Yankees Get Some Relief in Series Finale

The Yankees salvaged the final contest of their 3-game series with the Cleveland Indians with a 6-3 win this afternoon. Mike Mussina couldn't hold a 3-run lead, but the Yankees used 4 home runs on the day to pick up the win for Moose and the Yankees pen came through with 4 scoreless innings.

Johnny Damon snapped the Yankees 17-inning scoreless streak with a solo shot off of Indians starter Paul Byrd to start the 4th inning. With 2 outs, Hideki Matsui, who had extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a 2nd inning single, picked up his second hit of the day and Jason Giambi followed with a mammoth 2-run home run off of the foul pole in right field.

Mike Mussina (5-3) gave up a lead off single to Grady Sizemore to start the game, but then retired the next 12 hitters in a row. But he hit Ben Francisco to start the 5th and Franklin Gutierrez followed with a single to right to put runners on the corners with no one out. Ryan Garko popped out, but Casey Blake doubled home both runners and moved to 3rd on the play. Kelly Shoppach followed with a game tying single.

The Yankees jumped right back on Byrd though in their half of the 5th. Robinson Cano lead off with a double and two batters later came home on Damon's double. Russ Ohlendorf tossed 2 scoreless innings to preserve the lead and then the Yankees increased their advantage with another power display.

Cano sent Byrd (1-3) to the showers with a 1-out upper deck blast in the 7th to make it a 5-3 game. Masa Kobayashi came in and Wilson Betemit greeted him with a home run to deep center. Then it was up to the Yankees 1-2 punch of Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera to shut the door on any Indians comeback, and they did just that.

Chamberlain bounced back from Tuesday's night disaster, retiring the side in order, including an inning ending strikeout of Tuesday's hero David Dellucci. Rivera then came in, allowing a 1-out double to Francisco before picking up his 9th save in as many chances.

News and Notes

Jason Giambi is 3-3 against Mike Timlin with 2 HR and 4 RBI, and 3-5 with 3 HR 5 RBI against Paul Byrd. He's 8-78 (.103) against the rest of the American League.

Mike Mussina's win was his 4th straight and the 255th of his career. That moves him into sole possession of 40th place on the all-time list. He'll have to win 5 more games before catching the next rung on the ladder, Ted Lyons with 260 wins.

May 8, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Cleveland	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0		3	6	0
NY Yankees	0	0	0	3	1	0	2	0	X		6	9	0

BATTING 2B: Blake (8, Mussina), Francisco (2, Rivera). TB: Sizemore; Francisco 2; Gutierrez 2; Blake 2; Shoppach. RBI: Blake 2 (22), Shoppach (3). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Garko. Team LOB: 4. FIELDING DP: 3 (Carroll-Peralta-Garko, Peralta-Garko, Peralta-Garko).

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, LF	4	1	2	2	0	0	0	.280
Jeter, SS	4	0	1	0	0	1	1	.298
Abreu, RF	3	0	0	0	1	0	1	.299
Matsui, DH	4	1	2	0	0	0	1	.345
Giambi, 1B	3	1	1	2	0	0	1	.163
Cabrera, CF	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	.272
Cano, 2B	3	2	2	1	0	0	0	.172
Betemit, 3B	3	1	1	1	0	0	1	.200
Molina, C	3	0	0	0	0	1	1	.209
Totals	30	6	9	6	1	2	7
BATTING 2B: Cano (4, Byrd), Damon (13, Byrd). HR: Damon (5, 4th inning off Byrd, 0 on, 0 out), Giambi (6, 4th inning off Byrd, 1 on, 2 out), Cano (4, 7th inning off Byrd, 0 on, 1 out), Betemit (1, 7th inning off Kobayashi, 0 on, 1 out). TB: Damon 6; Jeter; Matsui 2; Giambi 4; Cano 6; Betemit 4. RBI: Damon 2 (16), Giambi 2 (18), Cano (10), Betemit (2). 2-out RBI: Giambi 2; Damon. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Jeter. GIDP: Cabrera; Abreu. Team LOB: 1.

Cleveland	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Byrd (L, 1-3)	6.1	8	5	5	0	0	3	4.28
Kobayashi	0.2	1	1	1	0	1	1	2.20
Julio	1.0	0	0	0	1	1	0	3.38

NY Yankees	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Mussina (W, 5-3)	5.0	4	3	3	0	3	0	4.36
Ohlendorf (H, 1)	2.0	1	0	0	0	1	0	4.70
Chamberlain (H, 8)	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	3.14
Rivera (S, 9)	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0.00

HBP: Francisco (by Mussina).
Pitches-strikes: Byrd 81-52, Kobayashi 8-5, Julio 15-8, Mussina 86-58,
Ohlendorf 20-15, Chamberlain 12-9, Rivera 15-11.
Ground outs-fly outs: Byrd 10-9, Kobayashi 1-0, Julio 0-1, Mussina 7-5,
Ohlendorf 0-5, Chamberlain 1-1, Rivera 2-1.
Batters faced: Byrd 25, Kobayashi 3, Julio 3, Mussina 20, Ohlendorf 7, Chamberlain 3, Rivera 4.
Umpires: HP: Scott Barry. 1B: Sam Holbrook. 2B: Gerry Davis. 3B: Brian Gorman.
Weather: 74 degrees, cloudy.
Wind: 15 mph, Out to LF.
T: 2:33.
Att: 53,227.

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