The Yankees have a nice comeback win and Mariano Rivera ties the all-time saves record

The New York Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays by the score of 7-6 on Saturday afternoon. Bartolo Colon started the game and did not pitch well at all. The Yankees bullpen did an outstanding job and the offense did a good job as well especially later in the game. Alex Rodriguez had a good return to the lineup and Curtis Granderson had a great game. The Yankees in the beginning of the game were very sloppy, including on the base paths where they cost themselves at least a couple of extra runs.
Colon pitched four innings giving up six runs on seven hits. He walked one and struck out three. Scott Proctor pitched an inning giving up a walk and striking out one, Aaron Laffey pitched a perfect inning picking up his third win of the season and Hector Noesi pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout. Rafael Soriano struck out the side in his one inning of work, Soriano has struck out the last seven batters he has faced and Rivera pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 42nd save of the season and 601st of his career. The 601 saves tie him with Trevor Hoffman for most all-time. Rivera is widely considered the greatest of all-time and doesn’t need a record to validate it but I guess this would prove it to anyone who has any doubt. Rivera will set the record with his next save and add to it with any additional and he also is under contract next season.

Derek Jeter had a hit, Granderson had three hits, two RBI and two walks and Mark Teixeira had two hits. Robinson Cano had an RBI, Rodriguez had two hits and three RBI and Jesus Montero had a hit. Brett Gardner had two hits, Teixeira and Granderson each had a double and Gardner had a triple. The homeruns were provided by Rodriguez and Granderson. Granderson hit his 40th of the season, what a season he has had. The Yankees were 2-7 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base. Austin Romine made an error.

The Blue Jays took an early lead in this game with four runs in the second inning. The Yankees were not looking good at all in this game. Colby Rasmus had an RBI double, Brett Lawrie grounded out scoring a run, Jose Molina had an RBI double and Mike McCoy had a sacrifice bunt that scored a run. It was 4-0 Jays at the end of the second inning. In the fourth Cano hit a sacrifice fly and Loewen made an error to score a run and make it 4-1. It could have been a much bigger inning but with second and third one out, Swisher hit a deep drive that the center fielder made a nice catch on. Cano for some reason just kept on running and not only got double off of second but was out anyway because he ran past Teixeira. The run would of scored and made it 4-2 if Cano would of just stayed at second, instead the inning ended and it was 4-1 Jays. In the bottom of the fourth McCoy hit a two run double and it was a 6-1 lead for the Jays. In the sixth Teixeira hit an RBI single and Rodriguez hit a three run homerun to make it a 6-5 game. In the seventh inning Granderson hit a two run homerun to give the Yankees a 7-6 lead and that is how the game would end up.

The Yankees have evened the three game series with the Blue Jays. The rubber game will be on Sunday afternoon at 1:00PM. Freddy Garcia will be on the mound for the Yankees. The Yankees now have a five game lead in the loss column for first place in the AL East. The Red Sox lost again to the Tampa Bay Rays and only are three games ahead of them for the AL wildcard. The Yankees magic number is five for the postseason and eight for the division. The Yankees will head home after Sundays game and play a makeup game against Minnesota on Monday before playing a four game series against the Rays. They will then play the Red Sox for three games. That series could be where the Yankees clinch the division and they would love nothing more then to clinch the division at the Red Sox expense and also knock them out or really hurt their chances. Phil Hughes was scheduled to start on Monday and he has been scratched with back spasms. The Yankees have been using six starters for a while now and this could answer their questions of who will be in the rotation depending on how serious it is.

The Mets get shutout in Atlanta

The New York Mets lost to the Atlanta Braves by a score of 1-0 on Saturday evening. R.A. Dickey started and pitched very well and Tim Byrdak only faced one batter and retired him. The offense didn’t do anything at all. Tim Hudson started for the Braves and completely dominated the Mets. He pitched eight innings giving up four hits and striking out ten. Ruben Tejada had a two hit game and Josh Thole had a hit and a walk. There were only two other players who had a hit each.
Dickey pitched 7 2/3 innings giving up three hits and one run. He did walk six batters though and struck out four. Byrdak faced one batter and retired him. Dickey lost the game and his record dropped to 8-13 on the season.

Jose Reyes had a walk, Lucas Duda had a hit, Thole had a hit and a walk and Tejada had two hits. The Mets did not have an extra base hit in the game. They were 0-5 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base. The Mets offense had a really good day on Friday and in this game they went backwards. Hudson is a really good pitcher though and he looked like he used to in his younger days in this game.

The only run of the game was scored in the eighth inning. Chipper Jones had an RBI single. Jones has been a long time Mets killer. The single was after a walk, bunt and ground out moving him to third. It wasn’t even like they crushed Dickey in the inning to win the game. It was a weak rally but when your team doesn’t score any runs it makes it very difficult to win the game.

Dickey said “It sure is painful. I threw a good knuckleball to Chipper, and he did what a Hall of Famer does.” “I almost got it Dickey said. “I just couldn’t get my glove down on it. It was a really good knuckleball he hit.” Dickey came into the game with 10 straight quality starts in which he posted a 2.73 ERA. He was only 4-4 in those games. He was at his best in this game but he still didn’t have any good luck as he was a hard luck loser once again. The Mets record fell to 72-80 and they will play the rubber game of the three game series on Sunday afternoon. The Mets won the first game of the series on Friday night 12-2 and then lost this game 1-0. They will have an off day on Monday and then play three in St. Louis and then return home for their final homestand of the season and final six games of the season. The Mets would like to finish 500 but it will be really difficult now as they need to win 9 of their final 10 for that to happen.

The Mets pound the Braves a day after Colllins tirade

The New York Mets defeated the Atlanta Braves by the score of 12-2 on Friday night. Chris Capuano made the start and pitched well. The bullpen pitched really well. The offense was really good. There were lots of stars as five players had multi hit games.
Capuano pitched five innings giving up six hits and two runs with two walks and six strikeouts. Capuano improved his record to 11-12 on the season. Miguel Batista pitched an inning striking out one, Tim Byrdak pitched a perfect inning striking out one and Josh Stinson pitched an inning giving up a walk and he struck out one. Ryota Igarashi pitched a perfect inning striking out two batters.

Jose Reyes had three hits and a walk, Angel Pagan had a hit and a walk and David Wright had three hits and five RBI. Lucas Duda had four hits, an RBI and a walk, Jason Bay had a hit and a walk and Nick Evans had three hits and an RBI. Josh Thole had three hits and three RBI, Ruben Tejada had a hit and two RBI and Willie Harris had a hit. Duda and Evans each had a double and Wright hit two homeruns. The Mets were 8-16 with runners in scoring position and they left 11 men on base. Reyes had a stolen base and Evans had an error.

In the first inning Wright hit a two run homerun and Tejada had a two Run single to give the Mets a 4-0 lead. Chipper Jones hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning to make it a 4-1 game. Martin Prado hit a solo homerun in the second inning to make it a 4-2 game. In the third inning Thole hit a two run single to give the Mets a 6-2 lead. In the fourth Wright hit a three run homerun and Evans had an RBI single to make it 10-2. In the sixth Thole hit an RBI single making it 11-2 Mets. In the ninth Duda had an RBI single to finish the scoring at 12-2.

The Mets played miserable on their homestand and their manager let them have it after Thursday afternoons embarrassing loss. I guess whatever he said got through to them because they looked like a different team in this game. The Mets really came out focused and ready to play. The Mets have nothing to play for but pride and they showed some in this game. The Mets are now six games under 500. The Mets will try and finish strong and maybe get to 500, it may be asking a lot but it is a good goal for them to have. The Mets won the first of three in Atlanta. The Mets will go to St. Louis for three games after their series with the Braves is over. The Mets record is 73-79 on the season.

Yankees News and Notes after a loss in Seattle and an off day

The Yankees finally had an off day on Thursday.  They now will play the final 14 games in 13 days and then have off a day and begin the postseason.  There is no rest for the weary.  The Yankees are in good shape though.  They are 4 1/2 games in front of the Boston Red Sox for first place in the AL East.  The Red Sox are in a dog fight with the Tampa Bay Rays for the wild card now being three games up with three more head to head this weekend.  The Angels are hanging around also, no one can forget them, they are right there for the wild card as well as the division.  If the Yankees win the division which is likely they will play the winner of the AL West.  I don't like to get in this team is better to play or this team etc but it does seem to be linein up well for the Yankees right now.  Here are some notes, some of it is courtesy of the Lohud Yankees blog run by Chad Jennings of the Journal News.




This is what Robinson Cano had to say after the loss in Seattle on Wednesday night “You want to win this one,” Cano said. “Especially because the Red Sox lost today.”

The Yankees had just four hits in the game and got their only run on Nick Swisher’s home run. It wasn’t enough offense, even on a night when the pitching staff was tremendous except for two costly mistakes.

Two outs, runners at the corners in the third inning, Nova threw a curveball to Miguel Olivo. It nearly hit the batter, shot past Russell Martin and let the Mariners take a 1-0 lead.

“It was a curveball that fell out of my hand a little bit, and I couldn’t get it down,” Nova said. “I didn’t give Russell Martin a chance to catch it. That happens. I don’t want that to happen to me, but it’s going to happen.” Martin never really had a chance to stop it.

“It’s a curveball that backed up and that’s the one thing you can’t really predict as a catcher,” Joe Girardi said. “You can anticipate down, down, block the ball, block the ball, but that one backed up and it happens.”

Cory Wade pitched out of trouble in the 11th, but the first batter he faced in the 12th was Luis Rodriguez, who already had two doubles. The 2-1 pitch was a changeup, and Rodriguez hammered it to right.  Rodriguez had some game.

“It’s rough,” Wade said. “Everybody’s going out and contributing and did what they needed to do, and it came down to me and I made a mistake.”  Wade has been so good for the Yankees this season so you can't get on him too much.

The changeup has been a good pitch for Wade, and he didn’t second guess the pitch selection. He just missed his spot.

“I threw the pitch essentially right down the middle of the plate,” Wade said. “He gets paid to hit, and he did exactly what he’s supposed to… Nova shut it down for, I think, seven innings, and everybody came out of the bullpen and threw the ball really well. It’s just unfortunate that I had to be the lone wolf to go out there and struggle a little bit.”

Cano was hobbling quite a bit in the clubhouse, but x-rays were negative and he seems fairly certain that he’ll play on Friday. The pitch in the 12th inning hit him right in the side of the right foot. “I knew it was a lot of pain, but I didn’t think it was broke,” he said. “… We can do ice treatment tomorrow and be ready to go Friday.”  It is a good thing because a broken bone would of been devestating with the Yankees already dealing with Arod and his thumb problems.

 Girardi said the plan is still for Alex Rodriguez to play on Friday. Rodriguez came through fielding drills with no problems.  Arod is not in the lineup for Friday night.  There is no reason why as of yet. 

The Yankees hit several balls hard in this game but they never got much going against Jason Vargas. Obviously they made a mistake trying to score Andruw Jones in the third, but Girardi seemed more focused on deep fly balls that didn’t quite get out of the yard. “Think about the ball Grandy hit, the ball Tex hit,” Girardi said. “We hit some balls good. I thought we were patient on Vargas, I thought the guys put good at-bats. I thought he just located well. They made him work, we just didn’t get hits.”  Safeco field is big and the balls kind of die out in the outfield. 

 Nova came out of the game after 87 pitches. Although he acknowledged it was the right call to bring in Dave Robertson, he also felt strong enough to keep going. “I threw 80 something pitches,” he said. “So I was feeling really good. I think if we got two more runs, at least a run or two more, I think I can finish the game. But unfortunately, we don’t hit today, and I’ve got to be out of the game.”  Nova once again put the Yankees in good position to win and it is hard to imagine him not being the number two or three starter in the postseason.
Speaking of the decision to pull Nova, Robertson did it again, getting out of the eighth with a shallow fly ball and a strikeout to strand runners at the corners. “I’ve always said he has the ability to strike people out,” Girardi said. “You can bring him in tough situations and he did it again tonight.”

 The Yankees were held to one run or less for the 16th time this season, and the third time in their past six games. They are 4-10 in extra innings this season.

 Derek Jeter extended his season-high hitting streak to 13 games and is batting .368 in his past 29 games, since August 11. He’s hitting .346 in his past 46 games, and he’s hitting .332 since returning from the disabled list on July 4.

This is Jeter’s 16th consecutive season with 150 hits, tying Pete Rose for the second-longest 150-hit streak in baseball history. Hank Aaron has the record with 17 straight.

Swisher has eight home runs in his past 19 games dating back to August 23. He his just five homers in his first 60 games this season.

Girardi didn’t know Pedro Feliciano had surgery until reporters told him about it after the game. “I would be surprised if he pitched next year,” Girardi said. “But I’d have to hear the details.”  This turns out to be a horrible signing as he will never pitch for the Yankees. 

Yankees at Jays beginning Friday night.  CC Sabathia will be in search of win number 20 once again.  The Yankees will be looking to increase or maintain their division lead and get their magic number for the division title into single digits. 

The Mets get embarrassed as they are swept at home by the Nationals

The New York Mets lost to the Washington Nationals by the score of 10-1 on Thursday afternoon. It was an ugly day at Citi Field in more then one way. The temperature had a fall feel to it, there weren’t many people in attendance and the Mets looked awful. The Mets were so bad it led to a postgame tirade by their manager Terry Collins. Chris Schwinden started and pitched ok, the bullpen was a mixed bag and the offense was putrid.
Schwinden pitched five innings giving up four hits and two runs with only one being earned. He walked two and struck out three. He is now 0-2 on the season. D.J. Carrasco pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up two hits and one run, Daniel Herrera gave up a walk and Ryota Igarashi pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a walk and striking out one. Pedro Beato pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up four hits and three runs with a walk, Dale Thayer faced one batter and got him out and Manny Acosta pitched one inning giving up four hits and four runs with three of them being earned. He struck out one batter.

Ruben Tejada had two hits, Justin Turner had two walks and David Wright had a hit. Jason Bay had two hits and an RBI, Angel Pagan had a hit and two walks and Ronny Paulino had a hit and two walks. Lucas Duda had a walk. Tejada had a double and Bay had two doubles. The Mets were 0-11 with runners in scoring position and they left 10 men on base. Pagan was caught stealing and picked off. Pascucci and Wright made errors.

In the fifth the Nationals broke through on the scoreboard. Rick Ankiel reached on an error by Pascucci at first base and a run scored. Ryan Zimmerman hit a sacrifice fly making it 2-0 Nationals. In the sixth Bay hit an RBI double to make it a 2-1 game. In the seventh a balk scored another run for the Nationals making it a 3-1 game. Ian Desmond hit an RBI single, Jonny Gomes grounded into a force out and a run scored and Zimmerman had an RBI double making it 6-1 Nationals all in the eighth inning. In the ninth Chris Marrero hit a sacrifice fly, Wilson Ramos had an RBI single and Desmond had a two run double making it 10-1 and that would be the final score of the game.

The Mets got swept in four games to the Nationals. Terry Collins after the game said he will not accept not playing the right way no matter the situation. He said that he felt his team gave up and he put all the blame on himself, he said he will take the blame away from everyone else and this will not continue in the last two weeks. The Mets played so hard and pretty well for most of the season only to collapse at the end here. They have been once again destroyed by injuries and it does seem that in the last couple of weeks their hope has been gone and they have kind of gone through the motions. The same fight everyone loved about this team has been sapped away. It is a shame but they are headed in the right direction and Collins will have them playing hard the rest of the way otherwise they won’t be playing at all. The Nationals took over third place and dropped the Mets to fourth place in the NL East.

The Yankees are unable to complete the sweep in Seattle

The New York Yankees lost to the Seattle Mariners by the score of 2-1 on Wednesday night into early Thursday morning on the east coast. Ivan Nova started and pitched well and the bullpen for the most part did a good job, Cory Wade got beat on a walk-off homerun. The offense didn’t do anything, they looked like they were tired from all the games and being on the west coast and that they just wanted to get out of there.
Nova pitched 7 1/3 innings giving up five hits and one run. He walked four and struck out five. Dave Robertson pitched 2/3 of an inning striking out one, Rafael Soriano pitched an inning giving up a hit and striking out two and Boone Logan pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up two hits and a walk and he struck out one. Wade pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up one hit and one run, striking out one. Wade took the loss dropping his record to 5-1 on the season.

Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher each had a hit. Swisher had an RBI and a walk, Andruw Jones had a walk and Eduardo Nunez had a hit. Nunez and Cano each had a double. Swisher had a homerun and the Yankees were 0-4 with runners in scoring position and they left six men on base.

The Yankees record fell to 90-58 on the season and they maintained their four game lead in the AL East. The Yankees will have their last off day of the regular season on Thursday and then begin a three game series in Toronto on Friday night. They will then come home for their final homestand of the season with eight games, there are three make-up games mixed in there with a doubleheader against the Rays also. It is a grueling end to the regular season but they have handled it pretty well so far and they are in good shape standings wise that they should be able to rest people and still accomplish what they want which is home field advantage. The Yankees do play the Red Sox three more times so the Sox aren’t out of it yet but if they continue to lose they will be out of it and the Rays will be the team to watch as they play the Yankees seven more times.

Yankees beat up on King Felix and the Mariners

The New York Yankees defeated the Seattle Mariners by the score of 9-3 on Monday night. The game was a late game on the East Coast that actually went into early Tuesday morning. Phil Hughes started for the Yankees and pitched well. The Yankees offense which had shown signs of life on Sunday in Anaheim was fully awake in this game. Robinson Cano led the offense but there were a bunch of contributors.
Hughes pitched six innings giving up five hits and one run with three walks and three strikeouts. Scott Proctor pitched two innings giving up three hits and two runs with one walk and three strikeouts. Luis Ayala pitched a perfect inning.

Derek Jeter had a hit and an RBI, Curtis Granderson had two hits and Mark Teixeira had two hits and an RBI. Cano had three hits and three RBI, Nick Swisher had a hit and Eric Chavez had an RBI. Brett Gardner had two hits and an RBI, Chris Dickerson had two hits and two RBI and Austin Romine had a hit which was his first career major league hit. Cano had two doubles and Gardner had a double. Teixeira and Dickerson each had a homerun. The Yankees were 5-12 with runners in scoring position and they left five men on base. Dickerson had a stolen base.

In the third inning Jeter had an RBI groundout to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. In the bottom of the third the Mariners tied the game at one on a Ichiro Suzuki had an RBI single. The Yankees scored five runs in the fourth inning to take a 6-1 lead. Teixeira had a solo homerun, Chavez hit a sacrifice fly, Gardner had an RBI double and Dickerson hit a two run homerun. In the seventh Cano had a three run double to make it a 9-1 game. Miguel Olivo hit a two run homerun in the eighth inning to make it a 9-3 game and complete the scoring.

The Yankees after losing the first two games of this long road trip have now won two games in a row. The Yankees were facing Felix Hernandez who they never beat and who they rarely hit either. The Yankees really pounded him on this night. The Yankees are 89-57 and have a four game lead in the AL East over the Boston Red Sox. If the Yankees finish first they will have home field advantage for the first two rounds, the National league won the All Star Game and will have the home field in the World Series.

Yankees postgame notes following a win in Anaheim

Here are some Yankees notes following their thrilling win over the Angels Sunday afternoon to end their four game losing streak.

The Yankees needed to get a win, they have been struggling and needed to take advantage of Boston struggling and get things stabalized. A third of their lineup has been sidelined with injuries, they haven’t had a full group of available relievers in several days, and even their healthy hitters have been struggling. Today they caught a break on a dropped fly ball, and it was just enough luck to snap a four-game losing streak and extend their lead in the American League East.


“We’ve been through a lot lately,” Mark Teixeira said. “And for us to scratch this one out, we could kind of smell it. Once we got that lead, we weren’t going to give it back.”

“We lost the last four in a row, so we needed a win, period,” Mariano Rivera said. “We got a little bit of luck today, but that’s part of the game.”

Eric Chavez had an early RBI single, and Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano homered in the middle innings, but the decisive blow was a seventh-inning sacrifice fly that glanced off Peter Bourjos’ glove. When he coupled that error with a bad throw, the Yankees were able to score not only the tying run, but also the go-ahead run. And this time, they had all of their late-inning relievers available to seal it.  It was a bit of luck but the Yankees needed it and took advantage of it.

“Tex drove that ball a long way,” Joe Girardi said. “The sun helped us today… We’ve had some tough losses here. These guys are a tough team to beat, and we know that. We had a chance to win three games in a sense. To be able to get this one was important

It’s hardly a surprise that Girardi decided to use Austin Romine as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning — the Yankees have never denied that Romine is a better defensive catcher — but Montero threw out the first guy who tried to steal against him, and the Yankees seemed happy with his ability to hold his own in this situation.  I thought he did a pretty good job, he struggled offensively today and he did allow a ball to go through his legs to score a run althought it was scored as a wild pitch.

Garcia: “He did a really good job. We were on the same page. We talked about it before the game, what I like to do, and he did pretty good. I was really happy for him.”

Girardi: “I thought he did okay. There’s balls going every which direction when you catch Freddy. Some splitters are going to go straight down, some are going to left and some are going to go right. I thought he did a good job. To be thrown into that situation against an aggressive ballclub after losing two games, I thought he did a nice job.”

Montero: “A little nervous the first time, but after that it was like, let’s work. Let’s win today. Let’s help our team to win… We talked before the game. We talked about everything: ‘I like to throw this, I like to do this.’ I was OK. He told me, ‘Be ready to block.’ That’s what I did. We did a nice job together.”

 Rivera got career save No. 599 today. Up next, becoming the second pitcher to ever reach 600. “It’s a great number, definitely,” Rivera said. “It’s going to happen if it happens. I’ll be fine. I won’t lose any sleep if it doesn’t happen, but it’s a great number.”  There is no doubt that he will get it, if not this year then next year but that is Mo to be humble. 

 Obviously this wasn’t Garcia’s finest start — he’s had two shaky outings in a row — but leaving the bases loaded in the fifth inning might have been the key to the game, specifically the 3-1 pitch that Mark Trumbo popped up for the second out. “I was really glad that Joe gave me the confidence to finish that inning,” Garcia said. “It’s really important for any pitcher in that situation. We lost the first two here, so to give me the chance to get out of that inning, it was big.”

 Austin Romine had a crazy day. He woke up at 4:30 ET, flew to LA, got to the park around noon and made his big league debut as a defensive replacement. “I had a million things thrown at me at one time,” he said. “They were showing me pictures of hitters and counts and stuff like that. I just took a deep breath and treated it like spring training. I’d caught him before — I’d caught all these guys before – and I’d played here before, so the comfort level was higher than I thought it was going to be. I just took a deep breath and didn’t think.”

Speaking of Romine, he said he didn’t throw to second on the strange stolen base in the seventh because Torii Hunter was in front of him. “He was in front of me,” Romine said. “I didn’t want to try to throw it around him and throw it into the outfield. I figured, we have a guy on the mound who can get people out. Let him get them out, rather than have me throw the ball into the outfield and put us even or down a run. I just didn’t want to throw it away.”  If he did throw it and it hit Hunter or he did it would of been interference so I actually think that was a rookie mistake but it ended up working out.

Russell Martin said his thumb is better, but Girardi said he expects either Montero or Romine to catch tomorrow night in Seattle. “You’ve got two guys that, if you add them up, are the same age as Jorge,” Girardi said. “They both did a good job. I remember my first game in the big-leagues and I was as nervous as you could be. For them to do what they did, I’m proud of both of them.”  It is better for the Yankees to be cautious and make sure that Martin comes back and he doesn't reinjure his thumb, the Yankees need their guys to be ready for the postseason.

Montero on throwing out the first runner who tried to steal against him: “Well, thank God I make a nice throw right there. I know Callaspo likes to run and I was ready to throw the ball to second base real quick, and that’s what I did.”

Steve Garrison was designated for assignment to make room for Romine on the 40 man roster. 

Yankees end their skid and Rivera gets save 599

The New York Yankees defeated the Anaheim Angels on Sunday afternoon by the score of 6-5. Freddy Garcia made the start and didn’t pitch very well but he battled. The bullpen did a good job and the offense rallied. The offense came into the game not scoring a run for 16 innings. Jesus Montero started his first game in the major leagues as a catcher and Austin Romine made his major league debut.
Garcia pitched five innings giving up seven hits and five runs. He walked three and struck out three. Cory Wade who earned his fifth win and went to 5-0 pitched one perfect inning, Rafael Soriano pitched one inning giving up two hits and he struck out a batter and Dave Robertson pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout. Rivera earned his 599th save of his career and 40th of the season pitching one inning giving up a hit.

Derek Jeter had two hits, Curtis Granderson had a hit and two RBI and Mark Teixeira had a walk and an RBI. Robinson Cano had two hits and an RBI, Jesus Montero was intentionally walked and Eric Chavez had two hits and an RBI. Andruw Jones had two walks, Eduardo Nunez had a walk and Brett Gardner had a hit and a walk. Chavez had a double, Cano and Granderson each hit a homerun. The Yankees were 1-5 with runners in scoring position and they left seven men on base. Gardner was caught stealing.

The Angels took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Howie Kendrick hit a two run homerun. In the second inning Chavez had an RBI single to cut the lead in half. In the third Garcia threw a wild pitch to allow a run to score and give the Angels a 3-1 lead. In the fourth Cano hit a solo homerun to make it 3-2 Angels. Peter Bourjos hit a two run homerun in the fourth inning to give the Angels a 5-2 lead. In the fifth Granderson hit a two run homerun to make it 5-4. In the seventh Teixeira hit a sacrifice fly but the ball was dropped and two runs scored to give the Yankees a 6-5 lead and that would be the final runs in the game. The Yankees would give up a infield hit in the ninth but it would be erased by a double play to end the game.

The Yankees salvaged the final game of the three game series. The Yankees increased their lead in the AL East to 3 ½ games over the Boston Red Sox. The AL wild card is suddenly a race as the Tampa Bay Rays swept the Red Sox and are only 3 ½ behind them. The Yankees will head to Seattle to begin a three game series on Monday night. Phil Hughes will be on the mound against Felix Hernandez. The 3 ½ game lead the Yankees have is their largest of the season. The Yankees offense had been struggling and in this game they showed signs of life and maybe now they will come out of their slump. They have been battling fatigue and guys being injured. The Yankees have used five catchers this past week alone, that shows how beat up they have been but they found a way in this game and now they hope they can relax a little and win a few more games. The Yankees have 17 games remaining so they are in pretty good shape to wrap up a postseason spot and even the division title.

Yankees lost their fourth straight as Posada is pressed into duty as a catcher

The New York Yankees were defeated by the Anaheim Angels by the score of 6-0 on Saturday night. CC Sabathia started and although he struggled especially early on he did battle his way through and gave the Yankees a chance to win. The bullpen was a different story as they let the game get out of hand. The offense continues to struggle as they couldn’t muster anything against Dan Haren. Jorge Posada who hasn’t caught a game since last October was pressed into duty because of an injury to Russell Martin. Francisco Cervelli the backup catcher is having concussion symptoms and Jesus Montero was the DH, they didn’t want to lose the DH so Posada had to catch.
Sabathia pitched six innings giving up one run on eight hits. He walked four and struck out five. Sabathia failed to record his 20th win of the season. Hector Noesi pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up three hits and four runs with a walk and a strikeout and George Kontos made his major league debut giving up two hits and one run in 1 1/3 innings. He struck out two batters.

Derek Jeter, Eric Chavez, Montero and Posada each had a hit. Jeter had a double, the Yankees were 0-4 with runners in scoring position and they left two men on base. The Yankees offense was non existant. Jeter led off the game with a double and Montero had a single in the second and then the Yankees didn’t have a base runner until the eighth inning. Dan Haren pitched a complete game shutout.

The Angels took a 1-0 lead in the second inning Maicer Izturis RBI double. Mike Trout had an RBI single in the seventh to make it 2-0. Erick Aybar hit a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0 and Jeff Mathis hit a two run homerun making it 5-0 Angels. The Angels would complete the scoring with a solo homerun from Torii Hunter in the eighth inning.

The Yankees have lost four games in a row. They have dropped the first two games of this three game series in Anaheim. The Yankees remain 2 ½ games ahead of the Boston Red Sox for first place in the AL East. The Red Sox also keep losing. The Tampa Bay Rays are suddenly only four games back of the Red Sox for the wild card. The Angels are only 1 ½ back of the Texas Rangers for first place in the AL West. The Angels are right in the wild card race as well and so is Texas. It should be an interesting finish with the Yankees and Red Sox playing three more times and the Rays playing the Red Sox five more times and the Yankees seven more times. The Yankees and Angels will complete their three games series with a Sunday afternoon game and then the Yankees will head to Seattle for a three game series.