The New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Indians by a score of 6-5. They won with a home run by Derek Jeter in the top of the 8th inning. Joba Chamberlain didn’t pitch well. Brian Bruney got the win and Mariano Rivera got his 3rd save. Derek Jeter had his second game winning hit this season. Whether it’s the 1 spot or 2 spot, Jeter produces. In the 8th and 9th innning this season, Jeter is 6-for-10 and those are usually big at bats. He’s always been a clutch hitter that rises to the occasion when the spotlight is the brightest. He loves the limelight and he likes to be in situations where he can make people go home happy. The top 3 of the order of Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon and Mark Teixeira did great. They went 4-for-11 with 3 RBI, 4 runs and 4 walks. Even if they weren’t hitting the ball, Damon had 2 walks and Teixeira had 2 walks. They found a way to get on base. The 4 walks by Teixeira and Damon help drive pitch counts up by the opposing pitcher and by getting deep in the counts, it makes it easier for the hitters behind them to get decent pitches to hit. The Yankees are 6-5 in their first 11 games. Mark Texeira’s wrist has been bothering him and he missed 3 games and he’s been some what compromised because of a cortizone shot he had yesterday. The Yankees don’t have Alex Rodriguez so they’re treading water until he gets back but they’re not sinking themselves. The Yankees hit 5 solo home runs and it makes you wonder if the new Yankee stadium has turned into Coors field. Joba Chamberlain did not have a good outing. You can’t walk 5 batters and you have to at least give your team 6 innings. Joba pitched only 4.2 innings and gave up 5 earned runs on 6 hits. He did not have good command. He pitched behind a lot and if you walk enough people, any major league team is going to score runs. After Joba came out of the game, the bull pen slammed the door shut. As bad as they were yesterday, you have to give them credit today. Between Coke, Alabladejo, Bruney and Rivera, they pitched 4 and a third innings and they gave up just 3 hits and no runs. The Yankees are still trying to find the right combination by mixing and matching and seeing who rises to the occasion. Right now it looks like Brian Bruney has established himself as the set up man in the 8th inning. Since his first bad outing he’s been practically unhittable. He’s averaging over 2 strike outs an inning an it looks like he’s going to take the 8th inning spot away from Jose Veras. Mariano Rivera gave up 2 hits in the 9th inning and they were hit hard. It seemed like his pitches were tailing in to right handers instead of away because his cutter just wasn’t behaving like it should. Mariano’s pitches were also at 90-91 mph instead of his usual 93 mph. He wasn’t on top of his game but he still got the save. The bottom line is that the Yankees won.
No, I don't follow the NL. I don't even know what place the Padres are in. I'm going to look after I type this.
