Sunday, May 12, 2013

How Sweep it is!

The Yankees have just completed a series sweep of the Kansas City Royals in which they received clutch hitting, great pitching and stellar defense. It is fascinating to wonder that the Yankees have been winning all of these games with utility and older players who were forgotten and in some cases, considered retirement. Each day a different position player puts the Yankees on top with a clutch hit in a big spot. Today, Vernon Wells continued his torrid hitting with a solo shot to left and Cano looks like he is coming back to life after a minor slump. Cano drove a two-run home run to right field over the Royals bullpen for his tenth home run of the season and his sixth career home run against Royals starter Ervin Santana. The Yankees have a tendency of touching up Santana, as he is 0-6 in his last six starts against the Bombers. Santana began the game by pitching a quick and efficient first two innings but things began to fall apart for him as the long ball plagued him once again by the Yankees potent offense.

Hiroki Kuroda delivered a nice 7.2 innings of work this afternoon to improve his overall record to 5-2 with an ERA of 2.31, literally a tick up from when he began the game. After allowing a first inning run on a sac fly by Alex Gordon, Kuroda went on cruise control and did not allow the second run of the game until the eighth inning on an Alcides Escobar groundout to score Elliot Johnson. In his 7.2 innings of work Kuroda allowed just six hits and walked one batter. There are games in which Kuroda strikes out many batters however today he relied more on putting balls in play, specifically on the ground for his defense. The Yankees were lucky to get a sweep outside of Yankee Stadium against a team that is beginning to put it together. As the Yankees win their fifth straight, the Red Sox are struggling big time. The Sox lost today after getting routed by the Blue Jays, who are beginning to get hot. It was only a matter of time before the Toronto Blue Jays began to put it together. There is just too much talent on the team across the border for them to keep playing awful baseball.

The Yankees are ten games above the .500 mark for the first time this season and will try to up their streak to seven games after a straight double header against the Cleveland Indians tomorrow to make up for a pair of rainouts in April. The Indians are playing very well, as they are tied with the Tigers for the lead in the AL Central, winning today's game in ten innings at Comerica Park. David Phelps will pitch the first game tomorrow which begins at 12:05. Pitching for the Tribe will be Justin Masterson who is having himself a solid year.

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