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.
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