Missed It By That Much

No one appreciates the post walk-off pie in the face more the Yankees' Nick Swisher. The Yankees entertaining right fielder stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the 9th last night with a chance to get a special delivery from A.J. Burnett.

It was Swisher's 8th inning 3-run home run that had cut the Oakland A's 6-0 lead in half. The Yankees had already scored a pair of runs in their last at-bat against A's closer Andrew Bailey and had the bases loaded witht two down. Bailey quickly fell behind 2-0 and had to come in with a strike. Swisher knew it, the crowd knew it, heck, even Michael Kay knew it. Swisher jumped all over Bailey's pitch and the ball soared into the night sky towards right-center.

A roar quickly went up from the crowd, but just as quickly died as centerfielder Coco Crisp settled under the ball, just shy of the wall, and closed his glove around it for the final out. There was no pie celebration.

The loss combined with the Red Sox win over the Rangers put the two teams back in a tie atop the AL East, though technically the Yankees are ahead by .002. Bartolo Colon struggled and appears to be tiring down the stretch. It wouldn't be surprising to see Colon find his way to the DL when Freddy Garcia returns. One guy who wasn't tired last night was rookie Brad Allen, who hit a pair of tape measure shot to ignite the A's offense. His 2nd inning blast reached the third deck in right and his 8th inning monster off of Hector Noesi proved to be the difference in the ball game. Fellow rookie Eric Sogard also hit his first Major League home run against Colon.

The story of the game though was A's starter Brandon McCarthy, who is enjoying his best season in the Major Leagues. The win matched McCarthy's previous career high of seven and it was his sixth victory in his last eight starts. The Yankees had at least one base runner on in all but one of McCarthy's 7.2 IP, but couldn't come up with a clutch hit. That included the 5th inning when Jorge Posada reached on a lead off double and was stranded there. Posada also ignited the 9th inning rally with a solo home run and Robinson Cano picked up an RBI when he walked with the bases loaded. But there was no joy in Pieville.

Notes

Derek Jeter enjoyed a perfect night, going 3 for 3 with a walk and a sacrifice bunt, and raised hit batting average to .295. Though Jeter has a tendency to hit into double plays, it was a curious decision by Joe Girardi to bunt his hottest hitter in the 9th with two on and none out.

Alex Rodriguez had his hand taped/bandaged up after jamming his left thumb in Minnesota on Sunday. X-Rays were negative and A-Rod is listed as day-to-day.

Melky's Afternoon Delight

Melky Gives Yankees Afternoon Delight

Filed Under: Yankees

Tags: Brandon McCarthy • C.J. Wilson • chien-ming wang • Ian Kinsler • Johnny Damon • mariano rivera • Mark Teixeira • melky cabrera • Nelson Cruz • Yankees 6/5 recap • Yankees vs. Rangers

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Texas	0	0	2	2	1	1	0	0	0		6	11	1
NY Yankees	1	0	0	0	5	0	0	2	X		8	10	1

WP - Robertson (1-0) SV - Rivera (12) LP - Wilson (3-3)

Melky Cabrera had a miserable 2008 season. He barely hit his weight, had no power, was out of shape, and arguably, didn’t have the best attitude. He hit rock bottom when he was sent to the minors in August. He heard his name mentioned in various off-season trade rumors and came to spring training this year knowing he would have to compete for a job with rookie Brett Gardner. Despite hitting over .300 in the exhibition season, Cabrera lost out to Gardner and was relegated to the bench. But the stars aligned for Cabrera; the youngster struggled and the veterans started getting hurt. The Melkman jumped at his chance and took full advantage of it. Yesterday was another day for Cabrera to play hero, this time providing a game winning 2-run home run in the bottom of the 8th inning.

The Yankees beat the Texas Rangers 8-6 after being down 5-1 and blowing a 6-5 lead of their own. Chien-Ming Wang pitched a seamless two innings, racking up three strikeouts, but then the Rangers jumped all over him the second time around the lineup. The Yankees bullpen held Rangers to one run the rest of the way though to enable the Yankees to enjoy another come from behind victory.

Except for a Johnny Damon solo home run to start the home team’s first at-bat, the Yankees couldn’t muster anything against Rangers starter Brandon McCarthy until the 5th inning. The youngsters started it off, Jorge Posada and Derek Jeter had the day off, with Francisco Cervelli and Ramiro Pena stroking back to back singles. Damon walked to loaded the bases and Nick Swisher drew a free pass on a 3-2 pitch to force in the Yankees second run. Mark Teixeira, back in the lineup after sitting out Wednesday with a bruised ankle, hit what seemed like a harmless squibber down the third baseline.

But the ball eluded the glove of Michael Young and trickled towards the left field corner. It allowed all three base runners to score to tie the game at 5-5 and Teixeira cruised into second with a gift double. Alex Rodriguez put the Yankees back on top with a long single off reliever Jason Jennings and Robinson Cano followed with a single of his own. But Jennings got out of the no-out jam when A-Rod was doubled off of second base on Hideki Matsui’s line out and Cabrera grounded out.

Ian Kinsler quickly tied the game back up in the 6th, with a solo home run off of Al Aceves, to set up Melky’s heroics. C.J. Wilson walked Cano to start the 8th and one batter later, Cabrera lofted a fly ball that barely cleared the wall in left field.

Mariano Rivera got into his own trouble as he tried to lock down the game in the 9th, putting runners on the corners with just one out. But Rivera struck out slugger Nelson Cruz and retired David Murphy on pop up to A-Rod to end the game.

Game Notes

Chien-Ming Wang was charged with 5 runs in 4.2 innings pitched, but still lowered his ERA to 14.46. You have to question the wisdom of throwing Wang after he pitched 3 innings on Sunday in Cleveland. Joe Girardi could have stuck with today’s scheduled starter, CC Sabathia, yesterday and thrown Wang today. It’s possible Girardi went with the philosophy that a sinkerballer is more effective when he’s a little tired.

Nelson Cruz’s home run ended Wang’s streak of 267 right-handed batters faced without allowing a home run.

According to Elias Sports Bureau, David Robertson became the first pitcher in three years to win a ball game after throwing just one pitch.

The Yankees open a 3-game series with the Tampa Bay Rays tonight at the Stadium. CC Sabathia (5-3, 3.46) faces hard throwing phenom David Price (1-0, 3.00).

And because I couldn't resist: