I guess nothing will come easy this season.
Chien-Ming Wang scattered six hits through five before leaving with an injury, Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada went deep and the bullpen pitched four innings of one-hit ball as the
Yanks torched the Astros 13-0 to sweep the weekend series in Houston. Roy Oswalt and Wang traded zeros for nearly three innings, but the Bombers broke through in the third on Posada's bases loaded walk and Robinson Cano's shattered-bat, two-run single to give the Yanks a 3-0 lead. Then they kicked down the door by scoring eight runs with two outs in the sixth to put the game away.
The Bombers finished the six-game road trip with an impressive 5-1 mark and have won 9 of their past 12 games, but the Wang injury casts a bit of a shadow on the positive vibes. Wang said he suffered the injury rounding third base, but he went in standing up at second on a Johnny Damon infield single earlier in the sixth inning. It was an awkward play and any other runner would have slid in that situation, but Wang would have probably done more damage if he hit the dirt. In any event, Wang turned up lame rounding third on a two-run, RBI-single by Derek Jeter. Hopefully, it's nothing serious, and the Yanks will have an MRI performed on Monday in New York, but
Joe Girardi doesn't expect Wang to make his next start. Wang earned the win and moved to 8-2 on the season.
The Good:Jorge Posada. Jorgie got the Yanks on the board in the third with a gritty two-out at-bat. Posada battled back from a 1-2 count, took a close pitch on 2-2 and eventually worked out a walk with the bases juiced to give the Yanks a 1-0 lead. It may sound ridiculous to say that a bases loaded walk was a big play in a 13-0 final, but if Oswalt gets that call the inning is over and who knows how the rest of the game works out. Posada also capped the Yankee scoring in the sixth with a two-run bomb to give the Yanks an 11-0 lead. Jorgie was perfect on the day and finished 2 for 2 with 3 walks, a run scored and 3 RBIs.
Alex Rodriguez. The reigning MVP did it with the stick and the glove on Sunday. A-Rod launched his 12th round-tripper of the season in the sixth to extend the Yankee lead to 9-0. Rodriguez knew he got all of it off the bat, but I'll be honest, I didn't think it was going out. A-Rod probably hits the highest homers in the league and those have a tendency to fool me. Oh, well, I'm an idiot. Rodriguez also made a nice diving stop with runners on the corners and two outs to snuff out a Houston rally in the third. A-Rod finished 2 for 4 with a walk, 3 runs scored and 3 runs batted in.
Robinson Cano. Everyone is waiting for the Yankee second baseman to bust out and maybe his two hit day on Sunday does the trick. Cano didn't really tear the cover off the ball on his first base hit and his second one just stayed inside the chalk down the third base line, but two hits are two hits. Robbie also worked out a bases loaded walk in the eighth. C'mon Canu -- time to get hot. Cano finished 2 for 4 with a walk, a run scored and 3 RBI.
The Bad:Melky Cabrera. It never fails. No matter how many runs are scored there's always one guy who fails to get into the act. Melky was that guy on Sunday. The Yanks banged out 15 hits, but Cabrera didn't lay claim to any of them. It wasn't a total loss for Melky -- he drove in the final run on a ground out in the eighth. If Melky was hitting higher than .258 on the year, I may have been able to let his 0'fer slide. I'm firm, but fair. The Melk-Man finished 0 for 5 with an RBI and 2 strikeouts.
The Ugly:I can hit with my eyes closed. Roy Oswalt was lit up for seven runs through 5 2/3 innings on Sunday, but he went 2 for 2 at the plate. It's a good thing there aren't style points in baseball because Oswalt looked like me on his second single. Oswalt was out in front, reached for the ball and with his eyes snapped shut, stroked a base hit to center. The slow motion replay captured the "fluid" swing in all its glory. Good stuff.
The Yanks are off on Monday as they head back to the Bronx and prepare to take on the San Diego Padres for a three-game set beginning Tuesday night. Randy Wolf (5-4, 3.83) will go against Andy Pettitte (6-5, 4.64 ERA) in the opener. Wolf has put together a solid season for the underachieving Pads and hasn't lost since May 17 against the Seattle Mariners. He's 3-0 with a 1.75 ERA in his past five starts. Pettitte was brilliant in his last start against the Oakland A's and is 3-1 with a 2.74 ERA in four career starts against San Diego.
Don't look now, but the Yanks could be in the middle of the hot run everyone has been waiting for.
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Nice to see the offense finally strike like this. The pitching wasn't too shabby, either.