Rays Shields from Philly Sweep

The World Series resumes in Philadelphia tonight, and thanks to James Shields and the Rays pen, the series is all even at a game apiece after Tampa's 4-2 win. Shields picked up the win in great part because of the Phillies failure to produce with runners in scoring position.

The Phillies had runners on first and second with no one out in the second inning, a lead off man on second in the third, men on the corners with one out in both the fourth and fifth innings, and two on with two outs in both the six and seventh innings. And they left them all on base. The Phillies are now 1-28 with runners in scoring position in the series.

Tampa got a quick jump on Brett Myers in the first inning, taking advantage of Jayson's Werth's error. Aki Iwamura led the game off with a walk and B.J. Upton shook off his game 1 woes with a single to right field. Werth then misplayed the ball allowing both runners to move up a spot. Carlos Pena and Evan Longoria brought both runners home with a pair of RBI ground outs.

Upton came through again in the second with a bases loaded single to increase the Rays lead to 3-0. Werth tried to make up for his error by throwing out Rocco Baldelli at home plate to end the inning. The Rays added another big insurance run in the fourth when Jason Bartlett squeezed home Cliff Floyd.

The rest of the game was about the Phillies failures. They finally got on the board in eighth inning on Eric Bruntlett's home run and made the game interesting in the ninth against David Price. The prized rookie has been shown a lot of confidence by manager Joe Maddon, who brought him in the game in the seventh inning. He walked the first batter he faced, but then struck out Ryan Howard to strand two runners. In the ninth he faced the tying run after an Evan Longoria error allowed a run to score and cut the lead in half. But Price struck out Chase Utley and retired Howard on a game ending ground out.

News and Notes

Game 3 this evening matches up veteran Jamie Moyer against the playoffs hottest pitcher, Matt Garza.

Chase Utley and Ryan Howard are a combined 4-17 through the first two games and Jimmy Rollins is hitless.

There is a possibility that tonight's game could be rained out.

Big League Stew's David Brown discusses the merits and dislikes of the Buck-McCarver duo.

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A Ray of Sunshine

If you didn't get to see last night's game 7 of the ALCS, you missed out on a tense, well played nail-biter. The Rays emerged with a 3-1 victory to gain their first shot at a World Series title and in the process prevented the Red Sox from a possible World Series repeat.

Some big game performers emerged last night, both in victory and defeat. Matt Garza garnered the ALCS MVP after he won his second game of the series to go along with a 1.38 ERA. He allowed a first inning home run to Dustin Pedroia, but only allowed one more hit through 7 innings plus a batter in the eighth.

Then Joe Maddon mixed and matched his way through the final two innings. Jason Bartlett, who made a crucial error in game 6, committed another misplay on Alex Cora's grounder to start the eighth. Joe Maddon sent for Dan Wheeler, who gave up a single to Coco Crisp before getting Pedroia to pop out to left for the inning's first out. J.P. Howell came on to get David Ortiz to bounce into a force out for the second out, but Chad Bradford issued a walk to Kevin Youkilis to load the bases. Maddon then went to his stud rookie prospect, David Price, to go up against left-hander J.D. Drew. After mixing off-speed pitches with 96-mph fastballs, Price got Drew on a check swing strike three for the final out of the inning.

Price walked Jason Bay to start the ninth, but struck out Mark Kotsay and Jason Varitek, and induced a game ending ground out from Jed Lowrie. Second baseman Aki Iwamura snared the grounder and took it to the bag himself to send the Rays into celebration.

Lost in the game was another outstanding performance by Jon Lester, who was arguably the Red Sox best starter this season. He scattered six hits over seven powerful innings. But with Carlos Pena on first and two out in the third, he hung a pitch to Evan Longoria who smacked into the right field corner. It bounced around enough to get Pena home just ahead of the relay from J.D. Drew to tie the game at one apiece.

Willy Aybar led off the fifth inning with a double and Dionner Navarro reached on an infield single in the hole at shortstop. A field good story was then in the making when Rocco Baldelli singled in what proved to be the game winner. Lester beautifully worked out of a possible bigger inning to keep it a one run game.

Aybar struck again with a huge home run in the seventh that provided a much needed insurance run. Then it was all down to the bullpen, and unlike game 6, they were up to the task.

* * * * *

Don Zimmer threw out the ceremonial first pitch before the game.

There were 40,000 plus fans last night. We wonder where they were all year.

Now we can relax while watching the WS. Don't really care who wins, though we will probably root for the Rays.

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Jeter Makes for a Great Day at the Ballpark

With nothing to play for, Derek Jeter brought excitement to the announced paid crowd of 54,279 (it was a lot less) by tying Lou Gehrig's record for hits at Yankee Stadium and the Yankees toppled the Rays again, 8-4.

Jeter needed three hits to tie Gehrig's record after he got three hits in each game of the day-night doubleheader on Saturday. He started things off with a bunt single in the first inning, doubled to right in the second, and homered to right in the fifth off of Rays' prized prospect David Price. The home run brought the crowd, us included, to its feet for a long standing ovation, that culminated with a curtain call from the Captain. Jeter had a chance to break the record in the seventh, but bounced into a double play. He received another large ovation anyway.

Jeter's first inning bunt single followed a bloop lead off single by Johnny Damon. Jason Giambi then worked a long at-bat against Rays starter Edwin Jackson, pulling several deep flies into foul territory in right field. Jackson finally threw ball four on a 3-2 pitch with the runners moving, and quickly fell behind Alex Rodriguez. After laying in a batting practice fastball for a strike, he threw another fat one that A-Rod drilled into the bleachers in right-center field for a grand slam. It put A-Rod at the 100 RBI mark for the 11th straight season, and also put him over 100 runs scored for the 13th consecutive season.

The Rays came right back in the second inning when Columbia University product, and rookie, Fernando Perez took Carl Pavano deep for a 3-run home run. But that's the closest the Rays would get. Giambi blasted a 2-run shot into the upper deck in right in the Yankees half of the second to extended the lead back to 6-3. It was Giambi's 30th home run of the season and gave him 92 RBI.

Jeter's solo pushed the margin back to four when a familiar sight occurred in the top of the sixth inning. With one on, one out, and an 0-1 count on Eric Hinske, Joe Girardi went out to see Pavano, accompanied by assistant trainer Steve Donahue. Pavano left, with what would turn out to be a cramp in his hip, to a chorus of boos, followed by a smattering of applause.

Hinske singled off of Edwar Ramirez and after retiring Gabe Gross, Ramirez walked Perez to load the bases. Girardi brought on Damaso Marte, who continued his inconsistent time in Pinstripes by walking Aki Iwamura to force in a run. Marte escaped further trouble when Brett Gardner made a charging, diving grab of Jason Bartlett's line drive to center field.

Wilson Betemit's RBI single in the eighth made it a non-save situation, so Girardi brought in Jose Veras to start the ninth. But after a walk to Iwamura and a two-out single by Evan Longoria, Girardi called for Mariano Rivera to face Willy Aybar. The switch-hitting DH worked the count to 3-2 before Rivera struck him out swinging to record his 35th save in 36 attempts. The save tied Rivera with Lee Smith for second place o the all-time list with 478.


News and Notes

Robinson Cano was pulled from the game after not showing hustle on a play in the fourth inning. Cliff Floyd ripped a ball to the right side that Jason Giambi dove for and deflected. Cano was on the move to his right and couldn't reach back for the baseball. He then turned and watched it trickle into right field while Floyd hustled it into a double. It was a smart move by Girardi, but one that should have happened much sooner. He could have taken notice of the manager of the pennant contending teamin the other dugout, Joe Maddon, who pulled B.J. Upton out of an important game in August for lack of hustle.
Brett Gardner made another fabulous catch when he ran down and dove to glove, Evan Longoria's fly ball to right-center field in the seventh inning.

Brian Bruney worked a scoreless seventh inning and has a 2.55 ERA in his 17 appearances since returning from the DL.
David Price, the first pick in the 2007 amateur draft, was making his major league debut. To put it simply, the dude throws hard!

The family that caught Derek Jeter's home run ball, got the chance to give it to him in person. They were also rewarded with tickets to next Sunday's home finale and a signed bat. Jeter's former teammates Paul O'Neill and David Cone were part of the YES broadcast team.

Former Yankees catcher Rick Cerone pulled the lever to lower the number of home games to 7.

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Minor League Playoff Update - 9/10

Scranton and Trenton both began their championship series last night in their respective leagues. The International League showdown pits the Yankees and the Rays' top farm team, the Durham Bulls. The Yankees built a 6-2 lead behind Chase Wright's strong six innings and a potent offense against stud starter David Price, but the Scranton bullpen coughed up five runs in the seventh inning and suddenly the Bulls had a 7-6 lead.

The Yankees rallied in the ninth though, tying the game when Tim Battle doubled home pinch-runner Chris Basak from second base. Then it was Eric Duncan's turn to play hero, and he came through, lining a single to right to score Battle with the game winner. The victory gave Scranton a 1-0 lead in the Governor's Cup final. Kevin Czerwinski of mlb.com has more.

Trenton meanwhile got another big start from Eric Hacker in taking the Eastern League final opener, 3-1 over the Akron Aeros. Hacker allowed a run on three hits over six innings and is now 2-0, 1.54 in his two post-season starts. Chris Malec drove in two runs and Ramiro Pena enjoyed a 3-hit night. Jhonny Nunez recorded the final four outs for the save.

Staten Island has been eliminated in two games in their quest for the New York-Penn League title. The Jamestown Jammers jumped out to an 8-1 lead after just two innings in game one and held on for a 10-7 win. Mitch Abeita and Mike Lyon homered in a losing cause.

Game two showcased much better pitching on both sides, but the Baby Bombers came out on the wrong end of a 4-1 score. The Jammers again jumped out to a quick lead, with a three run first inning against Jon Albaladejo. Elih Villanueva dominated the Baby Bombers, limiting them to one unearned run and four hits over six innings, while striking out 10. Jeremy Bleich was a bright spot for S.I. though, throwing four scoreless innings in relief.

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Moose Loose as Yanks Drop 4th Straight

The Yankees lost their 4th straight game Saturday afternoon, 4-1 to the Rays, but Mike Mussina made positive strides towards getting ready for the regular season. Mussina, an umpire's questionable call preventing him from completing 3 full innings, left after 2.2 innings, having allowed a run on 2 hits. He also walked 2 batters and struck out 5.

The veteran right-hander allowed a windblown solo home run to Jonny Gomes in the 2nd, but was in control of all his pitches, and had a fastball that was clocked consistently at 89 mph. Mussina was quite pleased with his day.

"You try to throw up a zero every time you pitch, whether you want to admit it or not," Mussina said. "You erase it when March is over, but you want to get everyone out, the same way you would if it was July. The first step in doing that is being able to control where the ball is going."

This game may also have ramifications later in spring training or during the regular season. That's because Tampa prospect Elliot Johnson steamrolled Yankees' catcher Francisco Cervelli in a 9th inning play at the plate, breaking Cervelli's right wrist in the process.

Johnson was on 1st base when Willie Aybar doubled to left. Cervelli blocked the plate with his left leg as he caught the relay that came in from Jason Lane and Wilson Betemit. Seeing he would probably be out with a slide, Johnson barreled in to the catcher. Johnson defended his actions after the game.

"I'm not trying to hurt anybody, especially in a Spring Training game," Johnson said. "I hope he doesn't lose his job. But I'm trying to show these guys what I can do. I'm just trying to score the run. Looking back on it, I'd have to say I'd probably do the same thing."

