Yankees pound the Red Sox to hurt their wildcard chances

The New York Yankees defeated the Boston Red Sox by the score of 9-1 on Saturday evening. Freddy Garcia made the start for the Yankees and pitched great, he may have secured himself a spot in the postseason rotation. The Yankees bullpen did a good job and the offense really hammered Jon Lester. Jesus Montero had a big day at the plate.
Garcia pitched six innings giving up six hits and no runs. He walked one and struck out three. Garcia improved to 12-8 on the season. Raul Valdes pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and one run, Cory Wade gave up a hit without recording an out and Boon Logan faced two batters and retired both of them, one on a strikeout. Luis Ayala faced two batters and retired them both and George Kontos pitched a perfect inning with two strikeouts.

Derek Jeter had a hit and three RBI, Robinson Cano had a hit and Nick Swisher had a hit and two walks. Andruw Jones had two hits, Montero had three hits and four RBI and Russell Martin had a hit and two RBI. Montero had a double, Jeter and Montero each had a homerun. The Yankees were 5-6 with runners in scoring position and they left two men on base. Rodriguez made a throwing error.

In the second Montero had an RBI single to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. Martin had a two run single to make it 3-0 and Jeter had a three run homerun to make it 6-0 Yankees. In the third Montero had a two run double and it was 8-0 Yankees. Montero hit a solo homerun in the sixth to push the lead to 9-0, the Red Sox would get their only run of the game in the seventh inning. It was the last run of the game as the game finished 9-1. Carl Crawford had an RBI double.

The Yankees with their win had a magic number of one to clinch home field advantage throughout the AL playoffs. The Tigers were taking on the Orioles this evening and lost so the Yankees have clinched home field advantage. The Yankees also with the victory put the pressure on the Red Sox who came into the day with a 2 ½ game lead over the Rays for the wild card. The Rays won so the lead is down to 1 ½. The Red Sox will be pitching John Lackey and Tim Wakefield in the doubleheader tomorrow. These are two pitchers that have really struggled for an extended period of time. There was a crowd of 49, 556 which was the largest in the new stadiums history. Garcia said “I needed to pitch good today. I did it, I’m really happy about it, and now I’m looking forward to my next start. I don’t know when, but hopefully it will be in the playoffs.” The Yankees had their regular lineup in there against the Red Sox. I would assume in one of the games tomorrow they will and then in the other it will be a lot of backups since it is a doubleheader. The key though is pitching and that is why the Red Sox are struggling so much, the pitching for them has been awful. A.J. Burnett will star the first game for the Yankees on Sunday and Ivan Nova will pitch the night cap of the doubleheader. The Yankees will really try to hurt the Red Sox chances by beating them in both games of the doubleheader.

Mets sweep a doubleheader from the Phillies

The New York Mets defeated the Philadelphia Phillies twice on Saturday. They beat them 2-1 and 6-3 in a doubleheader. R.A. Dickey pitched great in the first game and the bullpen used two pitchers to close it out. Dillon Gee pitched the second game and picked up the win, he gave up a bunch of hits but was able to now allow many runs. The bullpen pitched very well in the second game using three pitchers. The offense wasn’t great in the second game, they had some help by the Phillies defense to score some runs. In the first game the offense for the Mets only had six hits and no one had more then one.
In the first game Dickey pitched seven innings giving up three hits and one run with a walk and four strikeouts. Miguel Batista pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a hit and a walk, he also struck out one and Bobby Parnell faced one batter and retired him to pick up his fourth win of the season. Manny Acosta pitched an inning giving up a hit and a walk with a strikeout to pick up his third save of the season. In the night cap Gee pitched six innings giving up nine hits and three runs with two of them being earned. He walked two and struck out two. Gee is now 13-6 on the season, Parnell pitched 1 2/3 perfect innings and struck out one and Daniel Herrera pitched to one batter and retired him. Acosta picked up his fourth save of the season pitching one inning and giving up a hit and a walk.

The offense in the day game got hits from Jose Reyes, Ruben Tejada and David Wright. Wright had an RBI and a walk, Josh Satin had a hit and Nick Evans had a hit. Willie Harris had a walk and Valentino Pascucci had a hit and an RBI. Wright had a double and Pascucci had a homerun. The Mets were 1-7 with runners in scoring position and they left six men on base. Tejada, Reyes and Wright each had a stolen base. In the night cap Tejada had a hit and an RBI, Justin Turner had a walk and Harris had a hit. Wright had a walk, Evans had a hit and an RBI and Josh Thole had a hit and two RBI. Jason Pridie had two hits, Evans and Pridie each had a double. The Mets were 3-6 with runners in scoring position and they left three men on base. Harris and Pridie each had a stolen base. Turner had an error.

In the first game the Phillies got on the board first in the seventh inning on a Ryan Howard RBI single. In the bottom of the seventh Pascucci hit a solo homerun to tie the game at one. In the eighth Wright had an RBI double and that would complete the scoring in the game. In the night game the Phillies took a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Wilson Valdez had an RBI single and Jimmy Rollins had an RBI single. In the third Ross Gload had an RBI single to extend the lead to 3-0 Phillies. In the bottom of the third Harris reached on a fielding error and two runs scored to cut the lead to 3-2. Evans doubled to tie the score at three and Thole had a two run single to make it 5-3 Mets. In the fourth Tejada had an RBI single and it was 6-3 Mets. The game would end with that score.

The Mets have continued to play hard after Terry Collins really gave it to them about a week ago before their road trip. They have responded by playing well in Atlanta and St. Louis and now carrying it back home against the Phillies. The Phillies of course have nothing to play for but that isn’t the Mets fault. They need to feel good about themselves ending the season and heading into next season.

The Yankees get routed in loss to the Rays

Bronx,NY(September 22)-The New York Yankees lost to the Tampa Bay Rays by the score of 15-8 on Thursday night. The Yankees clinched a playoff spot and the division title on Wednesday and they looked like a team that was partying the night before. The Yankees had most of their regulars sitting out and even got some pitchers in there to make their major league debuts. Bartolo Colon started and was horrible, he was a guy that was though of as the number two or three starter in the postseason but I don’t think that is the case anymore. The Yankees used a bunch of relievers who had varying levels of success. The offense was shut down by Matt Moore who made his major league debut but were able to get to the Rays bullpen a little bit.


Colon pitched three innings giving up seven hits and seven runs with five of them being earned. He walked one and struck out one. Colon took the loss and is 8-10 on the season. He looks like a pitcher who is just tired. He pitched so well in the first half of the season but has just lost it after the all star break. Scott Proctor pitched an inning giving up four hits and five runs with three of them being earned. He walked two batters, Aaron Laffey pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up four hits and one run and struck out one and Andrew Brackman in his major league debut pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up one hit and one walk. Dellin Betances also made his major league debut and pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two runs and four walks with a hit batter and George Kontos pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up one hit and he struck out one.

Chris Dickerson had a hit, Eduardo Nunez had two hits and a walk and Austin Romine had a hit and a walk. Nick Swisher had a hit, Ramiro Pena had two hits and two RBI and Andruw Jones had two hits and three RBI. Jesus Montero had a big game with three hits, two RBI and two walks. Jorge Posada and Brandon Laird each had a hit. Montero had a double and Jones had a homerun. The Yankees were 4-14 with runners in scoring position and they left 11 men on base. Swisher made an error, Jeter made two errors and Dickerson made an error.

The Rays jumped all over the Yankees in this game. Matt Joyce had a two run single in the first and Johnny Damon had a sacrifice fly togive the Rays a 3-0 lead. B.J. Upton had an RBI triple and Evan Longoria an RBI double in the second to give them a 5-0 lead. In the third inning Ben Zobrist hit a two run homerun to give the Rays a 7-0 lead and the rout was on. Upton hit a two run homerun in the fourth, Damon hit a two run homerun and Reid Brignac hit an RBI single to extend the lead to 12-0. IN the fifth inning Zobrist hit a sacrifice fly to make it 13-0. Jones hit a two run homerun in the sixth inning to get the Yankees on the board. In the seventh Pena and Jones had RBI singles to make it 13-4 and Montero had a two run double. It was 13-6 Rays. In the eighth Matt Joyce was hit by a pitch to score a run and Russ Canzler hit a sacrifice fly to make it 15-6 Rays. In the eighth Pena reached on a throwing error to score two runs and make it 15-8. That would be all the scoring in the game.

