Jeter Hitless As Yanks Sweep Double-Dip With Rays

The Yanks took it to the Rays yesterday. It was pretty much a death blow. Not that the Rays had much of a chance anyway, but losing two to the division leader while losing your best slugger for the season is pretty much a death sentence when it's this late in the game. Have a fun offseason.

The Yankees pitching was bombastic yesterday. CC was golden as expected. Too bad he didn't pick up the W. I want to see him win 20. A.J. was pretty solid in the nightcap. The 2 combined to throw 13 innings allowing only 2 runs on 7 hits and 7 walks. They whiffed an impressive 18. There's been a lot of chatter lately about the Yankees pitching staff and how will it shape up come October. There's a lot of worry after CC and Andy Pettitte, largely because A.J. Burnett has been inconsistent lately. Let's hope he builds off yesterday's start because if we can get a hot A.J. in with a hot CC and hot Pettitte, October should be pretty fun.

All eyes were on Derek Jeter yesterday. The Captain needs 3 hits to tie Lou Gehrig for the most hits as a Yankee. Jeter has a couple of good swings but ended up going 0-8. i don't think anyone saw that coming. He'll bounce back and he'll do it quickly. I am sure he wants to get this over and done with so he can focus on his main objective, winning ball games. I am sure it's kind of a distraction. A lot of players seem to take longer than expected when reaching a milestone is on the line. It took a-Rod a few ABs to hit #500. It took Clemens a few tries to win #300. Not sure why that happens, but it always seems to.

A-Rod is starting to look a lot more like A-Rod nowadays. His 3 hits yesterday raised his average to .282, the highest it's been all season, if you don't count going 1 for 3 in his first 3 ABs. You can tell Alex is getting locked in because a lot of his hits are right up the middle or to right-center. It's a long shot but I wouldn't be surprised if Alex gets his average to .300 before he season is done. I think Alex is going to have to get some consideration for the MVP. I know a lot of the talk is about Jeter and Teixeira, but Alex deserves some of the love. The team took off once he returned. Having him in the lineup triggered Teixeira's surge. And his numbers aren't all that bad if you consider he missed 28 games. I hope he gets shown some love. He deserves it in my opinion.

Mark Teixeira has been slumping a little lately but busted out of it in a big way last night, going 3-4 with a double and 2 jacks. It was good to see him send a few "Teix-messages." With Carlos Pena going down for the season, Teixeira has a good shot at pulling off 2/3 of the triple crown. He currently leads the league in RBI with 106, and his 35 HRs are 4 behind the leader Pena. He could very well pull that off. Not bad Teix. Not bad.

My lunch is winding down so I've got to boogie. Tonight's game is on My9 so I won't get to see it. I will be following along though. I'm sure the MLB Network will be breaking in whenever Jeter is at the plate. Also, if you've sent me an e-mail in the last few days, I will be getting to it. With the time away I'm a little behind and I'll do my best to catch up tonight. Enjoy the game.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie