Burnett Gets Burned Again

Roberts Slams Burnett and Yankees

Written for Baseball Digest Online

Filed Under: Yankees

Tags: a.j. burnett • Baltimore Orioles • Brian Matusz • Brian Roberts • Derek Jeter • Mark Teixeira • NY Yankees • Yankees 9/12 recap • Yankees vs. Orioles

If the Yankees are going to go far in this year’s post-season they’re going to need A.J. Burnett to be at the top of his game. For most of the past month two months, Burnett’s been anything but at the top of his game. That trend continued earlier today when Burnett was hammered by the Baltimore Orioles for six runs in the 2nd inning and dropped to 11-9 in the Yankees 7-3 defeat.

The Yankees took a quick 1-0 lead in the 1st inning when Derek Jeter picked up hit number 2,724 and eventually came around to score on a Mark Teixeira sacrifice fly. But it was short lived as Burnett couldn’t get anyone out in the top of the 2nd. Nolan Reimold tied the game with a solo home run to start the frame and Robert Andino put the O’s ahead with an RBI single. With the bases loaded, Brian Roberts, who to that point hadn’t achieved the same success this season as he had in the past against the Yankees, belted a grand slam over the fence in right-center field for a 6-1 Orioles lead.

Burnett allowed just one hit over the next five innings, but the damage was done. Rookie Brian Matusz improved to 5-2 by allowing just a run on four hits over seven innings. The Yankees added a couple of meaningless runs in the 9th inning on RBI hits by Melky Cabrera and Jorge Posada.

Burnett was 5-0 with an ERA just over 2.00 from late June to late July, but since then he’s gone 1-5, 6.19 ERA in nine starts since. He’s also allowed a career high 24 home runs. In winning 18 games with the Toronto Blue Jays last season, Burnett was 10-4 after the All-Star break.

Jeter Joins the Immortals

To paraphrase John Sterling, who uses the line for perfect games, Friday night Derek Jeter "achieved baseball immortality". The Yankees captain became the team's all-time hit leader when he ripped a hard shot between Orioles 1st baseman Luke Scott and the right field line to start the 3rd inning.

For a while it was unclear whether the Yankees-Orioles game would even be played. Heavy rains fell most of the day in the metropolitan area, resulting in a one hour-25 minute rain delay before play got underway.

Jeter struck out in his first at-bat against Orioles rookie pitcher Chris Tillman, but hit number 2,722 put Jeter one ahead of Lou Gehrig and brought the rain drenched crowd, including Jeter's family to it's feet. As he did when he tied the record Wednesday night, Jeter raised his helmet in salute to the fans, who serenaded him with chants of "Der-ek Jet-er".


Jeter, who later added an RBI single, is 16th among players who lead their respective teams in base hits.


Derek Jeter hit timeline:

1st Hit - 5/30/95 vs. Seattle, Tim Belcher
100th Hit - 7/17/96 vs. Boston, Joe Hudson
500th Hit - 7/20/98 vs. Detroit, Bryce Florie
1,000th Hit - 9/25/00 vs. Detroit, Steve Sparks
1,500th Hit - 8/16/03 vs. Baltimore, Rodrigo Lopez
2,000th Hit - 5/26/06 vs. Kansas City, Scott Elarton
2,500th Hit - 8/22/08 vs. Baltimore, Radhames Liz
2,721st Hit - 9/9/09 vs. Tampa Bay, Jeff Niemann
2,722nd Hit - 9/10/09 vs. Baltimore, Chris Tillman

Yankees Win on Historic Night

Derek Jeter makes his history with his 2,721st hit

Jeter Ties Gehrig as Yankees Rally
Written for Baseball Digest Online

Jorge Posada ripped a 3-run home run into the right field in the bottom of the 8th inning last night to give the Yankees a 4-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. And Derek Jeter smiled. Jeter wouldn't have been happy last night had the Yankees lost on the night he tied Lou Gehrig as the all-time Yankees hit leader with 2,721 hits.

The current captain was 3-4 and had a chance to break the record in the 8th inning, but walked on a 3-2 pitch from Grant Balfour. But it was a still a historic night for Jeter, who is also the all-time hit leader at his position, having past Luis Aparicio earlier this season.

Entering the game in an 0-12 slide, Jeter laid a perfect bunt down the third base side to start the game with an infield single. He grounded out to shortstop in the third, but doubled to center in the fifth inning. That set up a dramatic 7th inning at-bat against Rays' starter Jeff Niemann. With the Yankees still trailing 2-0 and one out, Jeter ripped a first pitch fast ball past a diving 1ast baseman Chris Richard and into right field for the record tying hit.

The fans, including his parents, sister, and girlfriend (actress Minka Kelly) erupted in a long standing ovation. Jeter acknowledged the tribute, doffing his helmet on two occasions. After the game he self deprecatingly told ESPN, "I just tried to pull the ball, but as usual it went the other way".

Jeter was stranded on third inning, as every other Yankees base runner had been to that point. But the Yankees broke through against the beleaguered Rays bullpen in the 8th. Alex Rodriguez' lead off single finally knocked Niemann from the game and Hideki Matsui greeted Lance Cormier with a single to right, putting runners on the corners with no one out. Nick Swisher hit a potential double play ball to Richard, but the former Oriole, playing in his first major league game in six years, threw the ball into left field for a run scoring error.

One out later, Rays manager Joe Maddon sent for Balfour to turn pinch-hitter Jorge Posada around to the left side. It was a mistake. Posada hit a bullet into the right field seats for his 21st home run of the season and a 4-2 Yankees lead. With two down and no one on in the inning, Jeter stepped up to the plate and another huge ovation as he tried to surpass Gehrig. But after working the count full, he took a fastball well out of the zone for a base on balls. Balfour then left the game to a loud chorus of boos.

Joba Chamberlain had his, now custom, three inning start and quickly fell in a 2-0 hole in the 1st inning. Jason Bartlett led off the ball game with a home run and the Rays added another run in the inning on a Pat Burrell RBI single. Chamberlain ended up striking out the side and pitched well over the next two inning, which included a talking-to from Jeter.

Game Notes

The Yankees have Thursday off before starting a 3-game series at home with the Baltimore Orioles. You can see Derek Jeter try to break the record Friday night (7:05 P.M. ET) on YES and MASN in the area markets, plus the MLB Network will do live look-ins.

Jeter also stole his 300th career base, joining Rickey Henderson as the only Yankees to achieve that feat.

With Mariano Rivera unavailable last night, Brian Bruney and Phil Coke worked the 9th inning, with Coke picking up his second save.

The loss was the Rays 8th straight.

You Saw Derek Jeter Play

When it's all done, Yankees fans and Yankees haters, you will be able to say you saw Derek Jeter play. Just like your parents, grandparents said they saw many of the great players of the past.

Derek Jeter Ties History

Derek Jeter needs one more hit to pass Lou Gehrig as the all-time Yankees leader in career hits. That's because the current captain has had three hits so far this evening. The last, a first pitch fastball that he ripped past a diving Chris Richard (the 1st baseman was playing his first major league game in six years).

Jeter entered the game in an 0-12 skid, but laid down a perfect bunt single to open the 1st inning. After grounding out in his second at-bat, Jeter doubled to center to get within one hit of the Iron Horse.

Time for Another Night of Joba Mishandling

Joba Chamberlain will get his 3 innings, if he's lucky, tonight when he faces the Tampa Bay Rays in 10-15 minutes.

It's aggravating watching this mishandling of a fantastic talent. This falls on the shoulders of Brian Cashman and Nardi Contreras, the masterminds behind the Joba Rules.

As I've stated before I have no issue with protecting Joba's arm, but the manner in which it's done doesn't make sense. There's no way Joba will have an effective start (as we have also stated before, Joba would likely only get one start in a seven game series and none in the division series) in the playoffs if he's pitching just a smattering of innings here and there.

There's absolutely no way that Joba can gain any confidence in this type of arrangement. He should be pitching out of the pen and go back to the rotation next spring. <-- Period

Swisher Keeps Summer of Fun Going

Swishhhh...nothing but seats
Written for Baseball Digest

The Summer of Fun continued in the Bronx last night as Nick Swisher provided the first and last runs in the Yankees 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. After a rare "bad" outing by Phil Hughes, Swisher's second home run home run of the game provided the Yankees 13th walk off win of the season. The 9th inning victory put the Pinstripes 40 games over .500 (90-50) and raised their winning pct. to .750 since the All-Star break.

Hughes came on in the 8th to protect a 2-1 lead, but Jason Bartlett smacked his 13th home run of the season to tie things up. It was the first earned run allowed by Hughes since August 4 and the first home run given up since June 10. But Swisher, who had smacked his 25th home run of the season in the 1st inning off starter David Price, turned around to the left side against Dan Wheeler and hit a laser into the first row in right field.

A wild celebration ensued, the culmination of course being an A.J. Burnett delivered pie to the face. Swisher, whose personality has helped turned the ball club from a corporate, button down philosophy to a more relaxed business casual, enjoyed every moment of it.

Alex Rodriguez' RBI single in the 6th had given the Yankees a 2-0 lead behind Chad Gaudin (6 IP 6 H 1 ER 2 BB 6 K), who was clearly having his best outing as a Yankee. Through six scoreless innings he had thrown just 65 pitches and scattered four hits. But Evan Longoria greeted him in the 7th with a lead off home run, his 30th, and Gaudin was pulled after a walk and single followed. Joe Girardi fully utilized his bullpen, bringing in Damaso Marte, Brian Bruney, and Phil Coke to strand both runners.

Game Notes

Derek Jeter's hitless string continued as he only put the ball in play once. His third straight 0-4 left him 0-12 in his last three games.

Mariano Rivera (2-2) earned the win after pitching a scoreless 9th inning.

From the Elias Sports Bureau - Nick Swisher tied his own AL record (2007), shared with Tony Clark, for most games (3) in which he has homered from both sides of the plate in one season.

Rays 1st Baseman Carlos Pena will miss the rest of the season after suffering two broken fingers on his throwing (left) hand. CC Sabathia hit him with a pitch in Monday's day part of the day-night doubleheader. Pena currently leads the AL with 39 home runs.

David Robertson has been experiencing discomfort in his elbow and will be visiting Dr. James Andrews for further evaluation.

Joba Chamberlain will get his 3 inning stint tonight when he faces Jeff Niemann in the series finale (7:05 P.M. ET TV-ESPN).

Yankees Complete Sweep of Rays

Teixeira watches his 3-run blast into Monument Park

Teixeira Slugs Yankees to Sweep

Filed Under: Yankees

Tags: a.j. burnett • Andy Sonnanstine • Derek Jeter • Evan Longoria • Game 2 • Mark Teixeira • Tampa Bay Rays • Yankees 9/7 recap • Yankees vs. Rays • Yogi Berra

Written for Baseball Digest

Mark Teixeira slugged a pair of home runs and A.J. Burnett won his first game since July 27 as the Yankees beat the TampaBay Rays 11-1 last night. The victory completed the sweep of a day-night doubleheader and put the Yankees a solid nine games in front of Boston in the AL East.

The Yankees took control of the nightcap early, scoring eight times in the 3rd inning. The Rays had taken a 1-0 lead in the 1st inning on back to back doubles by Gabe Gross and Evan Longoria, and Burnett had walked a batter in each of the first two innings. But the Yankees bats went on the attack, knocking out Rays’ starter Andy Sonnanstine after just 2 2/3 innings.

Singles by Melky Cabrera and Jose Molina, sandwiched around a walk to Jerry Hairston Jr., loaded the bases with no one out. Derek Jeter, still three hits behind Lou Gehrig for the franchise record, bounced into a run producing force out to tie the game at one apiece. The Captain would go 0-4 for the game, finishing the day and night 0-8. It was the first time he had ever gone hitless in a doubleheader.

Johnny Damon’s single to center put the Yankees up 2-1 and set the stage for Teixeira. The Yankees best offensive addition of ‘09, smashed a Sonnanstine delivery into Monument Park in straight away center to boost the Bombers advantage to 5-1. And the Yankees weren’t done yet. Hideki Matsui singled and Nick Swisher walked to put two aboard. Sonnanstine retired Robinson Cano, but Cabrera’s second single of the inning brought home the sixth run of the inning and ended Sonnanstine’s day.

Hairston greeted Chad Bradford with an RBI single to left and Molina’s second hit of the inning plated the eighth and final run. Jeter than earned the unwanted distinction of making the first and last outs of the inning.

Burnett settled down after the first two innings, allowing just two hits and another walk over the next four innings. He finished with eight strikeouts in picking up his 11th win.

The Yankees added three more runs in the 6th, including a solo home run by Teixeira, his 35th of the season.

Game Notes

While Derek Jeter didn’t move closer to Lou Gehrig’s hit record, he did pass Yogi Berra for third place on the team’s games played list with 2,117. Only Mickey Mantle (2,401) and Gehrig (2,164) have played in more games in the Pinstripes.

Mark Teixeira has three multi-homer games this season and 24 for his career.

The Yankees are 39 games over .500 for the first time since 2004. Meanwhile, the Rays have lost six straight to fall 16.5 games behind the Yankees in the division and 7.5 games back of Boston in the AL wild card.

Couple of more obscure stats from the Elias Sports Bureau, the Yankees have won 15 straight games in which they were tied after the 7th inning. Only the 1906 NY Giants (16) have won more consecutive games. The Yankees bullpen has won 12 straight decisions. That’s just one less than the 2002 Atlanta Braves.

Chad Gaudin has the unenviable task of facing fireballer David Price when the series continues tonight at 7:05 P.M. ET

Yankees Take Tampa Opener

Nick Swisher's hustle helped score the game winner.

Written for Baseball Digest Online

Derek Jeter moved no closer to Lou Gehrig's all-time Yankees hit record, but the Yankees took the opener of a day-night doubleheader with the Tampa Bay Rays, 4-1. CC Sabathia and Matt Garza dueled for seven innings in a 1-1 game before the Yankees broke through against the Rays bullpen in the 8th inning. Mariano Rivera came on in the 9th, making his first appearance since September 1st, and picked up his 39th save.

Jeter was 0-4 and made the final out in the 7th. He then watched as seven of his teammates came to the plate an inning later. Nick Swisher drew a lead off walk from Lance Cormier and Mark Teixeira followed with a single to right. Gabe Kapler booted the ball, allowing both runners to move up a base. Joe Maddon knows the Yankees well so he walked Alex Rodriguez to set up a match up with Robinson Cano. The 2nd baseman entered the game hitting just .240 this season with the bases loaded. But Cano drove a ball to deep center to score pinch-runner Jerry Hairston Jr. with the go ahead run.

Maddon sent for submariner Chad Bradford, but Jorge Posada lined an RBI single to right and Eric Hinske added another insurance run with a sacrifice fly. That left things up to Rivera to close things out. He walked Pat Burrell to start the inning, but struck out Evan Longoria, retired pinch-hitter Gabe Gross on a pop up, and struck out pinch-hitter Aki Iwamura to tie Brian Fuentes for the AL lead in saves.

