Ugly Sox

I'm at the Globe, watching the Red Sox play the Blue Jays. Wait, that's not what's happening; the Red Sox are getting killed by the Blue Jays.

A day after Boston let itself earn a playoff berth by watching the Texas Rangers lose out, the Red Sox are looking positively minor league-ish. Roy Halladay is tossing a no-hitter through five, and the camera just cut to a guy in the parking lot who had left the Sox game and was lucky enough to snatch a sixth-inning Blue Jays homer.

Toronto now leads 9-0.

Rest is one thing, but the Red Sox have looked so bad these past few games (albeit with a lot of benchwarmers in) that you wonder whether they'll be able to turn it back on once the postseason starts. The Angels are pretty sharp this year, and no one should be counting them out, especially with the kind of effort Boston's had lately.

Meanwhile, the Yankees are facing off against the Royals, looking for the sweep. Derek Jeter hit a home run in the first at-bat of the game for the Yankees, notching the game at 1 early.

Walkoff win #15

Will someone please tell the Yankees that they've clinched the division and can sit back and enjoy themselves until the playoffs start?

New York notched its seventh win in a row tonight, and its 15th walkoff victory, as fill-in Juan Miranda singled home the winning run to beat the Royals 4-3.

Yankees players streamed out of the dugout to celebrate the win, and A.J. Burnett (who also pitched well for the Yanks) delivered his customary pie-to-the-face.

After last night's 8-2 stomping of Kansas City, during which New York used only three of its regular starters, you've got to be happy that these Yankees are keeping the excitement high for every game heading into the playoffs.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox lost another one to the Blue Jays as they continue to "rest" their players, guessing the Texas Rangers' ineptness will be enough to let them crawl into the last playoff berth. Is it just me, or have the Red Sox been employing this "resting"strategy for the whole second half of the season?

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Oh well for taking it easy, Yankees

A day after clinching the American League East, winning their 100th game, and having their manager say they'll sit back for the next 10 days until the playoffs start, the Yankees came out and beat up on the Kansas City Royals, winning 8-2 on a rain-delayed night. Oh well for taking it easy.

Facing a team that had beat the Red Sox two games out of four last week (really, Boston?), New York got some nice input from Robinson Cano, who smashed a seventh-inning grand slam from the number-three spot to put the game away for the Yankees.

Cano is hitting .322 this season, his second-best batting average in the bigs, and has surpassed 200 hits this year for the first time in his career.

New York's blowout win came on a night when most of the starters were resting, and fifth pitcher/bullpen man Chad Gaudin was throwing. (Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera and Jorge Posada were the only starters in the game.)

Meanwhile, the Red Sox (considered by most to already be in the American League Championship Series, which they will only do if they beat the powerhouse Angels, after actually making it to the playoffs...which still requires two wins in the next six games) lost a nasty 8-5 tilt to the Blue Jays tonight.

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Lucky 8s

It's another eighth-inning comeback for the Yankees, who ride a Hideki Matsui home run to tie the game 4-4. (Apparently Matsui read my comments from a few days ago about how his illustrious numbers contribute nil to New York's cause.)

After trailing the Blue Jays for a few innings, Matsui's home run (with Alex Rodriguez on base) cinched the game up at 4. Matsui had already batted in another run earlier in the game. The Yankees stranded 12 men on base before getting a couple home in the eighth.

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A little tussle in the Bronx

Apparently, the Yankees read my post, because they came out fighting in the bottom of the eighth — but not the kind of fighting I was looking for.

Jorge Posada apparently tackled the Jays' catcher, and manager Joe Girardi emerged from the scuffle with a cut and a bruised head.

Way to show some fire, Yanks.

It's a shame I missed the fight. There's nothing like a sewer rat of a catcher taking down a blue bird. (The guy at the desk next to me here at the sports department of the Daily News Tribune says he hopes Posada didn't ruin his mug. Ha.)

Johnny Damon squandered a bases-loaded situation in the same inning, and the Yankees lost 10-4. Sergio Mitre was the unfortunate pitcher in the five-hole for New York, getting shellacked for seven earned runs through five innings while Roy Halladay held off the Bombers.

Brett Gardner, newly returned to the team, was great in his starting role tonight. He went 2-for-4 with a double and 2 RBI. Hideki Matsui and Derek Jeter were also 2-for-4 with an RBI apiece.

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Stinkin' Yankees

Well, it's a good thing the Yankees won't be facing the Baltimore Orioles or the Toronto Blue Jays in the playoffs, because New York has been horrible against them lately. (New York is currently losing to Toronto 9-2.)

As the last two weeks until the end of the season trickle by (with most of the playoff berths tied up in both leagues), many teams are trying to conserve talent and rest players. That could really hurt the Yankees, though. They need to keep plugging, keep hitting, keep pitching...especially with all the lackluster playoff performances they've had lately.

In the tiny series that are the first round of the playoffs, even a great team can get sent home with a couple bad games. And considering the crap that A.J. Burnett and Joba Chamberlain have been tossing off the mound lately (actually, Chamberlain would be throwing crap, but he hardly stays in long enough to throw anything), it's looking scary. CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte can't handle it all, and they've been shaky plenty of times this season, too (although Sabathia is a real September-October workhorse).

The good news is, the Yankees bullpen is great, and those pitchers have able to keep their arms fresh as the bum half of the pen has taken care of these last few games.

The return of Brett Gardner to the lineup has also given New York a little spark, and the spate of young players that showed up with the September expansion of the rosters has also been a good test of the Yankees' wide range of weapons.

But really, Yankees? Losing to the Blue Jays? And by half a dozen? That's got to stop.

Roy Halladay, a usual Yankees foil, was pitching for Toronto today. That means that as good as the Yankees are this year, they're still not drop-dead amazing enough to dethrone players who usually give them fits, such as the entire rosters of Red Sox and the Angels and even Detroit's Justin Verlander (a probably first-round foe). Not a good sign.

These next few games will be a good test to see whether New York is going to keep its foot on the gas, or whether the Yankees are letting off just in time for the most important games of the season.

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Sweep's up

Not content to merely sweep their series with the Baltimore Orioles by way of a 3-2 pitcher's duel win tonight, the Yankees explode for seven runs in the top of the ninth, dropping the O's 10-2.

Every New York player had some fun tonight, with constant singles in the last frame sending every Yankee to the plate at least once. And CC Sabathia won his 16th game of the year, which leads the bigs.

Alex Rodriguez had the best night. He singled twice with men on second and third, leaving him 3-for-5 with 4 RBI on the night.

Johnny Damon went 4-for-5 (RBI), Melky Cabrera (RBI) and Robinson Cano 2-for-5, Nick Swisher 2-for-3, Jose Molina 1-for-4 and Derek Jeter (RBI) and Hideki Matsui (RBI) 1-for-5. Eric Hinske (1-for-2, RBI) tied the game for New York in the top of the third with a solo home run, with Baltimore leading 1-0 since the first.

The Yankees had just eight of their 17 hits going into the last inning in a game that was tied 1-1 for three innings before the Yankees took the lead in the top of the seventh on a Rodriguez two-RBI single. Sabathia pitched seven full innings, logging nine strikeouts in the process.

New York carries its league-best 85-48 record into Toronto next.

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Hip, Hip Jorrrrgeee!

Jorge Posada hurt his finger the other day, which is no small deal for a catcher. Posada's been battling injuries for years, especially to his throwing arm, which has many critics telling him to hang up his catcher's gear, and even his spikes. This recent injury kept him out of a couple days just when controversy was also stewing about whether the Yankees' longtime catcher should be the one to catch for A.J. Burnett, who is in his first year for New York. Some said Posada messed things up for Burnett in his last few starts, that they didn't agree on the pitch selection, blah blah blah.

Burnett allowed six runs tonight with Posada behind the plate, so one of those arguments may have merit. But when the Yankees win 9-6 because of a player's batting, it doesn't really matter much what happens that night for that player behind the plate.

Posada tore the game open, going 2-for-4 with two home runs, accounting for 3 RBI. Behind him, Robinson Cano went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and a home run, and Nick Swisher added a 2-RBI dinger to complete the 5-6-7 stackup slugfest for the Yankees.

