A-Rod’s record slam gives Yanks win over Giants

Source: FanGraphs

It’s too bad the Yankees are so far out of the playoff race, otherwise this game would have been all kinds of awesome. They got big performances from two important players and rallied late for a 5-1 win over the defending World Series champs. Let’s recap:

• Record-Setting: The Yankees were poised to blow a golden opportunity in the seventh inning of a tie game before the totally unclutch Alex Rodriguez saved the day. He clubbed his 24th career grand slam off former Yankee George Kontos with two outs in the inning, turning a 1-1 game into a much more comfortable 5-1 game. It also broke a tie with Lou Gehrig atop the all-time grand slam list, meaning A-Rod has now hit more bases loaded homers than anyone in history. Pretty cool. And a big hit too.
• Stepped Up: There’s a good chance New York would be sitting in a playoff spot right now if CC Sabathia had a typical CC Sabathia season. He’s been awful this year, but he did turn in one of his best outings of the year on Friday night. Sabathia held the Giants to one run in seven innings (and one batter), striking out seven and allowing ten base-runners total. Just two of the final 12 men he faced reached base. It wasn’t a vintage dominant Sabathia outing, but he was effective and that’s something we hadn’t seen in a long time.
• Leftovers: Alfonso Soriano got the Yankees on the board with a Yankee Stadium cheapie solo homer in second. He had two hits and a walk … props to Eduardo Nunez for two stellar defensive plays at third base (no seriously), one charging a ball and another fielding a tough hop … Brendan Ryan and Ichiro Suzuki had singles while Ichiro also drew a walk … David Robertson and Mariano Rivera combined to retire five of the six batters they faced. The only blemish was a Robertson walk.

MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs the other stats, and ESPN the updated standings. Depending on the outcomes of the other games, the Yankees will be either three games (Rays and/or Rangers lose) or four games (Rays and Rangers both win) back of the second wildcard spot in the loss column with eight to play. Cool Standings has their postseason odds at 4.4%. Ivan Nova and Ryan Vogelsong is your pitching matchup Saturday afternoon. Check out RAB Tickets if you watch to catch the fourth-to-last home game of the season (and Rivera’s career) in person.