Monday, July 16th, 2012
Toronto Blue Jays vs. New York Yankees
Yankee Stadium
Last night was exciting. It was nail biting. And most of all, it had everything a good game needs - respectable pitching, suspense filled at-bats, and most importantly, a grand slam to give the Yankees the go-ahead.
Raul. So cool.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Phil Hughes started for the Yankees with a 14 pitch, 1,2,3 inning.
The Yankees line-up loaded the bases with a single from Curtis Granderson, and back to back walks to Robinson Cano and Mark Teixeira.
This is the part where John Sterling says, "The Yanks have the bases bulging with bombers!" That's some powerful alliteration.
Bases loaded, two outs. Nick Swisher was up. Swisher, with the best eye on the team, was bound to get a walk. But no. Henderson Alvarez, the starter for the Blue Jays, decided to finally get his act together, doling a four pitch strike out and walking off the mound unscathed. Poor Swisher. Not that it mattered that much. The Yankees had their bases loaded, two out clutch waiting for them in the eighth inning.
Hughes easily escaped a two on, no out jam in the 2nd.
Russell Martin put the Yankees on the board with a two out, solo homer in the bottom of the 2nd. It was his ninth homer of the year. It also busted him out of a slump. Yay! I love Russell Martin.
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| Russell Martin is greeted by Nick Swisher after hitting his ninth home run of the year. |
After Granderson struck out, A-Rod and Cano hit back to back doubles, giving Cano his 55th RBI of the year and boosting the Yankees to a 2-0 lead.
Toronto countered in the top of the 4th with a solo homer from Adam Lind.
After Jose Bautista drew a walk off Hughes in the 6th, Edwin Encarnacion followed with a RBI double tying the game up at 2-2.
David Robertson relieved Hughes to pitch the 8th.
Jose Bautista, Toronto's best offensive player, heard something pop in his wrist while batting in the top of the 8th. He immediately fell to the ground after hitting a foul ball against pitcher David Robertson. Not even being able to finish his at-bat, he was taken out of the game. Nothing is broken, but he has suffered a tendon injury and was placed on the 15 day disabled list. Currently leading the majors with 27 home runs, the loss of Bautista is a big blow on the Blue Jays.
The Yankees were determined to win the game. In the bottom of the 8th, Granderson grounded out, but A-Rod followed with a single, then made it to second on a passed ball during Cano's at-bat. Cano reached on an infield single and A-Rod advanced to third.
Mark Teixeria got hit on his foot by a wild pitch from Jason Frasor. The ball went over the screen and would have scored A-Rod if it hadn't hit Mark, but luckily in the end, it didn't matter.
With the bases loaded and one out, Swisher had a lengthy at-bat, eventually ending with a strike out.
Bases loaded. Two outs. Game tied 2-2. What you want to know is, who's up? None other than 40 year old Raul Ibanez. With a 3-1 count, Ibanez connected.
Is it high? Oh yeah.
Is it far? Oh yeah.
Is it gone? Oh. Yeah. It. Is.
Second deck grand slam.
Let me say it again.
Raul. So cool.
Give that man more money.
Of all the things that make me love Ibanez, one of the biggest is the fact that he just came from Philadelphia. I don't like Philadelphia, so I enjoy rubbing his fantastic clutch hitting in all of the Phillies' fans faces. How's that for some alliteration?
Cody Eppley and Rafael Soriano worked the ninth, yielding only one unearned run between due to a fielding error by Dewayne Wise.
Soriano got his 23rd save in 24 chances, and the Yankees overcame Jose Bautista and the Toronto Blue Jays with a 6-3 win. They are now 55-34, at a season high 21 games over .500 as well as leading 9 games in the AL East after Baltimore lost 19-7 against Minnesota.
Phil Hughes pitched 7 innings, giving up only 2 runs, 4 hits and 3 walks. I've officially got the Phil Fever.
A-Rod finished 2 for 4. Nice job!
Congratulations to the Phillies for winning 3 games in a row. Now they are only 11 games under .500! I'm sorry if I'm too mean towards them. There are so many Phillies fan in my area and they drive me crazy, so I've come to despise that team.
C.C. Sabathia is making his first appearance since June 24th today as the Yankees take on the Blue Jays for the second game in a three game series.
