The Yanks took care of business in a very professional manner this afternoon, beating Tampa with great pitching and rock solid situational hitting. They improved to 15-0 when tied after seven innings this year, which is just ridiculous. The magic number dropped to 18 for just a few minutes, because the Red Sox lost to Chicago not long after the Yanks’ game ended. If you missed it, here’s the Johnny Damon pic we briefly had up in the Magic Number Counter, but right now we’re rockin’ Oscar Gamble.
As for tonight’s game, the story will be AJ Burnett and how he performs. The big righty has put 29 men on base and allowed 18 runs in 16.1 IP over his last three starts, so he needs to make sure he rights the ship before the playoffs start. He’s got four (maaaaaaybe five) starts left this year to figure it out. Luckily, Burnett won’t have to face the dangerous Carlos Pena, who had two fingers broken when he got hit by a pitch in the first inning of this afternoon’s game. He’s done for the year, which is a huge blow to Tampa’s already slim playoff chances.
Joe Girardi said Phil Hughes and Mariano Rivera probably aren’t available for this game after pitching earlier, so it looks like it’s up to David Robertson, Damaso Marte, Phil Coke, and Brian Bruney to take care of business tonight. Hopefully they just pound the crap out of Andy Sonnanstine and make it a moot point. Here’s the lineup:
Jeter, SS
Damon, LF
Teixeira, 1B
Matsui, DH
Swisher, RF
Cano, 2B
Melky, CF
Hairston, 3B
Molina, C
And on the mound, AJ Burnett.