Yanks Lose

Ineffective Joba, bad D, starters out early, you know the drill, a late season loss when there's nothing at stake. Off day tomorrow.

Rangers Sign Semenov

The Rangers today seemed to finalize their opening day roster by signing Alexei Semenov. Semenov had been with the team on a tryout deal through the preseason and had been fine. He's got some size, is responsible, is physical and can pass. He can't skate particularly well, but he is the sort of solid, veteran D we haven't had in awhile. In other words, he's not overrated, he's just solid. Solid move. Go Rangers!

UPDATE: There's a hold-up with the contract and this deal is not done yet.

Miranda Takes the Pie!

Juan Miranda just ripped a single off of Kyle Farnsworth's leg to give the Yanks their 50th comeback win of the year. It had been a really frustrating game. AJ Burnett started and only gave up 1 run through 6.1 and it shouldn't have been earned as ARod had trouble handling an easy play that would have been the third out. Tex tied it with a homer to right, then Phil Coke came in and gave up AJ's second run and a run of his own by misplaying 3 seperate balls! Swish got one back with a homer in the 7th, then DRob and Bruney combined for 6 outs which lead to the 9th. Farnsworth came in for KC and K'd Gardy. Cervelli somehow got on and Hinske singled him to 3rd. Cano hit a sac fly to tie it up, then they walked Damon. That's when Miranda came up and got the big two out hit. Bruney got the win. Joba goes for win #103 tomorrow. Go Yanks!

Knicks Open Camp

Knick Camp has opened in what will forever be known as "the year before" among Knick fans. Before what, we don't know, but next summer the Knicks will have cap room for the first time in over a decade and will be adding a big free agent or two. In the meantime, the team, such as it is after a pretty static offseason, has convened to try to improve while they await their savior(s). The good news is the Danillo Gallinari, who looks like he really could be good, is finally healthy. Nate and Lee are back on one year deals. Wilson Chandler's ankle is better, and hopefully his game will be too this year. Curry is back at a lower weight. Harrington is back in better shape. And the two rookies have just got to be better than they looked in the summer league. Don't they? Coach D'Antoni has is work cut out for him this year, and President Walsh, must keep trying to create more cap room for next year.

It's weird, but I keep having this feeling that Carmello Anthony will end up as a Knick through some convoluted trade. We'll see.

101

After a rain delay of nearly 2 hours, the Yanks riding Ramiro Pena's first career homer and Robbie Cano's second career grandslam slaughtered the Royals 8-2. Chad Gaudin pitched 6.2 innings of 2 run ball. Marte finished up the seventh, then Aceves came in and got the last 6 outs. It was nice to see a team of mostly back-ups keep the winning streak going. AJ Burnett goes tomorrow. Go Yanks!

Yanks Clinch!

Andy Pettitte just won his 14th as the Yanks won their 100th game of the year. Not only did the Yanks just sew up the AL East and homefield advantage through the post season, but they also tied the season series with the Red Sox at 9 apiece. That's amazing considering the fact that the Yanks started out 0-8 against the Sox. Bruney got 5 big outs in the 7th and 8th. Coke got Oritz to K. Then Mo, worked around a ball that was lost in the sun and a Cano error to record his 44th save. The Yanks were down 2-0 early, but Melky kept them in it with a solo shot, and Matsui put them up for good with a two run single in the 6th. Tex tacked one on in the 8th as he took Bard downtown again. Time to celebrate! Go Yanks!

Giants Record Their First Road Shutout Since `83!

Ahmad Bradshaw ran 14 times for 108 yards and the Giants cruised to a 24-0 win over the Bucs in Tampa. The goal was to establish the run and stop the run and the Giants really did. Brandon Jacobs was once again curiously tentative, but both Ahmad and later Gartrell Johnson, ran with purpose and kept the chains moving. The Giants also scored three redzone TD's on a run by Jake, and TD passes to Smith and Sinorice Moss(!). The D was great, though they only had 1 int by Terrell Thomas and no sacks, they had a lot of TFL's, blocked a lot of passes and didn't allow so much as a first down till the second half. Freddie Robbins looked like his old self stacking things up. On a down note, Kareem McKenzie left the game with what appeared to be a knee injury. That bears watching. And the O needs to clean up the drops they encountered in the passing game today. In all, progree with the run, against the run and in the redzone, not bad for the 3rd game of the season. 3-0, Go Giants!!!!!!!!!!

Tuck is Dressed

Somewhat surprisingly, Justin Tuck is dressed for the Giants game today. Many thought he'd be inactive due to his labrum ding, but it looks like he's going to give it a try. Hixon is out, so we may have to sit through more Sinorice Moss returns. It would be nice if he would make a play some year. Ross and Dockery are both out, and new Giant safety Aaron Rouse will debut on specials and possibly subs. This is the week where the Giants should get their running game going and their green zone O going. What's more, they need to mind their lanes and get back to stopping the run today. Also, there should be plenty of deep stuff available to Eli and the WR's today. You can get all the info you need at http://giants.com/ . Enjoy, and Go Giants!

The Magic Number is ONE!

One is the number of Yankee wins or Sox losses that it will take for the Yanks to clinch the AL East Championship. One was also the number of hits CC gave up over 7 innings as he collected his 19th win of the season. Phil Hughes pitched a 1-2-3 8th, and Mo gave up a hit and hit Youkilis before closing the show in the 9th. Yanks won 3-0, but it should have been a lot more lopsided. They got a lot of runners on but were on 1-15 with RISP. They need to fix that up. Dice-K's luck continued most of the day, save for giving up Cano's 24th homer. The Yanks loaded the bases against Billy Wagner in the 8th and Damon finally singled to knock in the other two runs. The Yanks go win #100 and the clincher tomorrow. Go Yanks!

Free to Sign

Word came down late Friday that Cuban defector/fireballer, Aroldis Chapman has been declared a free agent by MLB and is therefore free to sign with the highest bidder. It seems to me that that will be the Yankees. Ever since the 21 year old's defection was confirmed, around the July 2 opening of the IFA season, the Yanks have appeared to be keeping their powder dry. In fact, it seems like they've abandoned an earlier plan that would have seen them adding as many as 25 IFA's by the end of the year. For his part, Chapman is a long, lean lefty whose fastball has been clocked at over 100 mph in international competition. His secondary stuff seems fringy at this point, and the development of those extra pithes will determine weather or not Chapman will be a starter or impact reliever in the bigs. This could come together, one way or the other, pretty quickly.

Joba Beats Boston

Now that was much more like it. Joba Chamberlain won his first game since early August as the Yanks beat the Sox 9-5 in the Bronx. Joba cruised through 6, except for 2 bad pitches that ended up over the wall and producing 3 runs for the Sox. Still the Yanks jumped on Jon Lester and had his pitch count way up by the 3rd. It was in the 3rd that tragedy seems to have been avoided. Melky lined a ball off of what appeared to be Lester's knee and the courageous kid went down like he was shot. Fortunately, they are calling it a right thigh contusion and the x-rays were negative. For the Yanks, ARod had a big night with a homer, a single, a double and two walks. Joe sort of went with the B pen. Aceves pitched a 7 pitch 7th, then for some reason, Joe sent Alby out to start the 8th. Alby wasn't good and ended up letting in two runs, before Marte and and Hughes could combine for 3 outs. Coke pitched a scoreless 9th. After all these years, it was nice to see the Yanks running like they always should have with Varitek behind the plate. CC goes tomorrow. Go Yanks!

Gaborik Looks Good

It was a pretty eventful night at the Garden as the Rangers beat the Caps 3-2 in their second to last pre-season game. First, Marian Gaborik looked awesome as he scored the first two goals and took a hit to set the third goal in motion by sending the puck where Brandon Dubinsky in his first game action could pick it up. Second, Dubinsky looked good in all situations, especially setting up the game winning goal with a looping rush toward the goal where he got creamed and had Chris Higgins swat his errant shot in for the winner. In general, the Rangers have better hands and speed up and down the roster this year. Hank looked great. Gilroy and Del Zotto looked like keepers and threats, though Gilroy and Anisimov did have a communication breakdown that lead to one of the Cap goals. Grachev continued to look good without scoring. And Callahan was his usual fearless, threatening self. Some of the young guys are gonna score more under Torts and Cally and Dubi are prime candidates. Staal was still out. Rozy played like he's been playing, while Redden actually looked like he cared.

Sam Rosen explained how the Caps are letting Nylander negotiate with European teams, and I think the Rangers are either gonna try that with Rozsival or Sam wants them to.

Sanguinetti got sent down earlier in the day, so it looks like Del Zotto will at least get ten games to show what he can do.

Go Rangers!

Knicks Re-Up Nate and Lee

The Knicks today finalize a pair of one year deals that will keep Nate Robinson and David Lee in the blue and orange for at least one more season. This culminates an offseason in which Walsh failed to draft Curry or Rubio, failed to construct beneficial sign and trades involving either Nate or Lee, failed to trade for Rubio and failed to sign Ramon Sessions. The 2010 plan better work, because the only improvements we are likely to see this season will come from a finally healthy Danilo Gallinari. Nate and Lee may be valuable at the deadline, but they may not. We'll see. D'Antoni's second camp is about to open and there's a chance that Eddy Curry will actually be able to run, of course they still aren't paying either he or David Lee enough to defend. Oh well. Go Knicks?

KP Done For the Year

Kenny Phillips, the Giants budding star at Safety will miss the rest of the year with an arthritic knee condition. This is a big blow for the Giants because Kenny was proving to be an impact defender. They were awarded jumbo Safety Aaron Rouse off of waivers from Green Bay, and that 89th pick of the `07 draft if a pretty good tackler. What he is not; however, is good in coverage, so that's gonna have to be schemed. Scheming the coverage will be much easier when Ross and Dockery get back. Having said all of this, I believe the Giants will trade for a better safety some time in the next couple of weeks. We'll see. Get well, #21!

Yanks Win, Take Series

AJ Burnett looked great for most of his heat and Shelley Duncan D truncated start agains the Angels in the series finale today. Working 5.2 he K'd 11 and walked 3 (squeezed!) and was cruising until Shelley Duncan played a flyball into a double in the 6th. Girardi wisely took him out, and Marte, Alby, Coke, the return of IPK, and Mo made a 3-2 lead stand up the rest of the way. Nice pitching! It was great to see Ian Kennedy back and his appearance was eventful as he loaded the bases on 2 walks and a hit batsmen before getting the third out in the 8th. Mo gave up a single to Abreu to start the 9th, then just took em down 1-2-3.

It was a weird game as ARod, Posada and Nick Swisher all sat to start. ARod would pinch hit unsuccessfully in the 9th and finish the game at 3B. Cano's 2 run single was the big blow for the Yanks today, and they didn't really grind tremendously well, but they seem to be over whatever the Angels had over them, and that's good. 97 wins and an offday tomorrow. Go Yanks!

Yanks Clinch Then Win

The Yanks clinched at least the wild card when Texas lost to Oakland earlier this evening. Then they went on to hold on and beat the Angels. Homers by ARod, Matsui and Posada staked the Yanks to an early 5-0 lead, but Gaudin, Aceves, and the 8th inning defense gave it all back. Phil Hughes got the win after getting 5 outs and giving up an unearned run over the 7th and 8th. Gardy got on to start the ninth, then stole second. Jeter walked Girardi went NL crazy and had Damon bunt them over, rather than having a good hitter take a quality ab. They walked Tex, then ARod hit a sac fly that plated Gardner. Mo came in and was squeezed into a walk, but got a strike em out, throw em out DP then an easy ground out to get the save. It was a HUGE win for the team in what has been a house of horrors over the past several years. AJ goes tomorrow afternoon. Congrats, Yankees!

Yanks Lose

Girardi, like his predecessor seems to have a problem getting his team to beat the Angels. Sorry.

That's Why He Gets the Big Bucks!

Eli and his kid receivers and injury decimated team just went down to Dallas and opened the new stadium with a last second win! It was sort of a weird game as the Giants couldn't really get their running game going, and Dallas was beating them off the snap pretty frequently. The two teams traded leads, but the keys for the Giants were that they had no turnovers and Dallas turned it over 4 times, and the Giants had Eli, and he is the best 4th quarter QB around. All told Eli threw for 330 yards with TD passes to Manningham and Smith and no turnovers. Manningham and Smith were both amazing, and finished with 1o catches, well over 100 yards and one TD each. Once again the Giants bogged down in the redzone and had to settle for FG's instead of scoring TD's, and that's really what kept a +4 TO margin game close. But, they took a lead in the division and they did it on the road against a record crowd.

On D, we got no sacks, but rookie FA Bruce Johnson had a pick six and Kenny Phillips had two int's of his own, one of which should have resulted in a TD but the ref was too quick with the whistle. Justin Tuck got hurt when Flozell Adams kicked him in the knee and yanked his left arm. Hixon, sprained his knee, so as injured as we were coming in, it got worse! We'll need to straighten out the redzone stuff and get some guys back, but we're off to a great start. Go Giants!

Carney, Garfunkle, Anisimov??????

New York has a new Art to fall in love with, and this time it's Artem Anisimov. The just turned 21 year old Russian has dazzled in the preseason. Not only has he scored to highlight real goals and chipped in a few assissts, but he's shown great defensive willingness and positioning. Lenny R over at Rangers Dump&Chase has seen some Jean Ratelle in the kid's offensive game and I've had to agree. He had a big year as the youngest player on the Pack last year and has added good hockey strength since his cameo with the Rangers last season. The kid is quiet and solid and I think that plus his sound fundamentals had people under rating Artem over the last few years. It now looks like he's got tremendous offensive upside, and could very well be a number one C. Teamed with the even bigger and stronger Evgeny Grachev either this to start this season or soon, and we're gonna have the makings of a great line.

Big Tex!

Like last year's other big FA signings, Mark Teixeira had a BIG NIGHT in Seattle. Coming up in the ninth needing only a double to complete the cycle, he hit another homer by accident. Tex's homers came from the right and left side tonight, which could mean he's on his way to a hot finish. Robbie Cano also had 4 hits tonight, three of them doubles, as the Yanks won 10-1. Way to pick up Mo. Go Yanks!

One Bad Man

CC Sabathia was once again dominant tonight as he cruised to his 18th win. Not only did he not give up any earned runs through seven innings, but in the 5th he took a liner off his chest and somehow kept pitching and K'ing guys for 2 more innings. He struck out 8 in 7ip, as his K/IP continues its late season growth. Yanks were up 8-1 when he left. Go CC!

Dubi Signs!

Our long Rangerland nightmare is over and Brandon Dubinsky is back where he belongs with a new 2 year 3.7M dollar deal. It's very good news for the Rangers and Brandon and it seems like the Rangers upped their offer to get him signed. They are betting on his potential . Go Dubi! Go Rangers!

Yanks Lose

The Yanks just lost when Mariano Rivera gave up a two run walk-off homer to Ichiro Suzuki. Sorry. AJ Burnett had pitched very well, going 7 and only giving up 1 run. But the Yanks could only muster 2 runs off of King Felix and Mo struck out the first two hitters he faced in the ninth, then gave up a first pitch double and a first pitch homer for the loss. Glad he got it out of his system now. Go Yanks.

Cervelli Serves Up a Win!

Frankie Cervelli just became the 14th Yankee to get pie as he singled home Brett Gardner from third to give Yanks yet another walk off win. It was one of those games where they scored a couple early, only to have the starter, Gaudin, give it back and more, but you still felt like the Yanks would win. Down 2 in the 8th, Hit-deki Matsui tied it up with a two run shot. Mo pitched a scoreless ninth. Gardner lead off the ninth with a single, then stole second. Jeter grounded him over to third and with one out Frankie smacked one by the SS, scoring Gardner and giving the Yanks their latest win. Tomorrow's an off day, and they probably need it. Go Yanks!

Gilroy Was Here

The Rangers lost their second preseason game in a row tonight, this time by shootout, but a couple of things are becoming apparent. First, Matt Gilroy is the goods. Last night he played very well, but tonight he played great scoring the Rangers first goal of regulation and their only goal of the shootout. Second, Grachev looks like he's probably going to be ready. Third, Chad Johnson who played in the second half tonight, looks like a real goalie prospect. Fourth, Del Zotto will be the toughest decision. The energy's been good so far, and it will be interesting to see what the team looks like by game one of the regular season. Still no news on Dubi.

Yanks Lose

Yanks lost again to Halladay because they couldn't get any big hits. They had their chances all night. Looks like they won the fight, though. Gotta take the season finale tomorrow. Go Yanks!

Yanks Win a Weird One

Yanks just beat the Angles and Mo got his 40th save, but it was another weird game against the Angels. Joba started and pitched 4 1run innings. He really only threw one bad pitch and that was to Vlad for the 1. Swisher homered to tie it. The Angels went up one on Aceves, then Tex put the Yanks back up 3-2 with a two run triple. The Yanks were done out of a big inning when one of the umps called Melky for interfering with a Chone Figgins. The replays showed Figgins had intentionally run into Melky. Phil Hughes came in with the Yanks up one and somehow loaded the bases. He managed to get out of it, but gave up the tying run on a double play. The Yanks scored two in the 8th. With one out, Tex got his third hit and second double of the night and was questionably replaced by Brett Gardner. The Angels walked ARod and with Matsui up, the Yankees initiated a double steal. The Angels threw the ball into left, scoring Gardner and moving ARod to 3rd. Matsui K'd and the Angels walked Posada to get to Cano. Cano singled home ARod, to put the Yanks up 5-3, which ended up being the final. Mo came in and like every other Yankee pitcher, got squeezed by the homeplate ump. He ended up giving up a rare walk to Figgins, who had already appeared to strike out. Then he appeared to have struck out Itzurus, only to have to get him again on a ground out. Another weird one, but at least it was a win. Yanks start a two game series against Toronto tomorrow. Go Yanks!

Yanks DFA Claggett, Call Up Guzman

In a sort of surprising move the Yanks today DFA's Anthony Claggett and called up Freddy Sanchez. Sanchez is a speedy switch hitter who hasn't done much in a few other shots in the bigs with San Diego and Texas. He also spent some time on the Detroit system. This could mean that Damon's a little more dinged up than we thought of that there's some other injury. The Yanks now have ten days to trade Claggett.

Ain't We Lucky We Got `Em?

Both Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck made huge game changing plays yesterday. In the first half , with the Giants unable to score a TD on offense, and only leading 3-0, Osi beat Samuels for a sack, forced fumble, fumble recovery TD which essentially put the game away. However; in the second half, with the Skins threatening to score a TD and make it a game after an interception, on consecutive plays Justin Tuck knifed through the line for a sack and on the very next play added a tackle for loss limiting the Skins to a Field Goal. Those were three absolutely huge plays from our starting DE's and the kind of game changing plays that Strahan and Lawrence Taylor used to make in their primes. These are two very outstanding football players and we are lucky we have them.

In other Giant news, Hakeem Nicks does not have a lis franc injury and should be back in 2-3 weeks.

Go Giants!

Giants Win

Well, Osi was back and he showed it with a sack, forced fumble, fumble recovery, TD in the first half, and Tuck came up large late turning what looked like it was gonna be a TD drive into a FGA. The final score was 23-17, but the Giants probably should have won by more. Once again this year, the O bogged down in the green zone and we settled for 3 FG's when we should have had 3 more TD's. On top of that, Hakeem Nicks sprained his foot on a catch where he was also hit late.

Mario Manningham had the only offensive TD on an electric screen play where he went all the way down the sideline. Steve Smith had 6 catches, though the lone int came when we once again tried to hit him deep. Kevin Boss had three big, field changing passes. Hixon had one or two passes and two or three drops. He doesn't look like he'll be a starter for long. Jacobs and Bradshaw both ran better than expected against the Haynesworth Skins D. Though, like in the greenzone, some weird playcalling left them inefficient on third and fourth and short plays.

Corey Webster competed with Osi and Mario for play of the game honors when he picked off a pass while reaching in front of Santana Moss and falling out of bounds. He managed to keep both feet in, and was perhaps the best player on the field all day. Terrell Thomas had his ups and downs, but also made some nice place. Kenny Phillips still hasn't broken out, and Michael Johnson had a bunch of tackles. CC Brown gave up the late TD in coverage but was otherwise okay. Bruce Johnson had some ups and downs, but hung in there.

Gotta go to Texas and play the Cowboys next week and the greenzone stuff and the short yardage stuff has to get figured out by then.

1-0! Go Giants!

Yanks Win

CC Sabathia wasn't dominant but he was steady as he picked up his 17th win of the year and salvaged a win against the O's this weekend. Girardi and ARod both got tossed for justifiably arguing balls and strikes and Hideki Matsui had the hit that put the Yanks ahead for good, then added a 3 run jack to make it 8-3 in the bottom of the 8th. Hughes pitched a scoreless 8th.

Giants Today

The Giants are set to kickoff their season at home against the Skins later today. For the Skins it will be a time to start finding out if Albert Haynesworth can change their fortunes in the NFC East. For the Giants it will be a time to see how falling short last year felt to them. The pundits are predictably questioning the Giants WR corps. I think they will actually start impressing as soon as today. Plax, Toomer and Shockey were effective players and big targets, but very often they made the wrong reads, ran lousy routes and dropped passes. The younger receivers are faster and run better routes, and in the cases of Nicks and Barden (who will probably be inactive today) have GREAT HANDS. In other words, Eli will be fine.

On O, I expect the Giants to come out fast, possibly in the no-huddle, in an effort to tire out Haynesworth and get Eli off to a fast start with the new receivers.

On D, I expect to see the Giants really clog up the run, and force them to pass. Chris Canty will be making his Giant debut and that should be interesting.

If the Giants look explosive early, that will be a sure sign they are on a mission again. In any event, they should dominate.

Go Giants!

Zherdev?

In the "Wow" department, Nik Zherdev, who earlier won an arbitration hearing with the Rangers only to have the Rangers free him, has offered himself back to the Rangers at the Rangers price. Of course, the Rangers can really negotiate now.


Meanwhile, there's been no movement on the Dubinsky front, though hopefully the Zherdev situation is a wake-up call for Team Dubi.


In other news, Alexi Semenov has been invited to camp on a tryout basis.


Go Rangers!

Camp Opens, No Dubi

As Coach Tortarella's arctic version of "The Junction Boys" camp opened a few minutes ago, 23 year old C Brandon Dubinsky was nowhere to be found. It's hard to believe that given all this time, nothing could get done with one of the Rangers best and brightest kids. New York's best GM's Jerry Reese and Brian Cashman, would never screw around with a top asset the way Glen Sather is screwing around with Dubinsky. Of course, the Giants and Yanks compete for championships every year while the Rangers, uh, not so much. It is the sincere hope here that Sather is not prolonging this stalemate in order to be able to justify a trade of one of their most popular players. I guess we'll see.

Yanks Lose

On a night where Derek Jeter broke his tie with Lou Gehrig in the rain, the Yanks could not pitch in the rain and lost. AJ Burnett goes tomorrow, or later today for those of you on the east coast. Go Yanks.

Doomsday for Dubi?

With Ranger camp opening in the morning, Brandon Dubinsky has yet to sign a new deal with the Rangers. We've heard they've been discussing a three year deal similar to Callahan's since June, but they're apparently not there yet. Then, earlier tonight, Coach Torts made an ominous comment about how Prospal might be needed at C if the position changed in the next few days. And there are still rumprs of a three way deal that would send Dubi and Voros to Toronto, prospects to Boston and Phil Kessel to the Rangers. We'll see.

Torts also said he sees room for 2 rookie/young forwards and 2 rookie/young D's on the final roster. Evgeny Grachev was impressive in the TCT and could have a shot at one of those offensive spots, perhaps along with Anisimov. There are a number of contenders for the two young D spots.

Derek Ties Lou as Yanks Sweep Jays

Derek Sanderson Jeter had a pretty amazing night. Joba was off to another tough start giving up a lead off homer and another run to start the first. With one out, Eiland came out of the dugout and he, Molina and Jeter converged on the mound. Eiland said something that Jeter visibly barked a few things at Joba, and thereafter Joba retired the next 8 hitters he faced in his latest 3 inning start. Jeter wasn't done in the first. He bunted for a base hit, to draw within two of Gehrig, then stole his 300th career base. He ended up going 3 for 4 with a double and a walk to tie Lou Gehrig with 2721 Yankee hits.

But it didn't look like Derek would enjoy the game at all as the Yanks were still down 2-0 to star the 8th. But, ARod lead off with a single and went to third on Matsui's single, the scored when Swisher hit into a fielder's choice that lead to an error. Down 1, Cano K'd with runners on the corners, then Jorge Posada, pinch hitting for Brett Gardner crushed a three run jack to put the Yanks up 4-2 and deliver yet another win. The Yanks are now 91-50 and are 41 games over .500 for the first time in 5 years. Off day tomorrow, then Jeter will get a shot to break the record against Baltimore on Friday. Go Yanks!

Swish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On a day that started with news of David Robertson visit to Dr. Andrews, the Yanks saw a few other rarities before Nick Swisher hit his walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth. First, Chad Gaudin gave them six strong before giving up a homer in the 7th. Second, Nick Swisher not only hit the game winner but he hit an earlier homer to put the Yanks up 1-0. They were his 25th and 26th homers of the year, but unly his 4th and 5th at the stadium. And then the weirdest thing of all was seeing Phil Hughes give up a game tying homer to start the 8th. Mo got the win and the Yanks became the first team to win 90. Joba pitches for the sweep tomorrow. Go Yanks!

39 Over

AJ Burnett got his first win in about a month as he and his teammated dismantled the Ray 11-1 in the nightcap of today's twinbill. Mark Teixeira hit two more homers, and several other Yanks had good nights, notably Jose Molina who was 3-3 with two walks. Jeter got no closer to Gehrig today as he hit into some bad luck. Edwar and Albaladejo pitched okay in relief and Mike Dunn pitched a two walk, 1 FC, 2K 0R! 9th. The Rays are officially asleep. Gaudin goes tomorrow. Go Yanks!

Yanks Win Game 1

The Yanks got great pitching from CC, Hughes and Mo on his return, but the O never really got going against Garza. In fact it was a 1-1 game when Hughes was pitching the 8th for the Yanks. The Yanks then scored 3 runs agains the Tampa Pen on Sacs by Cano and Hinske and an RBI single from Po. Mo walked a guy but then Mowed down the next three for his 35th save. Brett Gardner returned and made a fantastic run saving play in CF in the 5th. He is just great out there. AJ will pitch the nightcap and here's believing he's back to dominant AJ. Go Yanks!

Yanks Lose

Well, Roy Halladay was bound to start pitching well again at some point and tonight he 1 hit the Yanks. Time to start a new streak. Pettitte goes tomorrow and that should help a pen that's worked a lot over the first two games. Go Yanks!

38 Over

Jorge Posada had 4 more hits tonight including his 20th homer of the season. The Yanks now have 7 players with 20 or more homers and that ties a major league record. If Jeter gets three more, they will set a new record. Gaudin started the game but couldn't get out of the 4th. Aceves could and added two more innings of two run baseball. Robertson pitched a scoreless 7th with 2 more K. Bruney pitched a scoreless 8th, but after walking the first batter of the 9th, Marte came in and got three outs. Aceves earned his 10th win and is now 10-1. ARod also homered and the rest of the runs came by way of basehits. The final was 10-5, and Joba faces Halladay tomorrow, so let's hope he shows up. It would be great to get another sweep here. Go Yanks!

#16

CC Sabathia went 7 innings K'ing 9, walking 1 and giving up just 1 run to win his league leading 16th game of the year. The game was actually close at 3-1 when CC left. Bruney started the 8th getting 1 out and giving up 1 homer before giving way to Coke who got one out before giving way to Hughes for the final out. In the top of the 9th, the Yanks scored 7 to make it 10-2. On the evening Damon had 4 hits, ARod had three and 4 RBI's, Cano had two more, and Hinske had another homer. Hughes struck out the side in the 9th and qualified for a save. The sweep of the O's put the Yanks 37 over .500. The Yanks are on to Toronto tomorrow. They can't let up. Go Yanks!

36 Over

AJ Burnett continued to struggle, but the offense sure didn't as they collected 5 more homers, including 2 from Po, and one each from Cano (who also had his 40th double, a single and a walk!), Swisher and Hinske. After AJ gave up 6 runs, the pen which went from Marte to Robertson to Coke to Mo was able to shut down the Orioles and preserve a 9-6 win for the Yanks. Marte ended up with the win. CC bids for win number 16 tomorrow. Go Yanks!