The Yankees won three out of four in the series against the Rays. The Rays with the victory are two games back of the Red Sox for the wild card with six games to go. The Yankees begin a three game series with the Boston Red Sox on Friday night. The Yankees will have Freddy Garcia on the mound against Jon Lester. The Yankees have a magic number of two to clinch home field advantage through the AL playoffs. The Yankees can get that this weekend and really rest up next week against the Rays for the final three games. It will be interesting to see how the Yankees play the Red Sox who are their arch rivals and I am sure they would love to knock out of the postseason. The Yankees just want to get guys healthy and tuned up for the postseason which will begin next Friday night at the Stadium.

Mets avoid the swep in St. Louis and help the Braves in the process

By Gary W. Marchese Jr.

St. Louis,MO(September 22)-The New York Mets defeated the St. Louis Cardinals by the score of 8-6 on Thursday evening. The Mets had a great comeback in this game as they were trailing by four runs entering the ninth inning. Chris Capuano started for the Mets and did his usual which is ok, nothing great and nothing horrible. He wasn’t able to go deep into the game which isn’t good but the bullpen did a pretty good job. Drew Stinson had a rough outing but four other relievers pitched well. The offense was led by Ruben Tejada who had a couple of hits and Josh Thole also had a couple of hits.

Capuano pitched 4 2/3 innings giving up eight hits and four runs. He walked two and struck out four. Ryota Igarashi pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up one hit and one walk, Stinson pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two hits and two runs and Daniel Herrera gave up a hit in 1/3 of an inning. Manny Acosta pitched a perfect inning to record his fourth win of the season and Bobby Parnell pitched a perfect inning for his sixth save of the season. Parnell also struck out one batter.

Jose Reyes had a hit, RBI and a walk, Tejada had two hits, three RBI and a walk and Angel Pagan had two walks. Willie Harris had a hit, two RBI and two walks. Thole had two hits, Mike Baxter had a hit and Jason Pridie had a walk. Justin Turner had an RBI and a walk. Thole and Tejada each had a double. The Mets were 3-13 with runners in scoring position and they left seven men on base. Pagan had a stolen base.

Allen Craig hit a two run homerun in the first inning to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead. In the fifth Tejada had an RBI walk to make it 2-1 Cardinals. Albert Pujols hit a homerun in the fifth and Yadier Molina had an RBI single. It was 4-1 Cardinals. In the seventh Molina had an RBI double and Tyler Greene had an RBI single to make it 6-1. In the eighth Molina allowed a passed ball and the Mets scored a run to make it a 6-2 game. In the ninth Turner walked to drive in a run, Reyes had an RBI single, Tejada had a two run double and Harris had a two run single to give the Mets a 8-6 lead. That would be the final runs of the game as the Mets did not struggle to hold onto this lead.

The Mets really dashed the Cardinals hopes, the Cardinals were within two games of the wild card and now it is three. The Mets will return home on Friday night to begin a three game series with the Philadelphia Phillies. The Mets will conclude their season with three games against the Cincinatti Reds. The Mets hope to finish strong on this homestand and try and look forward to the 2012 season.

Mariano Rivera-The Greatest Of All-Time

Mariano Rivera on Monday afternoon in a makeup game against the Minnesota Twins set the record for most all-time saves.  Rivera didn't need this record to validate himself as the greatest of all-time.  I think he was anointed that about five or six years ago and who can argue that.  There could always be someone to argue it but now you can backup your argument with the fact that no one else in the history of baseball has saved as many games as Rivera.  I know the save stat didn't come into existance until 1969 but that all doesn't matter.  Rivera is simply the best and what an athlete and man also. 

I have had the great privelage of watching Rivera since day one.  I don't know if I have seen every single save he has ever had but I have come pretty close.  I have seen many in the Old Stadium and now the New Yankee Stadium.  I have seen most of the others on T.V.  If I missed a few it was because of some big event such as a wedding or a christening or something like that where I couldn't miss. 

Rivera came up to the Yankees in 1995 and of course if they knew what they had then, they would of never lost that five game epic ALDS against the Seattle Mariners.  In 1996 he was a setup man for John Wetteland the closer.  Rivera would usually come in and pitch the seventh and eighth innings and just blow guys away with a 95mph + fastball and of course great command.  He would mow the hitters down and then Wetteland would make you sweat it out but the formula worked.  The Yankees in that magical season made it a six inning game.  It was the Yankees first World Series win in 18 years since the 1978 Yankees. 

Rivera took over the closer role in 1997 and has been there ever since.  I am sure not a lot of people remember but he actually blew three out of his first six save oppurtunities or something like that.  There was some panic and he was asked about it.  Rivera said he will be just fine and he has been more then that.  Rivera has been a picture of consistency in a job where guys last maybe a couple of years, maybe five or six if they are lucky at the top of their game.  Rivera is in his 40's now and still has 42 saves this season.  I find it ironic that he saved his 42nd game of the season the day he broke the record.  He of course is the last man wearing that number as it is retired across baseball. 

Rivera has one more year on his contract left but you can see him pitching longer then that if he wanted too.  I would think he will retire at the end of next season but he just seems like he could do it forever, it is so effortless.  Has he been perfect of course not but the amazing thing is when he has blown a save or still does you are in shock, that proves how good he really is.  Rivera is known for three big blown saves but he has been able to come back from them all.  In 1997 against the Cleveland Indians he gave up a big homerun to Sandy Alomar Jr. to lose the ALDS.  In 2001 he had a blown save in game seven to lose the World Series to the Arizona Diamondbacks and in 2004 they had the epic collapse against the Red Sox and he blew a save in Game four where Dave Roberts stole a base and then the Yankees never recovered. 

Rivera is simply the best and congratulations to him on setting the record and having a great career.  He of course is not done, he will look to add to his record and of course he also has 42 career postseason saves and really wants to add to that as well this season.  Rivera will look for his sixth ring to go along with his other awards such as World Series MVP and numerous All Star appearances. 

Nova outstanding in Yankees shutout win

The New York Yankees defeated the Tampa Bay Rays by the score of 5-0 on Tuesday night. Ivan Nova made the start and pitched great. He looked like he definitely earned the number two spot in the rotation for the postseason. The Yankees offense was good enough but they could of done a lot more damage. The Yankees had runners on base all night and they didn’t do that much damage with it although they scored the five runs. Curtis Granderson and Brett Gardner had good games, they have been in slumps and they are getting hot at the right time.
Nova pitched 7 2/3 innings giving up no runs on six hits. He walked three and struck out three. Nova earned his 16th win of the season. Boone Logan pitched 1/3 of an inning retiring the only batter he faced and Luis Ayala pitched an inning giving up no runs and a walk.

Derek Jeter had two hits and a walk, Curtis Granderson had three hits, four RBI and a walk and Mark Teixeira had a hit and a walk. Alex Rodriguez had two walks, Robinson Cano had a hit and Nick Swisher had a hit and a walk. Eric Chavez had two hits and an RBI, Russell Martin had two hits and a walk and Brett Gardner had two hits. Swisher, Granderson and Cano all had doubles and Granderson had two. The Yankees were 5-20 with runners in scoring position and they left 18 men on base.

In the second inning Chavez had an RBI single and Granderson had a three run double to make it 4-0. In the fifth Granderson had an RBI single to make it 5-0 Yankees. That would be all the scoring in the game. The Rays had a big chance in the sixth inning, they loaded the bases with no outs. Nova got Desmond Jennings to fly out and B.J. Upton to ground into a double play to end the inning. That was the best chance the Rays had all night. The Yankees had plenty of chances to really open up the game but never did but they scored more then enough on this night.

The Yankees won the first of four games against the Tampa Bay Rays. The two teams will play a split doubleheader tomorrow. The games are at 1:00PM and 7:00PM. Phil Hughes is scheduled to start the day game but has been battling back spasms and if he can’t go Joe Girardi said he will figure it out tomorrow morning. CC Sabathia is scheduled to pitch the night game. The Yankees magic number to clinch a playoff spot is two and three to clinch the AL East. The Yankees have a chance to end everything tomorrow, if they win one of the games they will officially be in the postseason and if they win both and the Red Sox lose they will clinch the division. The Red Sox are in a free fall and lucky that the Rays lost to the Yankees. The Angels are still right there though and they won on Tuesday. There is a chance that the Angels could sneak in there and win the wild card. The way the Red Sox are playing even if they hold on they don’t look like they can win a playoff series.

