Teixeira Rides Yankees to Another Win

Mark Teixeira has really been the reason for the two Yankee wins thus far in the series against the Cleveland Indians. After hitting a grand slam last night to give the Yankees a comfortable lead, Mark repeats his performance tonight with a three-run home run in the third inning which gave the Yankees a 4-0 lead after Ichiro drove in Overbay with a single to put the Bombers on the board in the same inning. Besides the third inning, the Yankees didn't have another inning in which they scored a run which isn't exactly what you want from a team but if the runs in the one scoring inning hold up, you will take it. The Yankees threatened in the bottom of the seventh when Cano came up with the bases loaded and one out. Cano grounded into an inning-ending double play to get the Indians out of the inning. There's no excuse for Cano not to come up with a hit in that spot but in his defense he was facing a lefty who had a spaghetti delivery and arm. Nevertheless, no harm no foul as the Yankees are able to hold on to get the win.

David Phelps was in trouble all night, yet didn't give up any runs in six innings of work. Phelps allowed just one base hit to the Indians on a Drew Stubbs rolling grounder early in the game. However, Phelps' control was not on point, as he allowed four walks to Cleveland and was flirting with disaster the entire game. In his final inning of work, Phelps retired the Indians in order which made me want Girardi to keep him in the game for the seventh and go batter by batter. Girardi elected to use Chamberlain who has pitched very well since coming off the DL. Joba quickly ran into trouble when he put two men on base and once again, Drew Stubbs hit a home run to the opposite field into the short porch in right field to put the Indians within one run of tying the game. Robertson came in to pitch the eighth and he too, flirted with disaster but he was lucky when Swisher lined the ball to Nix at second base, who was able to flip the ball to Brignac for a double play as the lead runner strayed too far off the bag. Mariano Rivera came into the game and worked his usual magic, retiring Reynolds, Giambi and Aviles in order for save number twenty-one and the 629th of his illustrious career.

With Joba being as unreliable as he has been this year, Girardi has to be wondering about Joba in the pecking order within the bullpen. He has options in the bullpen, whether it's Claiborne with his 0.55 ERA or Kelley with his 38 strikeouts in 22.1 innings pitched.

As the Yankees go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon they will send their lefty ace to the mound who pitched brilliantly against the Red Sox in his last start on Friday. Sabathia enjoys pitching in the afternoon, which should fare well for him in tomorrow's start. The Yankees offense is beginning to click and Corey Kluber is not exactly an ace with the Indians.