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June 3, 2009
Fireworks at Yankee Stadium
HOME SWEET HOME – The battle between the AL’s top two teams – record-wise – turned into a real laugher Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium.
The Bronx Bombers torched Vicente Padilla and a combustible bullpen in a 12-3 victory in front of 43,948 at the House that George Built. The Yankees pounded out 13 hits and a pair of three-runs homers – Hideki Matsui and Jorge Posada.
“We scored a lot of runs tonight and A.J. (Burnett) was great (on the mound),” Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira said.
For most of the Yankee starters, a seven-inning effort was all that was required of them before skipper Joe Girardi called in the JV squad to finish things off.
“We still got good pitching and good defense,” Girardi replied..
I DON’T LIKE YOU – Teixeira probably won’t be inviting Padilla to a backyard cookout any time soon. After hitting homers off Padilla the first two times he faced him in his career, Teixeira has gotten used to being hit by the 31-year-old hurler with an attitude.
On Tuesday, Padilla drilled Teixeira twice – once in the shoulder in the second inning and again in the buttocks in the fourth.
“It’s not the right way to play the game and unfortunately that guy has been doing it his whole career,” said Teixeira, who was clearly upset after the second shot but added he would never charge the mound. “That’s not the kind of player I am.”
GOOD ENOUGH – Burnett didn’t need his best stuff with plenty of run support, but he did enough to improve his record to 4-2 on the season.
Burnett went seven innings and allowed eight hits, three earned runs and one walk while striking out eight. He threw 71 of his 111 pitches for strikes and yielded one home run to Nelson Cruz in the third inning..
“A.J. had one blip of an inning, but still gave us seven innings,” Girardi said.
ELITE COMPANY – Derek Jeter became the fourth Yankee to join the 1,500-run club when he scored on Alex Rodriguez’s fielder’s choice in the bottom of the fourth inning.
The other three Yankees in that club – Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Mickey Mantle.
END OF AN ERROR? – The Yankees’ MLB-record 18-game errorless streak ended in the top of the fourth inning when catcher Jorge Posada mailed a throw into center field trying to nab Elvis Andrus stealing second base.
New York set the record Monday night in Cleveland, surpassing the 2006 Boston Red Sox’s mark of 17 games. The Yankees previous record for errorless games was 10, which they have done three times (1977, ’93, ’95).
STATUS QUO ROTATION – Girardi said before the game he has no plans to make changes with the Yankees’ starting staff to accommodate the return of Chien-Ming Wang. That means Andy Pettitte (bad back) will take his turn Wednesday night against the Rangers and Phil Hughes (3-2, 5.45 ERA) is still on the schedule to start Friday at the Stadium against the Rays.
"Yeah, we've had discussions and at this point nothing has changed,” Girardi said. “Our guys are still on schedule. We're happy with the progress (Wang’s) made, but at this point we are staying on schedule."
When pressed on the issues, Girardi stuck to the rotation remains the same mantra.
"We haven't made any changes up to this point,” he added. “We are staying on schedule and continue to evaluate it every day”
Since returning from the disabled list (hip weakness), Wang has made three relief appearances and allowed only two earned runs over eight innings, dropping his ERA from 34.50 to 16.07 in the process.
CHICKEN MESS YOU UP – A quick thumbs down to the media room chef at Yankee Stadium who prepared possibly the worst chicken I have ever had. My jaw still aches from trying to chew through a piece before I gave up and went for a grill cheese.
Posted by Bill on June 3, 2009 1:10 AM
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