Yankees Win A Wild One, Beat White Sox 12-9

That was certainly an interesting ballgame. If you told me before the game that the Yankees were going to put up a 12-spot in a game that CC Sabathia started I'd have thought the game would be a blowout. Tonight's win was anything but. It ended with Mariano Rivera doing what he does best, saving games. It was too close for my comfort but a win is a win. Doesn't matter how you win as long as you do. Well, maybe it matters a little.

CC was far from dominant, which is something we Yankee fans have to come to expect from CC in August based on his previous outings. CC owns the month of August. Coming into tonight's game, CC was 9-1 in 11 starts as a Yankee. 11 starts, 80.2 IP, 68 hits, 15 walks, 76 strikeouts, 23 ER, 2.57 ERA. One word, dominant. He was far from his typical self tonight but he still pitched pretty well. 69% of his pitches were strikes. He whiffed 9 and only walked 1. The home runs are what did him in. Lucky for him, and for us, the offense brought their game tonight. He picked up win #18 and with 5-6 starts left you'd think 20 wins is in the bag. Cy Young favorite? He just might be.

Big night for the offense. 12 runs on 14 hits and 9 walks. 4-12 with RISP. Swisher went deep for HR #24 (add another $38 to the Swish's Wishes fundraiser). Marcus Thames went deep twice. How awesome is he playing, right? Posada had 2 hits and 2 RBI. But the player of the night has to be Eduardo Nunez. Wardo went 3-4 with 4 RBI and he hit his 1st big league HR. Career night for the newbie. Good for him. I hope he can keep it up.

The game really should have been a blowout. CC went 7 innings and when he left the score was 11-5. A 6-run lead should be safe even with the Yankee bullpen. But they did everything in their power to blow the game. Joba sucked. D-Rob sucked. Even Boone Logan was a little off. Mo wasn't vintage Mo but still got the job done. I'll give them a pass tonight based on how well they've done recently. Yes Joba, even you. Coming into tonight Joba had allowed only 1 run in his last 13 appearances. Logan hadn't allowed a run in his last 15 games and still hasn't. D-Rob just had a string of 19 scoreless appearances snapped. They've all pitched pretty well. Hopefully it's not a sign of things to come.

The Rays beat the Red Sox tonight. That works for me. As I wrote yesterday all I care about is that the Yankees make it to the postseason. I don't care if they finish as the AL East champs or the wild-card. Again, would prefer the division but wild-card works for me. The Yankees magic number to clinch a playoff spot is 28. Losses by the Red Sox reduce that number. So go Rays.

Ivan Nova tomorrow. I missed his last outing. Hope to catch this one.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie