Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Yankees Avoid Sweep with Blowout

On a day that threatened the Yankees with rain, they managed to salvage the final game of the three game set against the Baltimore Orioles. They did so in dramatic fashion, scoring twelve runs highlighted by a Robinson Cano grand slam, the Yankees eighth grand slam of the year. The Yankees eight grand slams on the season are the highest number in the American League. The next best AL team has four grand slams. The offense managed to get Zach Britton out of the game in the third inning after getting more runners on which led to the Cano grand slam against reliever Kevin Gregg. Cano looks to be coming out of his slump with a home run in each of the last two days. Jeter continues his hot hitting with an additional three hits today. His batting average on the season is now at .316. This is the kind of game the Yankee offense needed after losing four straight which they could have easily held on to. The Yankees remain one of three teams in baseball that have avoided a five game losing streak.

Phil Hughes did not impress anyone today, but the Yankees scored him eleven runs early and he held on to the lead, as opposed to what Ivan Nova did yesterday after being given a five run lead in the first inning. Hughes allowed nine hits and struck out only two batters in six innings of work. He was not fooling anyone today but the Orioles still had trouble getting the big hit. Hughes ended up pitching six innings and allowed one run to earn his eleventh win of the season. In the seventh inning, Girardi called on Joba Chamberlain to make his season debut. Joba went 1.2 innings and allowed two runs. His fastball was not as impressive as it was during his minor league appearances. His fastball sat at 92-93 MPH and he threw his slider a lot. Not an impressive debut but he got his work in which is what the Yankees wanted before putting him in any important situations.

The Yankees have an off-day tomorrow but welcome the Seattle Mariners to Yankee Stadium on Friday night. Felix Hernandez is scheduled to pitch on Saturday afternoon. Can the Yankees give him some payback after he drilled A-Rod? It should be an interesting weekend to see how the Yankees respond to a bad team playing them at home.

No comments:

Post a Comment