The Yankees defeat Oakland and some postgame notes

The New York Yankees defeated the Oakland Athletics by the score of 5-0 on Monday evening.  Bartolo Colon made the start and pitched a complete game four hit shutout.  It was his first shutout since 2006.  Colon continues to be a huge story this season, he is the frontrunner right now for comeback player of the year.  Colon was good in spring training but no one could of seen this coming.  He is 3-3 on the season but with a low threes ERA.  The Yankees offense got going early in this game with three first inning runs.  They tacked on a couple more late in the game and they cruised to victory.  The Yankees have now won two in a row after losing the first two of this long road trip in heartbreaking fashion.  The Yankees and Athletics will play game two of their three game series on Tuesday night in Oakland, game time is 10:05 Eastern Time. 

“I feel really good,” Colon said. “I thank God that I’m healthy, and I’m helping the team to win. I feel really strong physically and mentally right now.”


Trevor Cahill had allowed as many as three runs in a start only twice this season. The Yankees scored that many in the first inning. “Cahill’s one of the best pitchers in baseball,” Mark Teixeira said. “We didn’t get a lot of hits off him, but we made them count. Scratching out a couple of runs early was big for us.”

 Teixeira has a seven-game hitting streak and has four home runs in his past five games. He’s hit seven homers in his past 11 games and is now tied with Curtis Granderson for the second-most homers in the American League.

 Jeter extended his hitting streak to five games. He’s hitting .359 in that span and has reached base to start the first inning in 20 of his 41 games as the Yankees leadoff hitter this season.

 Colon has not walked any of the 69 batters he’s faced to leadoff an inning. No other American League pitcher has started more than 30 innings without walking the leadoff hitter. This was Colon’s ninth career shutout and his first since July 5, 2006 in Seattle. It was his 32nd complete game.

Colon said he actually feels like a better pitcher now than when he was in his prime because he’s throwing more strikes now. “When he first came up he threw the ball as hard as he could,” Jeter said. “Now he’s hitting spots, his ball is moving, he’s getting ahead of guys. He’s become more of a pitcher. I think he was more of a thrower.”

 Brett Gardner snapped an 0-for-13 stretch with a bunt single in the ninth. He also stole two bases tonight, the second one as part of a double steal that setup a sac fly in the seventh. It was a shallow fly ball to center. No chance any of the Yankees except Gardner would have so much as attempted to score on that ball.

Jorge Posada is 0-for-10 on the road trip and has one hit in his past 17 at-bats.  Posada is going to be an interesting one.  I don't know how long the Yankees will keep him out there if he isn't hitting, he is a Yankees icon but you have to do what you have to do to win.  Will the Yankees keep him around as a bench player, will they just release him outright or will they keep him as DH as long as they are winning.  It is impossible to know right now but it will be June in another day and he is still hitting below 200. 


Alex Rodriguez snapped a season-high nine-game hitting streak.

The Yankees are 22-4 against Oakland since Girardi became manager in 2008