Circus Game Goes the Yankees Way

It all started in the first inning when Gardner reached first on a single, stole second then was driven in by Vernon Wells who went 3-4 after going into somewhat of a slump lately. After the first inning, the Yankees would not score another run until the ninth inning. Half of the hits collected by the Yankees were via a Vernon Wells base hit or home run. Wells would also be the deciding run in the ninth when the Yankees scored the go-ahead run. Gardner is beginning to look like he is finding himself at the plate, with another stolen base and a walk along with a base hit. Gardner is a key to the Yankees offense because he provides the team with the speed element that they have been lacking virtually all season. Even with the big boppers out of the lineup, the Yankees are still hitting home runs in almost every game and winning most of those games.

In the ninth inning, Rafael Betancourt loaded the bases and Girardi sent Travis Hafner out to pinch hit for Chris Nelson. Hafner struck out swinging, and the Yankees found themselves without a third baseman in the bottom of the ninth. Following the Hafner strikeout, Girardi pinch hit for Robertson with Brennan Boesch, who has found himself to be a bench player for the Yankees even with all the injuries. Nevertheless, Boesch hit a ground ball to third base and hustled out of the box, managing to just beat the throw to first on an awkward slide into the base. With two outs, this allowed Vernon Wells to score from third as the Yankees go-ahead run with three outs left to record by Mariano Rivera.

David Phelps was solid for the Bombers today by pitching six strong innings and allowing only two runs on a Todd Helton two-run home run in the second inning. The tie score would hold up until the ninth inning, when the Yankees scored the winning run on a hustle single by Boesch.

Oh, and the third baseman for the bottom of the ninth inning was none other than Vernon Wells, who converted the second out of the inning with Mariano Rivera on the mound. The player of the game was clearly Vernon Wells, who is beginning to show that he is coming out of his slump. Mariano pitched the ninth and converted his twelfth save of the season in twelve chances.