Yanks win in a Fourth of July walk-off

July 5, 2010 by Joe Pawlikowski 29 Comments

Blue Jays Yankees Baseball — Photo Credit: Seth Wenig, AP

One year ago today, Jorge Posada hit a walk-off single on Independence Day to give the Yankees a win over the Canadian Blue Jays. Once again on Independence Day, this time after Jorge left the game with a sprained ring finger, the Yankees walked off against their foreign rivals. It was Marcus Thames today, delivering the second Yankees walk-off of the year. He had the first one, too.

The Yanks were the beneficiaries of the sun, as Brett Gardner‘s game-tying inside-the-park home run came on a ball that Dewayne Wise should have caught, but just did not. That kind of made up for Wise’s home run, though, one of Phil Hughes‘s mistakes during the game. The game was capped when Thames pinch hit for Ramiro Pena in the 10th and smacked an RBI single that scored Robinson Cano from second.

Here’s the quick-quick recap.

The good

Another huge day for Teixeira. He was 3 for 4 with a double and two RBI.

Gardner keeps up his hot hitting with a 2 for 4 day that included a walk and the already mentioned inside the parker.

Swisher went 3 for 5, a nice break after his mini slump.

No runs by Joba.

Two walks for Cano.

Nice way to work out of the jam by David Robertson. If he can cut down on the walks he’ll be quite the effective reliever.

The bad

The homers by Hughes.

The golden sombrero by Granderson. He’s now 1 for his last 17.

Up Next

Westward, ho! The Yanks head out for three against Oakland and four against Seattle heading into the All-Star break. That’s six 10 p.m. starts followed by a 4 p.m. start next Sunday. Yippee!

Carlosologoist in Humid Ass Colombia

I am so glad I’m coming home in time for the Mariners series. I want to see Lee and the King again, but hopefully with a better outcome than the last meeting.
http://twitter.com/stophamm3rtime Dela G

i just checked this on B-ref to make sure, but the jays have zero players on their 25 man roster from canada

that fact makes me very sad.

In other news, their number one pitching prospect, and the guy who literally made me quit high school baseball cuz he struck me out 4 times in one 10th grade JV exhibition game (i quit the next day cuz he was in the same division as our HS, and i didnt want to face him any more), kyle drabek, threw a no hitter tonight
- http://www.puristbleedspinstripes.com Rebecca-Optimist Prime (Optimovelist Primus)
  
  You were struck out by Drabek? I’d call that a badge of honor.
  - http://twitter.com/stophamm3rtime Dela G
    
    lol yeah he went to the woodlands high school and was uber good. he was on JV for a few weeks as a freshman before going to varsity and made me look silly. i dont know how hard he was throwing, but that guy was stupid good. Too bad it was an exhibition game, i would’ve loved to see the box score and stuff for it
- Brian in NH
  
  I was at this game. He looked really good. Only 3 Ks with 2 BBs. Touched 98 on the stadium gun (can’t vouch for accuracy). But it was amazing to see a no-hitter thrown, even if it was only at AA
ultimate913

America’s team beating the Canadian’s on our nation’s birthday in grand fashion.

I don’t think that will get old.
http://twitter.com/iiKeane JobaWockeeZ

Looks like we found our new Melky.
- Carlosologoist in Humid Ass Colombia
  
  Does that mean we’ll be able to trade him for a Type A SP to be this offseason?
Total Dominication

I was had to go after the 2nd, so I was wondering. How did Hughes give up all those runs? What was wron/ He looked excellent through the first 2 innings. Also, does anyone think the Yanks play the Jays on the 4th because MLB wants the American team to beat the Canadian team, and the Yankees are the best team to do that?
- Rick in Boston
  
  He had some control issues, and the long ball killed him. Overbay homered to dead center, Wise hit his 3-runner off the pole in right. Lind’s was a deep drive into the bullpen.
  
  It always felt like he was in complete control of the situation, it would unravel quickly, but then he would right the ship. Kay and Singleton were contemplating whether it was a “dead arm” period for him or not, as he’s about 10 innings below where he was a year ago.
  - Mike HC
    
    yea, the homerun killed him. Other than the bombs, I thought he looked pretty good.
    