Phil Hughes pitched a scoreless 8th inning to improve his record to 6-2. He got off the wrong foot, issuing a lead off walk to speedster Carl Crawford. But the Yankees guessed correctly and called for a pitch out. It enabled Jorge Posada to throw out Crawford trying to steal 2nd base.

The Yankees had just seven hits on the day, three of them by A-Rod, who drove in the Bombers first run with a 1st inning single. Longoria tied the game at one apiece with his 29th home run, and 101st RBI, in the 2nd inning.

Game Notes

CC Sabathia allowed three hits, walked four and struck out 10, matching his season high.

Brett Gardner was 0-3 in his return to the Yankees line up. He had been on the DL since July 26 with a fractured wrist.

A.J. Burnett faces Andy Sonnanstine in the nightcap.

Milestone Men

The Yankees continued their roll in Toronto last night, winning for the 7th straight time, 10-5. A close game was broken up late for the 2nd consecutive night as well.

During this streak, several Yankees have reached or closed in on milestones. Here they are.


The most talked about one of course is Derek Jeter's ascent to the top of the Yankees all-time hit list. The Captain took the collar last night, but remains just 8 hits behind leader Lou Gehrig. Jeter, of course, is downplaying the whole thing. You certainly don't have to be concerned about a Rickey Henderson, "...now I am the greatest" moment.

A stat of a lesser degree, not really talked about, is Jeter cracking the MLB top 100 for career at-bats . He's currently 92nd and with 28 games remaining (health willing, no days off), he should move up another 8 notches.

Some more Jeter factoids. He is just 14 total bases behind Joe Dimaggio for 4th in team history. He is 6 doubles behind Don Mattingly (3rd) and 13 behind Bernie Williams (2nd). He needs just 4 singles to reach 2,000 for his career (he's currently 47th in MLB). And finally, Jeter needs 11 more extra base hits to catch Yogi Berra for 6th place in that category.


People talk about home runs, and rightly so, when it comes to Alex Rodriguez, but A-Rod also picked up his 2,500th hit Wednesday night in Baltimore. Last night he hit home run #577, putting him 6 behind Mark McGwire for 8th place all-time. We'll refrain from any other comparisons.


A-Rod needs 14 more RBI to catch Cal Ripken for 23rd place. Next year, he'll become the 22nd player with 1,700 RBI unless he has a monsterous September.


Jorge Posada has played under the radar in his time in New York. But he's got his milestones both as a catcher and hitter. Last night he slugged his 241st career home run. That puts him 9 befhind #9 Graig Nettles for the 7-spot on the franchise list. He needs 27 more hits for 1,500 in his career. He needs just 6 doubles to pass both Bill Dickey and Mickey Mantle for 7th place in team history. And Posada is just one walk behind Tony Lazzeri for 8th place.


Oh, and A-Rod is the only Yankee, that we are aware of, to collide with a police officer during a game.





photos courtesy of Yahoo Sports

Yankees Put More Holes in the O's

Yankees Roll O’s

Written for Baseball Digest

Filed Under: Yankees

Tags: Alex Rodriguez • Baltimore Orioles • cc sabathia • Derek Jeter • jim johnson • Nick Markakis • Robinson Cano • Yankees 9/2 recap • Yankees vs. Orioles

On opening day in Baltimore, CC Sabathia was horrible and the Orioles clobbered the Yankees 10-5. So much for starting fresh. But since then the Yankees have lost less games than the Orioles have won and Sabathia is the AL’s leading winner with 16 victories. That’s because he threw a solid 7 innings last night and his teammates busted open a close game late for a 10-2 win. It was the 10th straight time the Yankees have beaten the O’s this season.

After losing 2 of 3 in that season opening series and having Mark Teixeira treated as if he were a serial killer, the Yankees couldn’t have been too anxious to return to Camden Yards. But after completing a 3-game sweep last night, they probably never want to leave.

Tied 1-1 in the 7th inning, Kam Mickolio walked Johnny Damon to start the inning and Nick Swisher (Mr. Camden Yards) followed with a double. Possibly thinking that he didn’t want his youngster having to throw strikes with the bases loaded,O’s manager Dave Trembley elected to pitch to Alex Rodriguez and brought the infield in. Oops. A-Rod laced a 2-run single to center to put the Yankees on top for good, 3-1. It was also the 2,500th hit of A-Rod’s career.

Sabathia had given up a pair of hits and a sac fly to Nick Markakis in the 1st as the O’s jumped out to a 1-0 lead. Eric Hinske tied the game in the 3rd with a solo home run and Sabathia got stronger as the game went on. He scattered five hits over the next six innings, walked one and struck out 9. Since his last loss on July 28, the big man is 5-0 in six starts, with 14 earned runs allowed in 51.1 innings pitched (2.45 ERA).

Brian Bruney’s continued ineffectiveness allowed the O’s to cut the lead to 3-2 in the 8th before Phil Coke and Phil Hughes stemmed the tide. The Yankees then singled the O’s to death in the 9th to break things open. A-Rod opened the scoring with another 2-run single, and Hideki Matsui, Melky Cabrera, Jose Molina, Derek Jeter, and Damon each delivered run producing singles.

No more trips to Camden Yards for the, now, disappointed Yankees and the fans in attendance, the majority of which were rooting for the Bombers.

Game Notes

A-Rod extended his hitting streak to 11 games. Derek Jeter extended his modest streak to 6 games and moved within 8 hits of Lou Gehrig’s franchise record. Robinson Cano also has a 6-game streak in which he is 12-23 (.522). He’s also driven in 13 runs in the last 10 games.

Mariano Rivera was unavailable due to a sore groin. Phil Hughes notched his 2nd save, getting the final four outs.

Mark Teixeira got a much deserved night off.

The Yankees travel to Toronto to begin a 4-game series with the Blue Jays this evening. Chad Gaudin will get the start tonight as Sergio Mitre is still too sore from being hit by a line drive on his right forearm. Left-hander Ricky Romero goes for the Blue Jays.

The People Have Spoken

Thanks to everyone who took part in our latest poll - "who are your MLB Network favorites?"

Moderators

Victor Rojas was the clear winner, taking 56% of the vote. Of course, one vote was Victor Rojas' own. Matt Vasgersian received 28% of the vote, while Greg Amsinger surprisingly, at least to us, grabbed 17%. We guess some people like scratchy voices and game show host personalities.

Panelists

HR, Harold Reynolds, continues to be the people's choice. Fans were upset, not us, when he was dismissed by ESPN, but it turned out well for HR in the long run. He's found a nice niche at MLBN and sits in the #1 seat among the panelists. We also got a chuckle last night when we noticed they seemed to be sitting in height order last night- HR, Al Leiter, Tony Clark. HR grabbed 25% of the vote, beating out Mitch Williams and Dan Plesac, who garnered 16% each.

Sean Casey and Barry Larkin (11% each), Joe Magrane (9%), and Billy Ripken and John Hart (5% each) finished out the voting. Poor Dave Valle received no votes, though we think he does a good job.

Al Leiter wasn't part of the voting since he's not on too much and Tony Clark hadn't yet joined the network. TC would have grabbed plenty of votes for sure.

We also have to acknowledge the contributions of Hazel Mae, because after all, she is Hazel Mae.

Yankees Bang Up Baltimore

Yankees Start Stretch Run With a Bang

Written for Baseball Digest

Filed Under: Yankees

Tags: a.j. burnett • Baltimore Orioles • Camden Yards • David Hernandez • Jorge Posada • Nick Markakis • nick swisher • Robinson Cano • Yankees 9/1/ recap • Yankees vs. Orioles

The calendar may have turned to September, but the Yankees continued their winning ways with a 9-6 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. After winning 21 of 28 in August, the Bombers lived up to their nickname, slugging 5 home runs, including a pair by Jorge Posada.

They would need plenty of offense to overcome a shaky performance by starter A.J. Burnett. The right-hander had a live fastball and plenty of movement on his breaking balls, but his pitches either missed the zone or were meatballs devoured by the Orioles hitters like they were Dominick DiNapoli. Fortunately the Yankees bullpen was outstanding, tossing 3-2/3 scoreless innings. Damaso Marte earned his first win since September 13th of last season and just his second in Pinstripes.

Home runs by Robinson Cano and Posada off of David Hernandez had given the Yankees an early 3-1 lead, but Burnett quickly gave it back, allowing a game-tying 2-run double to Melvin Mora in the 3rd. Posada was called out on strikes- well, he though he was!- but it turned out the count was only full. Posada took advantage, taking Hernandez deep again for a 5-3 Yankees lead in the 5th. But Burnett and the Yankees were looking at a deficit again in the home half of the inning when Luke Scott hit his 21st home run of the season with two men aboard.

Burnett didn’t make it out of the 6th inning, but the Yankees bats kept churning out runs against the O’s bullpen. Alex Rodriguez tied the game with an RBI single off Chris Ray in the 6th, and one inning later Nick Swisher and Eric Hinske went yard against Ray to account for the final score. It was Swisher’s 13th home run in 25 games at Camden Yards.

The only thing left was for Mariano Rivera to pick up his 38th save, which he did when he got Scott to bounce into a game-ending double play.

Game Notes

Derek Jeter had one hit, putting him 9 behind Lou Gehrig as the all-time franchise leader for total career hits.

The Yankees are 36 games over .500 for the first time since the final game of the 2004 season. Hopefully there are no omens from that.

Nick Swisher has 3 home runs this year at Yankee Stadium and 4 at Camden Yards.

An August to Remember

Written for Baseball Digest

It was no shock that Andy Pettitte flirted with a perfect game last evening. After all, August was nearly perfect for the New York Yankees. Though Pettitte's perfecto ended on a Jerry Hairston Jr. error with two outs in the 7th inning, and the no-no ended one batter later, the Yankees still pulled out a 5-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles. It improved the Bombers mark to 83-48 (.634) and increased their lead over idle Boston to 6 1/2 games in the AL East.

The Yankees were a spectacular 21-7 for the month, and increased their lead over Boston by 5 1/2 games. No one shined brighter in August than Derek Jeter. The Captain hit a sizzling .377 for the month, with 46 hits, the second straight month he's had 40 or more. Jeter had 15 multi-hit games, seven of which were 3-hit games. He hit six home runs, knocked in 17 runs, and scored 27 runs, while posting a gaudy .977 OPS.

CC Sabathia and Pettitte went a combined 9-0, winning nearly half of the team's games for the month. Sabathia posted a 2.64 ERA and beat the Red Sox twice. He also had a remarkable strikeout to walk ratio of better than 8:1.

Pettitte had been roughed up in the prior three months, but he was vintage Andy Pettitte in August. He put up a 2.50 ERA, (lowering his season ERA to 4.01) and had nearly a strikeout per inning as he held opponents to a .207 average. And no start was better than his performance on the final day of the month in Camden Yards.

Pettitte breezed through the first six innings last night, retiring the first 20 batters he faced. The only tough play being a barehanded pick up that Hairston fielded cleanly to throw out Matt Wieters in the 6th inning. The play turned out to be ironic one inning later when Hairston was eaten up by an Adam Jones grounder for an error. Nick Markakis then sliced a clean single to left for the O's first hit. But still protecting a 2-0 lead at the time, Pettitte kept his composure and got Nolan Reimold to ground out to Jeter to end the inning.

The only drawback to last night's game was another ineffective performance by Brian Bruney, who gave up a walk and a single in the 9th, forcing Joe Girardi to go to Mariano Rivera for his 37th save.