The 2009 Yankees look to be returning to the playoffs in just a couple weeks after last season's first year being left home in over a decade. This year's team has been marked by a level of extroverted charisma and fiery personalities uncharacteristic of the stoic bunch that led the turn of the century dynasty. But last night, late in a game that did not appear to be on its way toward another AJ Burnett pieface moment, some of that adrenaline appeared to turn nasty as Jorge Posada took a cheap shot shove at Blue Jays' pitcher Jesse Carlson and BAM! It was on—bench-clearing brawl, enough of a mess to end with a little blood.
Yankees 9 Mets 1: The final score may not have been close, but the Mets threw the game away by committing three errors in the second inning. The first one, a wild throw by David Wright is somewhat understandable, he had picked the ball up barehanded and was off-balance as he threw it. That put Melky Cabrera on second and he scored when Ramiro Pena blooped a double down the rightfield line. Pena then scored when C.C. Sabathia hit a single up the middle to make it 2-0 Yankees.
Yankees 9 Mets 8: In all the years of the Subway Series, there has never been an ending like this one. For almost four hours, the Yankees and Mets battled back and forth, trading runs and the lead over and over again. Like they have done all season, the Yankees used home runs to get on the scoreboard with Robinson Cano starting things off in the second inning to put the Yankees up 1-0. But, Joba Chamberlain could not find the plate on Friday and the Mets took advantage of his wildness to take a 2-1 lead. Mark Teixeira went deep to put the Yankees up 3-2 but the Mets jumped all over Brett Tomko in the fifth to take a 6-3 lead.
The dimensions of the new Yankee Stadium may not appear as they seem. A new report on what a hitter's park they've landed in is suggesting that the abundance of homers might simply come down to closer fences and lower walls. With over a third of their home games in the books, the early prognosis of the new stadium as a homer haven has certainly remained true. Monday night's game marked already the tenth time this season (out of 29 played there) that five or more home runs were hit. If the current pace keeps up, the team is looking at 293 balls leaving the yard this season—just ten shy of the record in Colorado's Coors Field in 1999. It's also an 83 percent increase from last year's total of 160.
Yankees 5 Tampa Bay 3: The ball certainly carries in the Bronx. The new ballpark saw five dingers on Monday, four of them by the Yankees as they finished their homestand with a 4-2 record. Mark Teixeira got things started and Nick Swisher added a two-run shot to put New York up 3-0. But, Andy Pettitte had a rough fourth, allowing three runs, before settling down to pitch well in the fifth and sixth. Johnny Damon and Derek Jeter added solo shots for the final two runs of the game and Mariano Rivera recorded his 14th save. New York now heads to Boston for three games with the second-place Red Sox, a team they have not defeated this season.
Once upon a time, Ray Kinsella had to turn his corn field into a baseball diamond and travel across the country in search of a reclusive author to reconnect with the memories of his upbringing and come to terms with his late father. Nowadays Yankee fans simply have enter in their credit card information and are well on their way to owning an eighty-dollar tablespoon of dirt from the old stadium in order to do the same.
We're not sure if it's the team's late game heroics or AJ Burnett becoming the Bronx's Cream Pie Bandit, but all of a sudden the Yankees became really fun to watch this weekend. Today's hero was Johnny Damon, hitting a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th to bring the forty-four thousand-plus inside Yankee Stadium to their feet. That marked the third game in a row the team has ended the game with a walk-off hit, the first time the Bombers have had that happen since 1972. But what might be just as exciting is what has happened after all three of the game-winning hits: the hero of the day has been surprised by pitcher AJ Burnett with a shaving whipped cream pie right in the face. When was the last time the Bronx saw such spontaneity and playfulness among the reputation they've built for being a team of business-like professionals throughout the last two decades? Burnett brings the tradition from his days on the Blue Jays and before the season told a YES Network reporter, "I'm gonna mess with them all the time whether they're having a good day or a bad day. I just can't wait to pie somebody."
Yankees 7 Angels 4: A.J. Burnett wasn’t good, but he battled though seven innings to give the Yankees a chance to win. And that’s what they did, coming back from a 3-1 deficit, thanks to a home run from Johnny Damon, a huge hit from Derek Jeter and a double by Ramiro Pena. Phil Coke pitched a scoreless eighth and Mariano nailed down the save. The win gets the Yankees two-games over .500, their highest point this season and starts off this difficult homestand on the right note.
Alex Rodriguez is headed to Colorado. Don’t get too excited Yankees’ fans; it’s not for a trade, but rather to get a cyst in his right hip checked out by a specialist. After playing yesterday as a member of the Dominican Republic's World Baseball Classic team, A-Rod complained of soreness in his hip and a MRI revealed the cyst. Could the Yankees, never big fans of the WBC, be using this as a way to stop A-Rod from playing in the tournament? The cyst was only part of Alex’s day as he also opened his mouth, always a mistake, and insulted Johnny Damon and Derek Jeter by stating he would like Jose Reyes to leadoff for the Yankees, "I wish (Reyes) was leading off on our team or playing on our team. That’s fun to watch." A-Rod later issued a correction to that statement (maybe he needs to trot out the family again).
Though the FBI has finally found suspected financial fraudster Robert Allen Stanford, who fled Texas to Virginia, some notable locals have been hit by his reported $8 billion scam: Yankees players Johnny Damon and Xavier Nady, whose finances are now frozen. FoxSports spoke to the pair, who invested with Stanford. Damon said, "I can't pay bills right now. That started on Tuesday. I had to pay a trainer for working out during the offseason. I told him, 'Just hold on for a little bit and hopefully all this stuff gets resolved,'" while Nady said, "I'm affected in some ways. I have the same (advisor) as Johnny. He said I didn't have money with Stanford (investments). But all my credit card accounts are frozen right now because of that situation. I'm trying to get an apartment in New York. I can't put a credit card down to hold it." Damon and Nady both have Scott Boras as an agent—and Boras's company monitors their money. Boras claimed his clients have nothing to worry about.
Red Sox 6, Yankees 4: If Johnny Damon had caught the ball, things might have turned out differently. With the Yankees leading, 3-1, and two Red Sox on base, Kevin Youkilis lifted a high drive to left field, and Damon appeared to have it in his glove. Then gravity kicked in, Damon returned to Earth, and, after literally hanging on top of the wall, the ball fell to the warning track. That proved to be the turning point.
Volquez earned his 10th win of the season, allowing only 2 runs and the Reds took advantage of a big error by Johnny Damon in fifth to score three runs. Mike Mussina pitched well, but not well enough. Will these two pitchers start the All_star Game in a month at the Stadium?
Johnny Damon continued his hot hitting with two more hits and scored two runs. Bobby Abreu and Jason Giambi both hit home runs and Alex Rodriguez doubled home two runs in the 7th to give the Yankees a comfortable lead. Dan Giese earned his first career win with 2-2/3 innings of shutout relief and Mariano needed only seven pitches to nail down his 16th save of the season.
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