Yankees win and MO breaks the all-time saves record

The New York Yankees defeated the Minnesota Twins 6-4 on Monday afternoon. It was a makeup game from an earlier rain out. The Yankees seemed to be on the road forever as they had a long and tough road trip. A.J. Burnett started this game and didn’t pitch very well. He was staked to a big lead and still couldn’t qualify for the win. The bullpen did it’s usual good job. The offense was good on this day.
Burnett pitched four innings giving up nine hits and four runs with one walk and eight strikeouts. Cory Wade who earned the win pitched 1 2/3 innings giving up three hits and a walk and he struck out two. Wade is now 6-1 on the season. Boone Logan faced one batter and retired him, Rafael Soriano pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout and Dave Robertson pitched a perfect inning. Rivera pitched a 1-2-3 inning with a strikeout to record his 43rd save of the season and also to earn the all-time major league baseball saves record. He now stands alone on top of the mountain with 602 saves and he has more to come. Rivera didn’t need validation but now he is officially the best there ever was.

Derek Jeter had three hits and a walk, Curtis Granderson had a hit, two RBI and a walk and Mark Teixeira had two hits. Alex Rodriguez had a hit, RBI and a walk, Robinson Cano had two hits an RBI and two walks and Nick Swisher had two hits and an RBI. Andruw Jones had a hit, Brett Gardner had a hit and Jesus Montero had a hit. Russell Martin had a hit, RBI and a walk. Jones and Jeter each had a double, Cano had a triple and Granderson had a homerun. The Yankees were 3-13 with runners in scoring position and they left 12 men on base. Martin had a throwing error.

The Yankees jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a two run homerun by Granderson in the first inning. In the second Martin had an RBI single to make it 3-0 Yankees and in the third Cano had an RBI triple and Swisher an RBI single to make it 5-0. The Twins got on the board in the fourth inning. Chris Parmelee hit a solo homerun to make it 5-1. Michael Cuddyer hit a two run homerun in the fifth to make it a 5-3 game. Luke Hughes grounded out to score another run and pull the Twins to within 5-4. In the sixth Rodriguez had an RBI single to make it 6-4 and that would complete the scoring in the game.

The Yankees are off to a good start in their eight game final homestand of the season. This was a one game makeup from a rained out game in April. The Yankees will begin a four game series with the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday night. The Boston Red Sox lost game one of a doubleheader on Monday afternoon and the Yankees are 5 ½ games up in the AL East. They have a magic number of three to clinch a playoff spot and five for the division title. The Yankees now have accomplished getting Rivera the record and they want to clinch as fast as possible now. The Yankees only have to win a couple of games against Tampa Bay and they will clinch a postseason berth. It depends on what Boston does but if they win a couple against Tampa, they may only need to win one against Boston to clinch the division title but will most likely clinch it against them at home. The Yankees would like to get that done and then be able to rest some guys and get their rotation set up for the first round of the playoffs. The playoffs will begin on Friday September 30th.

Yankees news and notes as a long road trip ends

The Yankees had a rough road trip but they actually gained two games in the standings.  They had a three city, ten game road trip.  They had to go to the West Coast and then back to Toronto.  The Yankees have a five game lead in the loss column over Boston, they have a magic number of five to clinch a playoff spot.  They should be able to clinch that and the division at home this week.  They should also be able to get Mariano Rivera the all-time saves record.  Here are some notes from after yesterday's game.  The Lohud Yankees blog provided a lot of the information.

Ten starts in a row, Freddy Garcia didn’t allow a single home run. When he finally coughed one up on August 29, it was the only run he allowed all game. Since then, Garcia has allowed multiple home runs in three straight starts, including two tonight to Adam Lind.  The Yankees pitching has been good all season but Colon had one good start and one bad on this road trip, CC Sabathia hasn't been himself, Phil Hughes was pushed back with back spasms and Freddy Garcia hasn't been good at all.  The Yankees pitching is a little bit of a mess right now.  The bullpen has been very good though for the most part. 


