The first six innings of Sunday afternoon’s game against the Mets was vintage 2011 Yankees. They scored a run early via the homerun but left a trillion runners on base while the pitching staff put forth a representative performance. We’ve seen this movie a few times this season, it usually has a sad ending. But not this time, the Yankees scored eight runs in the seventh inning, helping push them to a series win in the first leg of the Subway Series.

(AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

The Big Inning

Through the first six innings of the game, the Yankees went hitless in a dozen at-bats with men on base. Not necessarily scoring position, just men on base. They wasted a Jorge Posada leadoff walk in the second, a Derek Jeter leadoff single in the third, and a Chris Dickerson leadoff single in the fifth, so when Brett Gardner slapped a leadoff single through Mike Pelfrey’s legs to start the seventh, we all figured it would be more of the same. Pelfrey was visibly annoyed at something after the hit, probably himself for not knocking down (though it wasn’t an easy play by any means), and it all came apart after that.

Dickerson took three straight balls and eventually walked on five pitches to follow Gardner, and when Frankie Cervelli tried to give himself up on a sacrifice bunt, the Mets’ starter instead hit him in the shoulder/chest with a pitch. Pelfrey’s next and final pitch (number 101 on the day) was a sinker that didn’t sink to Jeter, who found a hole with a four-hopper back up the middle. Both Gardner and Dickerson came around to score, tying the game at three, but the Yankees were just getting started.

(AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

The next batter was Curtis Granderson, the man with the second most homeruns on the planet, but he was ordered to sacrifice bunt the two runners up. I still don’t get it. Mark Teixeira was intentionally walked to load the bases and create the force at every base, and a giant hack from Alex Rodriguez resulted in a little dribbler down the third base line, perfectly placed to result in a go-ahead, run scoring infield single. Robinson Cano was next up and I thought his at-bat was pretty huge. Instead of hacking at the first pitch (like he’s prone to do), he just stepped back and took the first offering from Pedro Beato, which just so happened to be a ball. The next pitch was off the plate for another ball, then Cano jumped all over the 2-0 fastball for a run scoring single to short right field. It’s amazing what happens when you get a hitter’s count, eh?

The Yankees went 4-for-7 with two walks, a hit-by-pitch, and a sacrifice bunt with men on base in the inning, including three straight hits at one point. Gardner and Dickerson each contributed a two-run bloop double a few batters after Cano did his thing, turning the game into a total laugher. The  team finished the day 5-for-10 with runners in scoring position, and all five hits came in that seventh inning. The eight runs was the Yankees’ most in an inning this season, eclipsing the seven runs they hung on the Orioles late last month. Pretty much everything went their way for once; the bunt worked (in theory), the hits dropped in, they tacked on runs … it was glorious.

(AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

Mr. Nova Nova

Boy did Ivan Nova bend in this one. The Mets had him on the ropes seemingly all afternoon, but the young right-hander limited the damage to one inning even though he put a dozen men on base in six-and-two-thirds innings of work. The three-run second inning started with a weak ground ball single past the Jeter statue the Yankees have ever so kindly erected at shortstop, as well as a bobbled double play ball by Nova and an error on Jeter when he just flat out whiffed on a throw from Cervelli at second. The botched double play ball was the real killer, instead of a man on third with two outs, Nova was stuck with men on second and third with just one out.

Derp. (AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

Nova’s big weakness is his complete inability to miss bats, and it showed in that second inning. Fernando Martinez worked a seven pitch at-bat before singling with two strikes, and a few batters later Willie Harris singled in Bay on a 0-2 count for the Amazin’s first run. Jason Pridie had another 0-2, run-scoring single two batters later. Nova came into this game having struck out just 4.95 men per nine innings and generating a swing-and-miss on just 4.2% of his pitches this year, well-below-average rates. One of his two strikeouts against the Mets was looking, and he got just five swing-throughs out of his 110 pitches.

It works for Nova because he gets a healthy amount of ground balls (50.7% this year, 14 out of 20 outs in this game), but when you’re stuck with men in scoring position with less than two outs, a run is almost guaranteed score against these types of pitchers. We’ll take three runs in 6.2 IP out of Nova all year long, but not every opposing team is going to go 2-for-10 with men in scoring position. Got a little lucky on Sunday.

Leftovers

You know who’s been sneaky good this year? Luis Ayala. The three-week stint on the disabled list makes it a little less obvious, but he stranded Carlos Beltran on second after taking over for Nova in the seventh before firing a perfect eighth. He’s struck out nine men in 12 innings this year, a 6.75 K/9 that’s well-above his career rate (5.90). Add in just two unintentional walks and about 45% ground balls, and you’ve got yourself a servicable middle reliever. Who knows how long it’ll last, but Ayala’s definitely contributed more than I ever expected him too.

(AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

Granderson’s first inning solo homer came on a sinker down and in, his 16th of the year. He didn’t hit number 16 until September 2nd last year, and he’s an equal opportunity long ball threat: eight have come off righties, eight have come off lefties, eight have come at home, and eight have come on the road. I wish Grandy could do better than a .328 OBP, but that’s nitpicking when he’s hitting the ball out of the park like this.

Jeter, Gardner, and Dickerson all had two hits, and Dickerson added the walk as well. He’s reached base in six of his 11 plate appearances since coming up. A-Rod went 4-for-5 with a strikeout, and he now has 13 hits in his last 26 at-bats. As ugly as that slump was, Alex is now hitting .324/.370/.529 in his last 17 games. I guess it’s all in the leg kick, eh? Jorge Posada, meanwhile, went 1-for-3 with a walk and a whiff and is now hitting .368/.538/.520 over the last nine games.

WPA Graph & Box Score

Heh, look at the flat part of the graph when Grandy bunted. Anyway, MLB.com has the box score and video highlights while FanGraphs has some other neat stuff.

Up Next

Jose Bautista and the rest of the Blue Jays are coming to town for a three-game series starting Monday night. Bartolo Colon gets the ball against Carlos Villanueva, who is coming out of the bullpen to make the spot start.

(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Hooray for solid, relatively stress-free wins. Got a little testy early on, but otherwise the Yankees did a fine job of putting this one … on the left side!

• Wanna know how to avoid RISPFAIL? Don’t put any runners in scoring position. The Yankees did not pick up a hit with their lone at-bat with a man in scoring position, and that was Curtis Granderson moving Derek Jeter from second to third on a sacrifice fly in the eighth. Mark Teixeira drove him in with a sac fly one batter later, but why Grandy’s counts as an at-bat while Tex’s doesn’t is beyond me. Weird baseball rules. Anyway, this was the first time the Yankees left zero men on base in a game since June of 2001.
• Four homeruns did the trick before that lame-o manufactured tack-on run in the eighth. Russell Martin took Chris Capuano deep for two runs in the second, Tex homered in two more the next inning, then Grandy and Alex Rodriguez hit solo shots two batters apart in the sixth. The first three came off Chris Capuano, who’s been getting his ass handed to him by righties all year. Tex’s homer was his second to right field as the right-handed batter this year, something he didn’t do at all in 2009 or 2010. Since 2006, he has just five opposite field homers as a righty, and two came this season.
• Granderson’s long ball was his eighth off a lefty this season, which is notable for many reasons. He leads all left-handed batters with eight homers off lefties this year, and no other player has more than three. It also doubled last year’s output against lefties (just four homers), and was his 15th of the year, a total he didn’t reach until late-August last season. Jose Bautista (18 dingers) is the only other player in baseball with more than a dozen big flies. Good lookin’ out, Curtis.
• Things looked a little sketchy early on, when the Mets loaded the bases with no outs in the first. A.J. Burnett got out of the inning allowing “just” two runs, then he gave up just three hits and two walks (one run) over his final 5.1 IP. Last season, that’s like a five run inning. This year A.J. has done a good job of limiting the damage in spots like that. Getting out of that first inning and settling down was a rather huge turning point in this game, even if came so early.
• First and third, one out, Carlos Beltran and Jason Bay due up … and David Robertson cruises right along to escape the jam. Beltran struck out and Bay popped out harmlessly on the infield. It was a big part of the game, for sure, but Robertson made it look easy. Joba Chamberlain retired his three men in the eighth, then Luis Ayala did the same an inning later. I have to say, I wrote the Ayala signing off way too soon. He’s been rock solid so far (in admittedly limited action). The trio of relievers recorded eight outs on 30 pitches.
• Jeter stole second in the eighth inning, tying him with Rickey Henderson for the franchise record (326 SB). Of course Rickey did it in 596 games while Jeter needed 2,337, but who’s counting?
• After all the bitching and moaning following Friday’s game, the Yankees are now back in first place (thanks to Red Sox and Rays losses). How about that? Here’s the box score and here’s the WPA Graph.

Rubber game tomorrow afternoon, when Ivan Nova gets the ball against Mike Pelfrey at 1:05pm ET. If you’re in the area, head on over and check out the Delta Dugout.