The opposing managers had opposing views; Joe Girardi was clearly agitated after the game and didn't hold back his opinion with reporters.

"I think it's uncalled for," Girardi said. "It's Spring Training. You get people hurt, and that's what we've got -- we've got Cervelli hurt. I know they had an incident four or five days ago. I'm all for playing hard, but I don't think it's the time when you run over a catcher in Spring Training."

Girardi also mentioned that one of his players had earlier asked him if such a play was acceptable and Girardi strongly told him, "Absolutely not."

Rays manager Joe Maddon applauded his team's aggressive play. Earlier this week, Carl Crawford ran over Houston Astros catcher Humberto Quintero.

"I loved the hardball," Maddon said. "We're playing it hard, we're playing it right. It was a bang-bang play at the plate. I couldn't tell exactly where the catcher was in regard to the plate. He was trying to score a run right there, and that was part of the game."

With 19 regular season meetings and 2 more contests this spring, there is definitely an opportunity for the Yankees to retaliate. It remains to be seen whether or not Johnson will play those remaining spring games or make the Rays regular season roster.

The injury topped off a tough day for Cervelli, who earlier had been hit with a David Price 97-mph fastball above the left elbow. Price was impressive in his professional debut, striking out the side (Shelley Duncan, Lane, Betemit) after hitting Cervelli.

The Yankees managed just 5 hits on the day, with Jason Giambi picking up the only RBI. Chris Britton, Kyle Farnsworth, and Jon Albadalejo combined for 3.1 scoreless innings, but Jeff Karstens and Ross Ohlendorf gave up 3 runs (2 earned) in 3 innings of work.

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, LF	3	0	1	0	0	1	1	.333
Lane, LF	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	.267
Jeter, SS	3	0	0	0	0	1	2	.214
Betemit, SS	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	.235
Abreu, RF	2	0	1	0	1	0	0	.533
1-Castro, B, PR-2B	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	.200
Rodriguez, A, DH	1	0	1	0	1	0	0	.444
a-Miranda, PH-DH	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000
Giambi, 1B	3	0	1	1	0	1	4	.333
2-Christian, PR-CF	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Cano, 2B	3	0	0	0	0	1	5	.500
Tabata, J, RF	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000
Ransom, 3B	3	0	0	0	0	2	2	.167
Green, 3B	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Molina, C	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.083
Cervelli, C	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Anson, C	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Cabrera, CF	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	.417
Duncan, 1B	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	.467
Totals	32	1	5	1	2	11	18
a-Grounded out for Rodriguez, A in the 6th. 1-Ran for Abreu in the 6th. 2-Ran for Giambi in the 6th.
BATTING 2B: Damon (4, Garza). TB: Damon 2; Abreu; Rodriguez, A; Giambi; Cabrera. RBI: Giambi (5). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Cano 2; Ransom 2; Jeter. Team LOB: 7. FIELDING PB: Anson (1). Outfield assists: Lane (Johnson, E at home).

NY Yankees	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Mussina	2.2	2	1	1	2	5	1	9.64
Britton	1.1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0.00
Farnsworth	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3.00
Karstens (L, 1-1)	2.0	3	1	1	1	1	0	1.80
Albaladejo	1.0	0	0	0	1	1	0	2.45
Ohlendorf	1.0	3	2	1	0	0	1	3.38

HBP: Cervelli (by Price).
Ground outs-fly outs: Mussina 3-0, Britton 1-2, Farnsworth 1-2, Karstens 2-3, Albaladejo 1-1, Ohlendorf 1-1.
Batters faced: Mussina 12, Britton 4, Farnsworth 3, Karstens 10, Albaladejo 4, Ohlendorf 5.
Inherited runners-scored: Britton 1-0.
Umpires: HP: Mark Carlson. 1B: Marty Foster. 2B: Andy Fletcher. 3B: Dan Iassogna.
Weather: 62 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 15 mph, L to R.
T: 3:07.
Att: 10,869.

Sources: Yankees.com

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