“I try to make good pitches, and sometimes I’m not able to do it,” Garcia said. “That’s why I’ve been giving home runs… Last three starts, I don’t be doing my job. I’m really frustrated about it, but that’s part of the game. Sometimes you pitch good. Sometimes you pitch bad. You just have to go continue to try to do the best that you can do, and hopefully everything goes well for you.”

“Bart had a good start on this road trip and had one that wasn’t so good,” Joe Girardi said. “Freddy’s kept us in the games. We talked at the beginning of the season how we worried about innings for both these guys. There’s some concern there, but they’ve just got to find a way to get it done.”

Garcia said tonight’s home run was a good pitch, a splitter that Lind put a good swing on. The second was a slider that “didn’t do much.”

“He’s just missing some spots, that’s all,” Girardi said. “That’s going to happen. Freddy’s not going to be a huge strikeout guy and they’re going to put the ball in play. If you miss some spots, that’s the chance you’re going to take.”

The Yankees won only four of 10 on this road trip, but they still managed to gain two games in the standings. After today’s game, the team just seemed relieved to be finally going home. “From now on every game is important,” Alex Rodriguez said. “Every game is meaningful. We’re looking forward to playing at home, playing well, start cleaning up some of the small mistakes that we’ve been making. We understand we’ve got to get better.”

 After Monday’s makeup game against the Twins, the Yankees play their final 10 games against the Red Sox and Rays. With seven games at home against those two teams, the Yankees home stand could either put the division away or make it a race to the finish. “It will be a great opportunity to do that there,” Mariano Rivera said. “We still have to perform good and take care of business at home, get this thing over.”

Obviously Brandon Morrow completely shutdown the Yankees offense today. “He had us baffled all day with his slide,” Rodriguez said. “He probably threw 70 to 75 percent sliders, which is a very high percentage for him. He’s usually the opposite, 70 to 77 percent fastball guy.”

 Of the Yankees five hits, three were by Eduardo Nunez, and Nunez was the only Yankee to advance beyond first base.

 Of course, Nunez also made the second Yankees base-running mistake of the weekend. “He’s just making an aggressive turn,” Girardi said. “In that situation, you’ve got to know the score. You’re not going to get to second unless it really bounces off himn, so you’ve got to be cautious there. He was just overaggressive.”  The Yankees need to clean up the stuff like that, they had a lot of those mistakes on this road trip and they can't continue to play that way.

 Why not pinch hit for Ramiro Pena in the eighth? “Pena’s had some success off him,” Girardi said. “Grandy is 1 for his last 15 with 10 strikeouts. If we had a couple guys on, I might have pinch-hit Grandy and taken a chance.”

 Impressive Yankees debut by Raul Valdes, who retired four of the five batters he faced, including all three left-handers. The Yankees have been giving Aaron Laffey a lot of chances to emerge as a legitimate second lefty candidate, but that Valdes appearance might earn a few more looks. I still don’t think the Yankees will actually carry a second left-hander in the postseason, but I’m sure they’d like to have a backup option in mind.

 Girardi’s assessment of going 4-6 on the road and still gaining two games in the standings: “I think we are fortunate,” he said. “We’ve got to go home and play better, there’s no doubt about it. At times, we didn’t swing the bats on this trip. Is it good pitching? Is it fatigue? I don’t know, but I know our guys are pretty worn down. Now they’ll get to sleep in their own beds and hopefully catch up a little bit.”

The Mets play spoilers and take a series in Atlanta

The New York Mets defeated the Atlanta Braves by a score of 7-5 on Sunday afternoon. Dillon Gee made the start and did not pitch well at all. The bullpen pitched 4 2/3 good innings with five different pitchers getting into the game. The offense did a good job in this game. Ruben Tejada, Lucas Duda and Nick Evans had good games.
Gee pitched 4 1/3 innings giving up eight hits and four runs. He walked five and struck out four. Daniel Herrera pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up a walk, Miguel Batista pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up two hits and one run and Tim Byrdak who earned the win pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up one hit and he struck out two batters. Byrdak is now 2-0 on the season. Bobby Parnell pitched 2/3 of an inning giving up two walks and Manny Acosta pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up one hit and a walk.

Tejada had two hits, four RBI and a walk, David Wright had a hit and Duda had two hits, an RBI and a walk. Jason Bay had a hit and two walks, Evans had two hits and Justin Turner had two walks. Gee had a walk and an RBI and Ronny Paulino had a walk and an RBI. Tejada had a double and Duda had a homerun. The Mets were 2-9 with runners in scoring position and they left seven men on base. Tejada had a stolen base and Pridie had an error.

Chipper Jones had an RBI double in the third inning to put the Braves in front 1-0. In the fourth Gee had an RBI walk and Tejada had a three run double to make it 4-1 Mets. In the bottom of the fourth Alex Gonzalez hit a solo homerun to make it a 4-2 game. Michael Bourn hit an RBI single and Dan Uggla grounded out scoring another run and tying the game at four. In the seventh Freddie Freeman had an RBI single to make it a 5-4 game in favor of the Braves. In the eighth Paulino had an RBI walk and Tejada had an RBI single. It was a 6-5 game in favor of the Mets. Turner was thrown out at home on the same play to end the inning. Duda hit a solo homerun in the ninth to give the Mets a 7-5 lead and that is how the game would end.

The Mets won two out of three in this series. The Mets record improved to 73-80 on the season. The Mets have a day off on Monday and then head to St. Louis to take on the Cardinals for three games before heading home to finish the season. The Mets can only play the role of spoilers but they seem to be enjoying it after they got embarrassed at home. They have played well on the road all season and have continued to do so. The Mets were 1-8 on their recent homestand and going on the road has worked for them, they will try and win another series on the road beginning Tuesday.

Yankees lose finale in Toronto and end long road trip

The New York Yankees lost to the Toronto Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon by the score of 3-0. The Yankees sat most of their regulars as they were finishing a long, tough road trip. They will begin their last homestand of the season on Monday afternoon and they have to win a few more games to clinch but they are in good position. The Yankees magic number to clinch the division is seven and it is five to clinch a playoff spot. Freddy Garcia started and pitched ok, he wasn’t great but he wasn’t bad. The bullpen did a good job. The offense was completely shut down by Brandon Morrow.
Garcia pitched 4 2/3 innings giving up five hits and three runs. He walked three and struck out four. Garcia took the loss and is now 11-8 on the season. Aaron Laffey faced one batter and walked him, Luis Ayala pitched 1 1/3 perfect innings with a strikeout and Scott Proctor gave up a hit and two walks pitching 1/3 of an inning. Raul Valdes pitched 1 1/3 innings giving up one hit and he struck out two and George Kontos retired the only batter that he faced.

Eduardo Nunez had three hits, Robinson Cano had a walk and Russell Martin had a hit. Chris Dickerson had a hit, Nunez had a double. Cano was caught stealing and the team was 0-3 with runners in scoring position and they left four men on base. Garcia made a throwing error.

Adam Lind hit a solo homerun in the second inning to give the Jays a 1-0 lead. Lind hit another solo homerun in the fourth to give the Jays a 2-0 lead. In the fifth Eric Thames hit a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0. That would be all the scoring in the game as the Yankees bullpen held the Jays down but the Yankees bats did not do much at all in this game.

The Yankees lost two out of three in this series. The Yankees will now come home to play a makeup game against the Minnesota Twins on Monday afternoon and then begin a four game series against the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuesday followed by three against the Red Sox. The Yankees will be looking to clinch a postseason berth and the division title on this homestand. They will also look to get Mariano Rivera the all-time saves record of 602. He needs one more save for the record. The Yankees finished their ten game, four city road trip at 4-6. The Boston Red Sox lost once again to the Tampa Bay Rays and only have a two game lead in the wild card race. The Yankees magic number is five for the postseason and seven for the division. Any combination of their wins and Tampa and Boston losses that equal five or seven will give them the playoffs and division. It should be a fun week at Yankee Stadium as they look to clinch and also get their closer his all-time saves record.