Granderson hits 200th Career Homer in Win

This was a game that the Yankees needed to come out on top on. They lost last night to the hands of Justin Masterson. No Cleveland pitcher should be limiting the Yankee hitters to one run in nine innings. It was big today for the team to come home on a winning note and start fresh against a bad Toronto team. Freddy Garcia went 4.2 innings and again, things unraveled for him in the fifth inning. Boone Logan came in however, and retired the last batter of the inning. The Yankees had themselves a one run lead into the sixth inning until Granderson gave the pitchers a little more breathing room by hitting his 200th career home run. Granderson has been struggling mightily in the last month but his power stroke remains prevalent.

Joe Girardi almost over-managed the Yankee lead in the eighth inning. Robertson came into the game with one out in the seventh inning and Girardi pulled him with two outs in the eighth with a man on first base. Robertson had been doing a great job and did not deserve Girardi pulling him out prematurely. Robertson only had seventeen pitches thrown in the four outs he was able to get and was in no way pitching under stress. Everyone held their breath when Soriano came in to get the final out in the inning when LaPorta gave the ball a ride to the wall where Ichiro made a nice running catch. The Yankees were able to escape Cleveland with the series win and face American League East opponents over their next twenty-two games. In those twenty-two games they play the Orioles and Rays six times. Those games are where we will see how the Yankees finish the season. However, if they are struggling to score runs against a Cleveland pitching staff, how will they fare against the Rays?

Tomorrow, the Yankees return to the Bronx to face the Blue Jays. It will be David Phelps against Ricky Romero. Romero is having an atrocious year with an ERA over five and is walking too many batters. The Yankees have faced him twice this year already and have gotten to him both times. They are hoping for more of the same while Romero wants to reverse his season against the Yankees.