The Orioles put up a fight tonight, not finished until a Mariano Rivera silencing in the ninth. Baltimore will have its last chance for a win tomorrow before the Yankees move on to a four-game set in Toronto.

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Sox sweep

The Yankees swept the White Sox today with another drubbing, this time an 8-3 win to top a weekend in which New York outscored Chicago 23-5.

With starter Joba Chamberlain only going three innings as the Yankees increase his workload to that of a fulling starting pitcher again, the bullpen had a creative afternoon, with five pitchers combining to close the last six innings.

Chicago held New York to a 3-2 lead from the third inning on, until the bottom of the seventh, when the Yankees exploded for five runs. The rally was capped by Mark Teixeira, who hit a towering home run (his 32nd of the season) to score three. Teixeira now leads the American League with 101 RBIs.

The win was New York's 82nd, and the Yankees sport no signs of slowing up as they head into Baltimore and Toronto for the next week.

I'll have more to say about the New York's season as a whole in my next post, but for now, how 'bout them Yankees?

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Mark that W

Mark Teixeira batted in all three of the Yankees' runs tonight, putting New York over Oakland 3-2 with a two-run homer and an RBI groundout. The A's edged within one after starting pitcher Chad Gaudin was chased in the fifth, but Phil Hughes and Mariano Rivera combined to close the game for New York.

Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon both went 2-for-4 as the Yankees salvaged the series 2-1.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox have proved they are still very, very alive. With a 6-1 win over the Blue Jays tonight (which followed a 10-9 late-inning win last night), Boston is revving up for what will be a hot weekend series in Beantown against the Yankees. The Sox are seven games back, holding almost even with the Yankees since the sweep in New York (Boston has been 6-3, the Yankees 7-3).

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Downing the Jays

In a game when they were out-hit 14-6, the Yankees held onto a 3-3 tie into the 11th inning before Robinson Cano hit a walkoff single to win the game for New York, 4-3.

(Better yet, I saw that Cano was up to bat with a man on first and second, and the score was tied, and I wrote the above sentence, hoping it would come true. Then he fulfilled my prediction. That's what I'm talking about!)

A.J. Burnett absorbed most of the damage, allowing 10 hits and three runs over six innings. He also struck out seven.

Cano was 2-for-5 with two RBI, and Johnny Damon went 2-for-4 with an RBI off his solo shot in the third.

Derek Jeter left the game after being hit by a pitch on his right foot. He ran the bases and scored a run before being replaced.

With a 2-1 series win over the Blue Jays in its pocket, New York now heads west to Seattle for a series against the Mariners.

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Can't keep the Yankees down

The Yanks trailed the Blue Jays 4-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth, but the same team that's been working magic all season (and especially this weekend) showed up again, piling up four runs in the bottom of the frame to pull New York past Toronto to win 7-5.

Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada hit back-to-back home runs in the eighth, and Mariano Rivera closed the game to record his 33rd save in 34 tries.

Johnny Damon and Derek Jeter were both 3-for-5.

The win makes the Yankees the first team to reach 70 wins this season.

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Revenge of the N.Y. front office

Tonight was the revenge of the New York front office, with three Yankee steals hitting homers to vault the Bronx Bombers past the Boston Red Sox 5-2.

The Yankees nabbed Johnny Damon out of the free agency market from under Boston's nose a few years back, then repeated the process while outbidding the BoSox for Mark Teixeira this year. And everyone remembers the bitter taste left in Boston's mouth when A-Rod chose the Bronx over Beantown.

Tonight, all three New York steals belted homers.

A-Rod, the new Red Sox-slayer, used his picture-perfect swing to put the ball past the fence in the same place as Friday night (or Saturday morning), breaking up an 0-0 tie once again, this time in the bottom of the 7th.

His bomb was especially important because the Yankees were facing a great pitcher in Jon Lester, whom New York had never beat (before tonight's game, Lester was 3-0, with a 3.43 ERA in six starts against the Yankees in his career, and 1-0 with a 3.46 ERA and 17 Ks in two starts this year). Lester had retired the previous nine batters before the home run.

One inning after A-Rod went yard, Damon plunked one over the fence, then Teixeira hit a towering fly that settled into the right upper deck. This is the sixth time this season Damon and Teixeira hit back-to-back home runs, a Yankees record.

Their blasts started a Yankee hit parade that put New York comfortably ahead 5-2, enough to leave a cushion for Mariano Rivera to close the game. (The rampage was interrupted by a two-run homer from Boston's Victor Martinez, who broke up a 31-inning shutout by New York pitchers when he scored. But I think the Yankees were just letting the Sox in to get their hopes up before crushing them again.)

With the win, the Yankees completed their four-game sweep of the Sox and jumped ahead six-and-a-half games in the American League East standings (the Rays are eight games back). New York still has the best record in the majors.

This was an awesome series, through and through, from the slugfest on Thursday night to the standoff on Friday, to the balanced attack on Saturday to tonight's late-inning explosion. The Yankees showcased their best batters, untouchable starting pitchers and a bullpen that is looking rock-solid.

Next up, New York hosts the Toronto Blue Jays.

In individual rankings, Rivera leads Major League Baseball with 32 saves, out of 33 chances. Teixeira leads the American League in home runs with 29.

And in case you're wondering, David "I didn't use steroids" Ortiz was 1-for-14 this series. Beautiful.

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Now the real test starts

The Yankees swept their two-game series with the Toronto Blue Jays tonight, winning 8-4, but the real test starts tomorrow as the Bombers host the Boston Red Sox for four games. The Yankees are a dismal 0-8 against the BoSox this season, and they need these games not only to keep a two-and-a-half game lead in the American League East but also to shore up their divisional standings in case of a Fall tie-breaker.

Johnny Damon (3-for-5, 3 RBI) and Nick Swisher (2-for-5) both hit home runs tonight to lead New York, and Robinson Cano went 2-for-4.

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Home Run Derby

The Yankees have had trouble against Roy Halladay in the past, but three home runs was enough tonight to get New York a 5-3 win over Toronto.

Mark Teixeira, Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui all went yard, and Andy Pettitte struck out six while allowing only one run. It was his first win in six games, and pulled him up to 4-4 at home, where he's had trouble all season.

The Yankees are trying to rev up their attack after a poor 1-3 series at the Chicago White Sox. New York plays Boston Thursday through Sunday before hosting Toronto. New York, at 64-42, has a one-game lead in the American League East over the BoSox (62-42), who are holding on in the ninth inning of a 2-2 game at Tampa Bay (58-48).

UPDATE: Boston falls 4-2 to the Rays in the bottom of the 13th, dropping them one-and-a-half games behind the Yankees.

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Yes, I lll-ove you!

As the fearsome American League East-threatening Tampa Bay Rays charged into their 10-game homestand, one could only hope for the safety of New York, fat off its 9-1 home furlough.

But it was the Yankees who devoured their southern division foes tonight, gulping an 11-4 win that keeps the Bombers a step ahead of the Sox.

A.J. Burnett went seven again, making him one of the hottest pitchers of late in the hitter-friendly half of the league. But the real hero tonight was Nick Swisher, who hit long bombs from both sides of the plate.

He led a Yankee offense that had 15 hits, including three from Derek Jeter and two apiece from Robinson Cano (2 RBI), Melky Cabrera, Mark Teixeira and Swisher (3 RBI). Alex Rodriguez doubled home two runs, and Johnny Damon hit a three-run homer.

The Yankees (61-38) have ticked off the first game in their string of the next 26 games, 19 of which will be away from home. They lead Boston (58-40) by two and a half games, and Tampa Bay (54-46) by seven and a half. Toronto (48-51) has slipped to 13 back.

New York trails the L.A. Dodgers (62-37) for the best record in the majors.

Tuesday and Wednesday's bouts will also be against the Rays, then New York heads to Chicago to face the White Sox into the weekend.

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Eight runs, eight wins in a row

Rumor had it that the A's were sending their ace to the mound tonight.

Well, the Yankees were sending their bats, and they would not be denied.

First it was a modest 2-1 lead, then it built. 3-1 in the fifth. 4-1 in the sixth.

Then, in the bottom of the eighth, when the Yankees could have hung their cleats and let Mo come in to finish off the Non-Athletics, New York ripped it open to lead 8-1.

Eight runs, eight wins in a row.

With the 8-3 win, New York kept its edge in the American League East as the Red Sox slipped past the Orioles 3-1 tonight. (Tampa Bay and Toronto, never satisfied to let a game go a mere nine innings, went into the 10th before the Rays won 4-2.)

The Yankees knocked out A's ace Brett Anderson, who was scoreless in 21 innings and hadn't lost in his past six starts. The Bombers countered with a sharp pitcher of their own, the recently surging Joba Chamberlain, who went into the eighth inning with a new durability that wasn't present earlier in the season.

Joba let a first-inning run score then shut down Oakland the rest of the way.

Derek Jeter went 3-for-5 with 2 RBI, and Johnny Damon's one hit sent home three runs. Melky Cabrera was 3-for-4, Robinson Cano went 2-for-3, and Jorge Posada continued to break out of his recent hitting slump with a four-bag dinger for the second time in three games.

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Huh. That was easy.

Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera combined for yet another win-save combo (their 60th) as the Yankees moved past Seattle 4-2 on the back of home runs by Johnny Damon, Melky Cabrera and Alex Rodriguez.

Next up, New York welcomes Toronto in a hot matchup in the searing-hot American League East. The Yankees (44-32) are two and a half games back from the Red Sox (48-30), two and a half in front of the Rays (44-36) and four and a half in front of the Blue Jays (42-38). Boston and New York have the top two records, respectively, in the American League.

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Our kind of Brett

As Brett Favre continues to shop himself around the NFL, looking for teams that want to win with gray whiskers, young Brett Gardner gave the New York Yankees the spark they've been needing this season.

The Yankees rolled over the Blue Jays 8-2 tonight, which is good news for a franchise that's heavy on the veteran end. The young blood will hopefully not only power the team for this season but for years to come.

What's that nasty smell from the Bronx?

The Yankees flat-out stink right now. That's all I can say to describe the preposterous situation they're in. At 13-15 and going into Baltimore for a three-day stint, they face the possibility of becoming the American League East cellar occupants, and trailing the Baltimore Orioles, Toronto Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays. And while you can say a lot of nice things about the AL East being tough this year, the Yankees have earned every one of their losses.

At first, I thought it was just the bullpen, which consistently gave up multi-run leads at the beginning of the season. Then the starting pitching faltered. The $15 million batters (there's several...and a few in the $20 million range) are barely batting over the Mendoza line. Tonight Mariano Rivera blew another save and let two guys go deep off of him for the first time in forever.

The Yankees' best hitter right now is Johnny Damon, the very man who brought the curse with him from Boston. Derek Jeter's artificial hip isn't helping him grab grounders at short, and Mark Teixera's famed first base play has been less than flawless. Chubs Molina continues to blow it behind the plate, but that's better than having Grandpa Posada and his gimpy legs and arms anchor the backstop.

Who else? All of them. They all stink right now.

The Yankees are good at one thing right now: taking something good and changing it, for no reason. A couple examples: Joba Chamberlain was the best reliever the Yankees have had for decades, so instead of relying on his heat to anchor the seventh and eighth innings, they brought him into a starting pitching spot, where he's been decent but not great. Meanwhile, Yankees' relievers regularly give up four earned runs a night and walk the bases full every other game.

My other example: you had the world's best stadium, with DiMaggio's ghost in the basement, and you tore it down to build a palace across the street. Fine. But in the process, you happened to create a wind tunnel that helps the other team win (you can't even get your own hitters to pull for right field) and also spread the stinking grandstands out so far that it's no longer loud within the stadium. That's fine, too, because with all the white-collar bums that are "packing" the stadium now in the Berkaloungers down near home plate, the only cheering you'll get is, as John Lennon would say, rich people rattling their jewelry.

Argh.