rod Barajas and then a walk to Scott Rolen. Girardi sent for Edwar Ramirez, who struck out Snider, and then turned things over to Mariano Rivera for a five out save.

Rivera retired Inglett on a force out and struck out Scutaro to end the eighth. Vernon Wells singled with one out in the ninth, but Mo struck out Adam Lind and retired Lyle Overbay on a game ending force out for his 32nd save in 33 attempts.


News and Notes

Mariano Rivera's save was the 475th of his career. It puts him three behind Lee Smith for second place on the all-time list.

A.J. Burnett tossed his first complete game of the season and did it in front of a team that will definitely be after his services next season.

The family of the late Pete Sheehy, who ran the clubhouse from Ruth to Mattingly, pulled the lever, lowering the number of home games left to 12.

August 29, 2008

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

Toronto	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Inglett, 2B	4	0	1	0	0	0	3	.299
Scutaro, SS	3	0	1	1	0	1	2	.265
Rios, RF	4	0	0	0	0	2	2	.289
Wells, V, CF	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	.293
Lind, DH	3	0	0	0	1	2	1	.292
Overbay, 1B	4	0	0	0	0	0	2	.272
Barajas, C	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	.260
1-Eckstein, PR	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.274
Zaun, C	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.225
Rolen, 3B	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	.250
Snider, LF	3	1	1	0	0	1	2	.333
Totals	30	1	5	1	2	6	13
1-Ran for Barajas in the 8th.
BATTING 2B: Snider (1, Pavano), Barajas (21, Veras). TB: Inglett; Scutaro; Wells, V; Barajas 2; Snider 2. RBI: Scutaro (50). 2-out RBI: Scutaro. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Wells, V; Scutaro. S: Scutaro. GIDP: Overbay. Team LOB: 5. FIELDING DP: 2 (Scutaro-Inglett-Overbay 2).

Toronto	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Burnett (L, 16-10)	8.0	7	2	2	1	8	0	4.48

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, CF	3	1	2	0	1	0	0	.313
Jeter, SS	4	0	0	0	0	2	4	.295
Abreu, RF	4	1	2	1	0	1	0	.298
Rodriguez, A, 3B	3	0	1	0	0	0	1	.307
Giambi, 1B	2	0	0	1	0	2	0	.250
Ransom, 1B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.750
Nady, LF	3	0	0	0	0	2	1	.324
Matsui, DH	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.304
Cano, 2B	3	0	2	0	0	0	0	.269
Rodriguez, I, C	3	0	0	0	0	1	2	.277
Totals	28	2	7	2	1	8	8
BATTING 2B: Abreu (35, Burnett), Cano (27, Burnett). TB: Damon 2; Abreu 3; Rodriguez, A; Cano 3. RBI: Abreu (83), Giambi (82). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Nady; Jeter. SF: Giambi. GIDP: Jeter; Rodriguez, A. Team LOB: 4. BASERUNNING SB: Damon (24, 2nd base off Burnett/Barajas). FIELDING DP: (Jeter-Cano-Giambi).

NY Yankees	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Pavano (W, 2-0)	6.0	3	1	1	1	1	0	3.27
Bruney (H, 6)	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2.31
Marte (H, 22)	0.2	0	0	0	0	1	0	4.19
Veras	0.0	1	0	0	1	0	0	3.64
Ramirez (H, 5)	0.1	0	0	0	0	1	0	3.47
Rivera (S, 32)	1.2	1	0	0	0	3	0	1.46

Veras pitched to 2 batters in the 8th.

Pitches-strikes: Burnett 108-67, Pavano 72-42,
Bruney 4-2, Marte 5-4, Veras 10-5, Ramirez 5-3, Rivera 17-13.
Groundouts-flyouts: Burnett 13-3, Pavano 4-13,
Bruney 0-1, Marte 0-1, Veras 0-0, Ramirez 0-0, Rivera 2-0.
Batters faced: Burnett 30, Pavano 21, Bruney 1,
Marte 2, Veras 2, Ramirez 1, Rivera 6.
Inherited runners-scored: Ramirez 2-0, Rivera 2-0.
Umpires: HP: Jim Joyce. 1B: Jeff Nelson.
2B: Adrian Johnson. 3B: Tim Tschida.
Weather: 73 degrees, cloudy.
Wind: 9 mph, Out to LF.
T: 2:36.
Att: 53,088.