After a disappointing Subway Series for the Bronx Bombers, the Yankees came home to face the Detroit Tigers in a three games series. The Yanks won the opening game in the series 10-3, with the long ball and solid pitching. The game was 7-0 after two innings, but that did not keep things from getting interesting.
In the fourth inning of last night's contest, Esteban Yan (Detroit second pitcher of the night) threw a ball about 8 inches over Alex Rodriguez's head. Home plate umpire, Marc Wegner, immediately threw Yan out of the game and issued a warning to both teams.
The Yankees were in cruise control after the 4th inning. Jon Lieber pitched six and two-thirds of two-hit shutout baseball, then tired and gave up three two-out runs in the 7th inning. From there it was Felix Heredia (who it seems has pitched in every game in recent memory) came on for an inning and a third of shutout baseball. Brett Prinz pitched the ninth inning to close the door on the game.
Bernie Williams and Alex Rodriguez were the hitting stars on this night. A-Rod went two for three with a home run and 3 RBI. Bernie Williams, who was back in the lead off spot, went two for three with one double, one home run, three RBI and two walks. Bernie seems to have taken a liking to the lead off spot. I think he is hitting something like .900 in that spot.
The middle game of the series starts tonight at the stadium at 7:05pm. Brad Halsey (1-1, 6.28) and Jason Johnson (5-7, 4.88) square off. The Final game of the three game set is a matinee in the Bronx on Wednesday, with Mike Mussina (9-5, 4.88) and Jeremy Bonderman ( 5-6, 5.87) taking the hill.