    But you know, thats like saying other than being 100 pounds overweight, you look pretty good.
Riddle

I’m gonna be at Monday and Wednesday’s games in Oakland, with Vazquez and Burnett pitching. Really hoping for solid performances from those two…
http://youcantpredictbaseball.wordpress.com/ bexarama

the bad: a full inning of outs at home plate!!! (even if the third was due to a very good throw, I think.)
- http://youcantpredictbaseball.wordpress.com/ bexarama
  
  Though good win, EAT IT CANADA HA HA /immature’d
http://channel0.tumblr.com Brendan

The really bad that hasn’t been mentioned yet is that this should have been a sweep, and none of the three games should even have been close. Joba may have blown a one-run lead on Friday, but we had the bases loaded with no outs for A-Rod/Cano/Posada and Brett Cecil (!) made them look like Special Olympians; it shouldn’t have been a one-run game. And then today with an inning’s worth of outs at home plate.

Also, it always feels like the world is upside-down on a day when Mo blows a save. I’m happy we won, but there was a lot to dislike about this win.
- the209
  
  “made them look like Special Olympians…”
  
  classy
- Mike HC
  
  I thought that was one of the best games of the season yesterday, entertainment wise. It might not have been the smoothest of victories, but what a great game!
dalelama

First time in my life I have ever seen a routine fly ball that hit the outfielder’s glove on the way down not ruled an error. Gardner was the beneficiary of some real homer, no pun intended, official scoring on that one. At least Arod’s on Friday never hit the mitt.
- Jim S
  
  You’re unreal. Did Gardner kill your parents?
  - http://youcantpredictbaseball.wordpress.com/ bexarama
    
    Every Yankee other than Matsui and Damon teamed up to do it, actually. Very sad.
- Rick in Boston
  
  It only hit the glove because Wise was swinging his arm out of the way. He had to idea where the ball was – which was obvious – and was just swinging his arm wildly.
- Brien Jackson
  
  I’m pretty sure they don’t normally give errors on balls lost by having to look directly into the sun, given that the human eye can’t actually take that, and the player has no control over cloud cover, position of the sun, etc.
  
  Although they do give them for losing it in the lights.
viasistina

I am wondering when the New York Press and Yankee fans will finally get Granderson on their radar screen and realize what a disaster that trade has been? Melky is hitting 30 points higher, Austin Jackson is hitting 70 points higher. When is the last time a Yankee center fielder had his average dip over 230?
- gc
  
  You must have said the same thing about Tino Martinez after his first few months in the Bronx. What a disaster that trade turned out to be, huh? Relax. It’s way too soon to say one way or the other what kind of trade this has been. But I’m sure if Granderson hits a home run or makes a game saving play in the playoffs, you’d be the first person to say what a great trade it was.
- Rick in Boston
  
  AJax: 2.2 WAR
  C-Grand: 1.2 WAR
  Melky: -0.6 WAR
  
  Now somebody who knows more about WAR can probably answer this, but I believe a good chunk of the difference between AJax and Granderson is due in part to Granderson missing time with his injury.
  
  Jackson OPS by month:
  
  March/April: .917
  May: .732
  June: .614
  
  He’s walked 4 times, K’d 26 times since the start of June with just five extra base hits. He’s been getting by on an unsustainable BABIP and he’s regressing hard.
  
  Granderson’s struggled, nobody is doubting that. But he missed a month, was pushed back fairly quickly with a limited rehab schedule, and the Yankees have faced what seems to be an inordinate number of lefties lately (probable confirmation bias there). So calling it a disaster isn’t exactly fair – it’s been three months of baseball, during which none of the players have been exactly that great.
- Mike HC
  
  Granderson is a very good player and a starting quality Centerfielder. He is definitely an asset for the Yanks.
  
  Did we give up some other good pieces, possibly better, to get him, maybe. Maybe not, time will tell. But no matter what, we got a good player. Give him time.
  - billbybob
    
    Austin Jackson is a good piece. Time does not need to tell us that.
    - Mike HC
      
      Yea. I was not that clear. I meant he was definitely a good player but time will tell if he is better than Granderson. And Kennedy too.
Brian

Still not sure why the Yanks felt the need to trade for Granderson, there is very little to feel good about when I watch him play.