Yankees Hold On

In a game where the Yankees had a commanding lead over the Angels, they still had to sweat this one out in what turned out to be a thrilling one-run victory. The Yankees bats finally broke out for six runs and they would turn out to need each of the six runs scored against Weaver and Williams. Jered Weaver, who doesn't throw hard anymore, gave up five runs to the Yankees in six innings and looked much like Sabathia has looked in many starts against other teams when he gave up many runs in a short period of time. Today, the opposite happened as Sabathia looked like an ace and Weaver looked like a shell of his old self. After Weaver, Jerome Williams provided the Angels with three innings of representative relief, allowing only one run which would prove to be the difference in the game and give the Yankees an edge. The difference today for the Yankees was he number of clutch hits they received from the players who have been struggling in May and June. Wells, Hafner and Overbay drove in five of the Yankees six runs and the Yankees managed to beat the opposing team. What a coincidence! When the main hitters in the lineup are hitting, the Yankees do well. When you combine that with a great starting pitching effort you get an even better result.

CC Sabathia pitched a great game as he went 8+ innings and allowed only two runs. He allowed only one run on the mound and the other one came around to score after he left the game in the ninth after letting two men reach base. Things got dicey in the ninth with Robertson and Rivera who gave up a combined three runs and made the game an almost disaster for the Yankees. After walking Trout to load the bases with two outs, Mariano Rivera struck Albert Pujols out on three pitches to seal the deal on the Yankees 6-5 win en route to a home stand in which they will play the Dodgers, Rays and Rangers. The road for the Yankees is only getting tougher as they get ready to welcome AL East foes into the Bronx. They have an opportunity to make up for some losses in the standings if they do well against the Rays. For now, the team will enjoy an off-day as they adjust back to the eastern time schedule and get ready for the two game set against Puig and the Dodgers.