Yanks Win Another 2-1 Squeaker On Matsui's Walkoff

3 straight games. 3 straight 2-1 victories. These games are getting too close for comfort. I like the fact that the team is pitching well. But donde esta la offense? For those of you without a handy-dandy Spanish to English translator, that means where is the offense? I think it means that. The only Spanish I've ever heard translated was on an episode of "Who's The Boss" when they went to Mexico and taught Tony how to say "Where is the bathroom?" I'm kidding of course.

But seriously, where is the offense? The Yankees have scored a whopping 11 runs in their 4 games since the ASB. They've managed 16 hits in their last 3 games. Their last 4 runs all came on solo HRs. 5 of their last 6 runs came on solo HRs. 8 of their last 9 runs came via the longball. I don't like this trend. It's very hard to win consistently when you live off the home run, especially when it's of the solo variety. I'm a little surprised that they've won their last 4. It's a good thing that the pitching is taking care of business. They deserve all the credit for these wins in my opinion. I'm excited about how well they're doing, but would be a lot more thrilled if these games were against better opponents. Baltimore and Detroit don't exactly have stellar offenses. If the Yanks were facing better teams, they very easily could have lost all 4 of these games. I hope the offense gets going soon. Enough of these solo HRs.

I don't think any team had a chance against Andy Pettitte last night. In a word, awesome. Andy has struggled at home this year. He got the 2nd half off on the right foot by going 7.1 innings, allowing just the 1 run on 6 hits and a walk. The stat of the night though was the 8 Ks. His control was there too as he threw 69% of his pitches for strikes. Very impressive. He made the mistake to Markakis in the first inning and was pretty much on cruise control the rest of the night. Like CC and Joba in their outings, if Andy needed the big out, he got the big out. Baltimore had a runner on 2nd with no outs in the 3rd and Andy whiffed two in a row. the O's had two on and 1 out in the 5th and Andy struck out another to keep them put. He also met 2 of his best friends in the 6th and 7th when he induced two double plays. All in all, a stellar outing.

The game was saved though by the defense. Those two plays at the plate in the 8th were tremendous. The first was great on so many levels. First Teixeira made an incredible pick. He then made a tremendous off-balance throw to the plate. Molina made a sweet grab on the throw and made a nice tag at the plate. I'm not sure how the ball stayed in his glove. That was remarkable. And then lightning struck again. Coke makes a wild pitch, Molina pounced on it and hit Coke at the plate for the tag. I originally thought Roberts got in there but there was no question that the ump made the right call. Those plays were game savers. If Mark Teixeira doesn't win the Gold Glove at first I am going to be shocked. The Yankees haven't had a slick fielding first baseman in I don't know how long. Teix has saved the Yankees' bacon several times this year. I am so glad that the stars aligned and Cashman was able to bring Teixeira into the fold. He's the bomb yo.

Boston's 3 game lead is gone. Yanks are back in first. Sergio Mitre is getting the call-up to make tonight's start in place of Chien-Ming Wang. It's the right call. The Yanks are better off if the leave Hughes and Aceves in the bullpen. Wang had another setback in his rehab yesterday. The Yanks are likely going to need to fill that spot for quite a while. The trade deadline is about 10 days from now. I can't see them going with Mitre if Wang is out long term. It'll be interesting to see what develops over the next week and a half. Mitre should be nothing more than a stop-gap. He's not the answer. I'm interested to see how he does. Good luck Serge. Hopefully you get some run support.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie