Jeter's Late Inning Heroics Spark Yanks to 4-3 Win

What a way to end the opening road trip of the season! Andy Pettitte comes through with another great outing. Derek Jeter does what he does best and comes through in the clutch. Mo does his thing. The end result is a 4-3 Yankees win and a 5-4 record on the opening road trip. Not bad. I'll take it.

Andy Pettitte could very well be the best 4th starter in the game. Ah the hell with it. He is the best 4th starter in the game. Andy has kicked some serious ass in his 1st 2 starts. He wasn't as dominant as he was in his first outing but his start is definitely nothing to squawk at, especially considering it was against the Rays. Andy has impressed me so far. I was a little skeptical about how he'd do this year after his weak finish last year.

How awesome has Brian Bruney been since his first outing of the season? Here's how awesome: 4.2 IPs, no hits, no walks, and 10 Ks. He's faced 14 batters and whiffed 10 of them, including the last 5. Bruney in the 8th. Mo in the 9th. I am down with that. Speaking of Mo, another 1-2-3 inning for the master. I think Mo is going to have the best year if his career this year. Don't ask me why, call it a gut feeling. I predicted he'd finish the year with an ERA under 1.00 and he'd convert every save opportunity. I know it's early, but I'm loving his chances. Knock on wood.

Captain Clutch does it again. His leadoff double in the 8th leads to the tying run. His 2-out single in the 9th plates the winning run and the Yankees walk away winners. Jeter has always been clutch when it's needed most. Coming into today's game, the Captain was 3-4 with 2 outs and RISP, and hitting 500 with RISP. In 2008, he hit .328 with 2 outs and RISP. In '07, he hit .418. In '06, he hit .369 with 2 outs and RISP. You have to go back to 2005 to find a year where he hit below .300 (he hit .250). Since his rookie year, Jeter has hit .320 with 2-outs and RISP, .313 with RISP, and .319 with runners on. For my money, that's clutch. I want Jeter at the plate when the game is on the line. There's nobody better for my money.

Tomorrow is the home opener. I originally had the day off but something got rescheduled at work that going to make me miss it. I'm pretty bummed but what can you do? There's a lot going on here and I really couldn't afford to take the whole day off. So I'll have to DVR it and catch it on the radio. CC gets the honor of getting the 1st start in the new stadium and I hope he brings it. It would be great to see him keep things rolling. I made a prediction before his last start about how he'd do and he bested that prediction. So I'll throw another one out there: 6.2 IPs, 7 hits, 2 BBs, 11 Ks, 2 ER. That should be sufficient. Hopefully he delivers. Enjoy the game!

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie