Yanks Use The Longball To Drop Rays 5-3, Bring On The BoSox

OK. I'm having a total writer's block moment as I try to figure out how to open this post. I've been staring at my laptop for a good 10 minutes now and nothing is coming to me. Probably a sign of being tired. I have the sneaking suspicion that this post won't be my best work. Let's see how it goes.

The Yanks took full advantage of the new Yankee Stadium tonight, belting 4 dingers en route to a 5-3 win over the Rays. They took 2 of 3 from the Rays which means another series win. They've won 8 of their last 9 series and are now 11 games over .500 at 34-23, a full game ahead of the Red Sox. They didn't exactly dominate tonight, but it was enough to get the job done.


Andy Pettitte didn't have the sharpest outing but he did pretty well. As I watched the game I kept expecting the wheels to fall off. I'm still wondering how Pettitte fared as well as he did. I also can't believe Pettitte leads the team with 6 wins. Amazing. I'm now sure why I'm so underwhelmed by Andy. He is after all 4-1 in his last 6 starts. But his line over those 6 games is pretty bad: 35.2 IP, 40 hits, 21 walks, and 16 ER. That's an ERA of 4.04 and a WHIP of 1.71. How the hell is he doing it? He's battling through these games and he's coming out on top. So whatever he's doing, I hope he keeps it up. Andy is one helluva 5th starter I'll give him that. Anybody else feel underwhelmed when it comes to Andy?

Despite going deep 4 times, the Yankees offense was again a little lacking today. Rays pitcher Andy Sonnanstine is having a pretty bad year. His ERA is over 7 and opponents were hitting .329 against him coming into tonight's game. The Yankees offense managed only 6 hits in 26 at-bats (.231). Thank God they were playing at home as all 5 runs came courtesy of the longball. June is being very kind to Nick Swisher. He's hitting .500 (9-18) this month. Swish needs to keep it up as the team is really going to need that bat, especially with the slumping bat of Hideki Matsui in the lineup. It's becoming painfully obvious that Matsui's best days are long over. Matsui is hitless in his last 5 games (0-14) and is 0 for his last 17. He put together a nice string of games before this slump so the potential is there but he has this mechanical flaw at the plate that he just can't seem to shake this year. It's as if he's falling out of the batter's box on each swing. Maybe "falling out of the box" isn't the best way to describe it, but if you pay attention to him you'll see what I mean. Get on that Kevin Long.

The bullpen tonight was rock solid. Phil Hughes looked really good. Really really good. His fastball seemed to have a little extra zip to it. But as I blogged earlier today, he needs to pitch more than 1 inning. I'm all for him pitching in the majors but not if he's going to top out at 3 innings a week. With Wang starting Wednesday, perhaps there are some more innings in the cards for Philly Boy. If not, then I hope they consider sending Phil back to Scranton so he can pitch regularly. The Yankees need him to pitch if they want to keep that arm strength up. Phil Coke scares me every time he pitches. I was getting all fired up after he walked Zobrist. I fully expected him to blow it and that's not good. The Yankees have too many relievers that I feel that way about. Thankfully, they're not pitching that often. Yeah, I'm talking about Jose Veras, who hasn't pitched since June 2nd. I think it's safe to say he's at the bottom of the pecking order. That's exactly where he belongs.

Oh yeah, and Mariano Rivera is still awesome.

Bring on the BoSox. The Yankees are winless against the Sox this year but they're a much different team then they were when they last faced them. A-Rod is back. Teixeira's average is 88 points higher. The Yanks are 21-10 since the teams last played each other. The Yanks have the best record in the AL and are playing some great baseball. A sweep of the Sox would be nice, but I'll settle for 2 of 3. I'm ticked that tomorrow's game is on My9. If you've been reading the blog regularly, you know that I don't get the My9 games here in Buffalo. I'm hoping for a miracle tomorrow night when I turn the TV on at 7pm. Gimme my My9!!

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie