Yankees Get Very Offensive

Lets just say the Yankees pitching was a good offense on Monday. Just like the Yankees season in general, the Yankees hung on by their teeth yesterday for a 13-9 win over the Tigers. The Bombers offensive lived up to its reputation, blasting Justin Verlander en route to an 8-1 lead after an inning and a half.

Sidney Ponson had the good fortune of being on the mound with a big lead early, but wasn't around long enough to figure in the decision. He was charged with seven runs, six of them earned, in three innings before giving way to Edwar Ramirez, who fared no better. K-Ram walked three, gave up a pair of hits, and two runs in just 1.1 innings pitched, before the rest of the pen finally shut the Tigers down.

Verlander has had an up and down season, with more of an emphasis on the latter. He walked Johnny Damon and Derek Jeter to start the game, and gave up a single to Bobby Abreu to load the bases with no one out. Alex Rodriguez singled to center to give the Yankees a quick 2-0 lead. A Jason Giambi sac fly and an RBI single by Hideki Matsui would build the lead to 4-0.

The Tigers picked up a run in their half of the first, but Damon homered with one out in the second to get the run back. Back to back singles by Jeter and Abreu, a Curtis Granderson error, and Abreu's stolen base, put two men in scoring position. A-Rod picked up his third RBI when first baseman Jeff Larish misplayed his grounder for an error. Verlander retired Giambi, but Xavier Nady's RBI single increased the lead to 7-1 and drove the right-hander from the game. Matsui delivered another RBI single against lefty Bobby Seay for the final run of the inning.

A Gary Sheffield second inning home run was countered by RBI singles by Abreu and A-Rod, and a sac fly by Nady built the lead to 11-2. But Ponson met his Waterloo in the fourth. A Brandon Inge 2-run home run got things started. A hit and a walk put two more men aboard, and then, for the second time in three games, Robinson Cano made a crucial error that helped make for a big inning.

Joe Girardi saw enough and sent for Ramirez, who gave up a sac fly to Magglio Ordonez, and a 2-run blast to Miguel Cabrera. A laugher had become a nail biter and Girardi was on the edge of seat when Ramirez then walked the tying runs on base. But the slight right-hander retired Larish on a pop up and struck out Inge to end the inning.

Ordonez's RBI single cut the margin to two, but Derek Jeter gave the Yankees some breathing room with a 2-run single in the sixth. The pen then finally shut the Tigers offense down. It included lefty Phil Coke's major league debut. The rookie, who was rumored to be part of the original Marte-Nady deal, struck out two in his major league debut.


News and Notes

Ivan Rodriguez got a long standing ovation, from his former home crowd, when he stepped to the plate in the second inning.

Gary Sheffield's home run was the 494th of his career, putting ahead of Fred McGriff and Lou Gehrig for 25th on the all-time list.

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Travels and Travails

We were on the road for much of the last two days, so we saw/heard part or none of the latter two games against the Blue Jays. It's just as well. It was 6-2 Yankees last we heard on Saturday and we know how that turned out, and yesterday Roy Halladay became the first pitcher since Chuck Finley in 1996 to beat the Yankees four times in a single season.

The only Yankees runs on Sunday were solo home runs (aren't they always) by Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi. It was A-Rod's 547th, putting him one behind Mike Schmidt on the all-time list.

Andy Pettitte stunk yesterday, giving up six runs in 6.1 innings pitched, putting his teammates in a 4-0 hole after two innings. While it was once a given that Pettitte would be a Yankee next season, if he wanted to return, it is now clearly up in the air. Mike Mussina has been the better pitcher by far this season, and it's not likely that the Yankees would bring both of them back next season.

The Blue Jays' David Eckstein was 2-4 with an RBI in the game and was traded afterwards to the Diamondbacks for a player to be named later.

Since being one game back of Boston in the wildcard race on July 26, the Yankees have gone 14-19 with a 5.64 team ERA.

The Yankees make a one game trip to Detroit this afternoon with Sidney Ponson facing Justin Verlander.

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Tigers to Sign Freddy Garcia

Jon Heyman of SI is reporting that the Detroit Tigers are the winners of the very limited Freddy Garcia sweepstakes. At one time, it was thought Garcia could make an impact on this year's pennant race. Well, Garcia thought that any way. But teams who took a look at him weren't overly impressed.

The Tigers are a bit short on pitching with Jeremy Bonderman down for the count, so Garcia seemed like a logical option.

On another note, Jim Leyland said that Justin Verlander was suffering from a dead arm after yesterday's start. Perhaps Leyland shouldn't have let him throw 130 pitches his last time out.

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The Pennant Race - 8/8

Brian Giles won't be going to the Boston Red Sox. The veteran Padres outfielder blocked a potential deal that would have sent him from one coast to the other.

The Yankees and Red Sox gained on Tampa when the Rays couldn't hold a one run lead in the 9th inning last night against the Mariners. After the M's tied it up in the 8th, Raul Ibanez sent the fans home happy with a walk off home run.

The A's went from 2 over .500 to 8 under after losing their 10th straight last night. A.J. Burnett won his career-high 14th game. Hard to imagine that someone with his stuff has never won more than 12 games in a season before.

Another Manny Ramirez home run, his fourth, was the difference in the Dodgers' 4-1 win over the Cardinals. That moved them to within 1.5 of the Diamondbacks after the NL West leaders fell to Atlanta 6-4.

The idle Twins gained a half-game on the White Sox after Chicago was pounded by Detroit 8-3. One has to wonder what Jimmy Leyland is doing with Justin Verlander. He's your prized possession, yet you let him throw 130 pitches last night to save the bullpen. What happened was a 5-3 game that turned into a romp.

The Rockies should have been sellers at the deadline. They're now 13 games under .500 after being swept in a twin-bill by the Nationals. They trail the DBacks by 8 games.

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Around the Horn - 6/23

Weekend Interleague Recap

Interleague play continued this past weekend and will finish up this coming Sunday. Here are the latest results.

In a rematch of the 2004 World Series, the Cardinals finally won a pair of games. Too bad some of them couldn't have been 4 years earlier. Boston salvaged the finale only after Jon Papelbon blew his 4th save of the season. He only blew 3 saves all of last year. Kevin Youkillis provided a 13th inning walk off winner on Sunday. AL:1 NL:2

The Cubbies took the battle of the windy city in a clean sweep. The Cubs are now a remarkable 32-8 at home this season. Ryan Dempster's win on Sunday gave him a 9-0 record in Wrigley. Aramis Ramirez slugged a walk off winner on Friday and hit his 3rd in two days in Saturday's win. AL:0 NL:3

The Angels had no problem going into the "City of Brotherly Love" and beating the Phillies 2 of 3. Angels pitching held the Phillies to just 4 runs in the 3 games. Francisco Rodriguez became the fastest closer to earn the 30 saves when he closed out Sunday's win in the Angels 76th game. AL:3 NL:0

The Royals won their series with the Giants thanks to a big comeback in the finale. Down 6-0 to Tim Lincecum, KC rallied to an 11-10 win. It made up for blowing a 4-0 lead on Friday. AL:2 NL:1

The Astros and Rays played three 1-run games at the Trop. Roy Oswalt out dueled Matt Garza in the opener and Brandon Backe out pitched Scott Kazmir in the finale. In between the Rays won on Gabe Gross' pinch-hit 2-run single in the bottom of the 9th or it could have been an Astros sweep. The best part of the series was the Astros donning their old '70s uniforms. AL:1 NL:2

The Pirates made it a tough return for Cito Gaston, winning 2 of 3. The two teams were scoreless until the 12th on Friday when John McDonald made a rare error to give the Pirates a 1-0 win. The Blue Jays gave Gaston his first win since 1997 with an 8-5 win in the series finale. AL:1 NL:2

The Rangers and Nationals started their series with a 14th inning marathon, won when Elijah Dukes, who had tied the game with a home run, singled in the game winner. The Rangers got strong pitching performances, how often is that said, from Kason Gabbard and Vincente Padilla to take the next two. AL:2 NL:1

The Twins took a sweep of the NL West leading Diamondbacks, including a win against ace Brandon Webb on Sunday. Scott Baker, Livan Hernandez, and Nick Blackburn helped hold the Dbacks to just 6 runs in the series. AL:3 NL:0

Jim Riggleman got a present in Friday's 10-2 romp by the Mariners over the Braves, but it was downhill after that. Mark Texeira belted 3 home runs on Sunday for the second time in his career. AL:1 NL:2

Aubrey Huff hit a pair of home runs on Friday as the Orioles topped the Brewers for their 4th straight win. But the Brewers owned the rest of the series behind home runs from Prince Fielder and Corey Hart. AL:1 NL:2

After putting together no offense in a weekday series against the Yankees, the Padres put 6 runs on the board Friday to beat the Tigers, 6-2. They managed to score 5 and 3 the next two games, but this time the pitching let down and the Tigers took both. Justin Verlander won on Sunday, but continued his odd season, walking 5 and striking out 10 in 5.1 innings. AL:2 NL:1

The injury riddled Indians still managed to take 2 of 3 from the struggling Dodgers, dropping the finale on Sunday. The first two games went extra innings and included a 6-run 11th inning for the Indians on Saturday. C.C. Sabathia started that game, allowing 1 run over 7 innings and recorded 10 strikeouts. He also hit his first home run of the season. The big man is 2-0, 1.50 in his last 3 starts. AL:2 NL:1

The A's and Marlins played a thriller to start their series on Friday night. Dan Uggla's 2nd home run of the season tied the game in the 9th against Huston Street, but Kurt Suzuki doubled in the game winner in the 11th. Saturday's game came down to the 9th again, and again Uggla delivered, this time with a game winning 3-run double. The A's took the series with a laugher on Sunday. AL:2 NL:1

FINAL TALLY
AL: 22 NL: 20

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Around the Horn - 6/2

Late afternoon edition of Around the Horn....

First off congratulations to the man-child himself Manny Ramirez on home run #500 (and #501). We didn't have much time this weekend or we would have posted something more deserving. We're shocked that Manny is standing by home plate still admiring his shot.

Manny's Red Sox still trail those Rays. Tampa took 3 of 4 from the White Sox to maintain a 1 game lead in the AL East. These guys are NOT going away.

2 more home runs and 5 more RBI for Josh Hamilton from the weekend. Chase Utley upped his major league home run total to 20. We picked the guy to be the '07 MVP. Perhaps we were just a year off.

The Indians have to get a bat, no? They scored just 8 runs in a 3-game series with the Royals. KC snapped their 12 game losing streak on Saturday and won again on Sunday.

The Diamondbacks posted back-to-back shutouts of the Nationals. Brandon Webb won his 10th game on Saturday with a complete game effort. Dan Haren got some help from the pen to duplicate the feat on Sunday.

Trevor Hoffman is the all-time leader in saves, but he doesn't do so badly in blowing them either. He got his 3rd of the year yesterday when the Giants scored 3 off of him in the bottom of the 10th to win. The Padres may want to think about moving Josh Banks to the starting rotation full-time. He threw 6 shutout innings in last Sunday's 18 inning marathon with the Pads and followed it up with a complete game win on Saturday. He allowed just 1 unearned run and 6 hits. He's yet to allow a run in 17 innings this season.

How bummed does Justin Verlander have to be? He's 2-8 now. He can blame us for picking him to win the CY Young. Felix Hernandez was back on the beam, throwing 2-hit ball for 7 innings to beat him.

Joe Torre's trip back to NYC wasn't so great. The Mets took 3 of 4 from Torre's Dodger blue.

The Jay Bruce ERA is fully underway in Cincinnati. He had the walk off home run in the 10th on Saturday and hit another one on Sunday. So far, the 21-yr old is 13-22 (.591) with 2 HR, 6 RBI, 3 doubles, 6 walks, and 2 steals. His OBP/SLUG/OPS is .690/1.000/1.690.

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Around the Horn - 5/21

Whatever good feelings the Mets and their fans may have had after the weekend sweep of the Yankees went out the window yesterday when the Braves took both ends of a doubleheader from the Flushing crew.

Mets fans are still mad at Tom Glavine's horrid performance in the season finale last year and are probably pissed off even more now after Glavine retired the last 17 men he faced in beating the Mets in game 1, 6-1. Jorge Campillo earned his 1st major league win in the nightcap when the Bravs won again, this time 6-2.

The Phillies and Nationals hooked up in a scoreless pitching duel until Greg Dobbs' pinch-hit RBI double gave the Phillies a 1-0 win in the 9th. Tom Gordon got the win after Cole Hamels struck out 11 in 7 innings.

The Brewers bounced back from their awful weekend in Boston with a 7-2 pasting of the Pirates. Mike Cameron and Corey Hart homered to help Manny Parra win his 2nd of the season. Eric Gagne had to leave the game in the 9th with shoulder stiffness.

Tim Lincecum improve to 6-1 after the Giants edged the Rockies 6-5. Lincecum has a road best ERA of 0.39. Rich Aurilia and Fred Lewis each homered. Rockies injured shortstop Troy Tulowitzki took fielding practice for the first time since ripping a quad muscle at the end of April.

The Cardinals' Joel Pineiro was shutting down the Padres into the 6th when Kevin Kouzmanoff belted a go-ahead 428-ft, 3-run home run. The blast held up in the Padres 3-2 win. Greg Maddux got no decision after giving up 2 runs in 5 innings.

Dan Uggla belted his 14th home run and Mark Hendrickson struck out 7 in 5-plus innings as the Marlins edged the Diamondbacks 3-2. Micah Owings was solid, thought he went hitless, for Arizona, allowing 3 runs in 7 innings while striking out 10.

Chad Billingsley tossed 7 scoreless innings in the Dodgers 4-1 over the Reds. Adam Dunn has his (shared) team record of 5 straight games with a home run stopped, and also had an 8-game RBI streak ended. Ken Griffey Jr. has gone 86 at-bats without a home run.

Hunter Pence belted a 4th inning grand slam in the Astros 4-2 win over the Cubs. Miguel Tejada doubled in the game for his 1,800th career hit to help Chris Sampson even his record at 3-3.

There was no no-hitter for the Red Sox last night, but the KC Royals went down just as meekly. Justin Masterson won his first major league game as he and the Sox bullpen limited the punchless Royals to 5 hits. Sox reliever/spot starterJulian Tavarez passed through waivers and expected an assignment to Pawtucket.

Justin Verlander finally won his 2nd game as the Tigers out scored the Mariners 12-8. Edger Renteria enjoyed a 4-hit, 5 RBI night, as he, Magglio Ordonez, Carlos Guillen, and Curtis Granderson all went deep.

Left fielder Emil Brown lost Dionner Navarro's 8th inning line drive in the lights enabling 3 runs to score to give the Rays a 3-2 win over the A's. Navarro was credited with a 3-run double after the play was initially ruled an error. It ruined a great effort from Greg Smith who was tagged with the loss. Frank Thomas hit his 518th career home run.

John Lackey won his first game of the year with 7 stellar innings in the Angels 3-1 win over the Blue Jays. Francisco Rodriguez walked the bases loaded in the 9th, but escaped with his 18th save. Angels shortstop Erick Aybar dislocated his pinky during the game. X-Rays were negative, but he may miss some time.

The Twins pounded the Rangers 11-4 to earn Glen Perkins his first major league win. Texas expects to activate Hank Blalock this weekend. He'll be starting at his new position, 1st Base.

Jose Contreras won for the 3rd straight time out in the White Sox 4-1 win over the Indians. He lowered his ERA to 3.17 in the process of beating C.C. Sabathia. Carlos Quentin and Jim Thome (#515) homered for the Chisox.

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Around the Horn - 4/23

The Mets have to be glad to be their series with the Cubs was only 2 games. The North siders thumped the Flushing crew for the second straight game, this time 8-1. Ronny Cedeno belted a grand slam and drove in 5 to help Ted Lilly earn his first win of the year.

Eric Gagne blew his 4th save already, but the Brewers pulled the game out, 9-8, in 12 innings on Gabe Kapler's RBI single.

Xavier Nady drove in 2 runs to give the Pirates a 3-2 win over the Marlins and Paul Maholm his first win of the season.

The Diamondbacks overcame a 3-0 deficit to make Brandon Webb the first 5-game winner in the majors. Webb helped his own cause, delivering a 2-run double in the Dbacks 5-4 win over the Giants. Barry Zito dropped to 0-5 for the Giants.

John Smoltz (3-1, 0.78) picked up his 3,000 career strikeout, but despite allowing just 1 run in 7 innings, also picked up his first loss in the Nationals 6-0 win over the Braves. John Lannan went 7 innings for his first win of the year.
Jerry Hairston Jr. celebrated his recall from the minors with a 4-hit, 3 RBI day as the Reds thumped the Dodgers, 8-1. Edinson Volquez improved to 3-0, 1.21 with the win.

Pat Burrell drove in 3 runs, giving him 22 RBI for the month of April, and Jayson Werth homered in the Phillies 8-6 win over the Rockies.

Jose Valverde blew his 3rd save this month, but the Astros scored 4 times in the bottom of the 8th for an 11-7 win over the Padres. Miguel Tejada remained red hot, going 4-5 to raise his average to .370. Jake Peavy allowed 4 run in his 6 inning start for the Padres.

C.C. Sabathia finally got his first win with 6 innings of shutout ball. The big left-hander struck out 11 and the Indians pounded the Royals 15-1. Casey Blake was 4-4 with a grand slam and 6 RBI.

Justin Verlander picked up his first win too in the Tigers 10-2 drubbing of the slumping Rangers. Verlander allowed 1 run in 6 innings to send the Rangers to their 5th straight loss. Ramon Santiago hit his first home run in 4 years and Miguel Cabrera and Magglio Ordonez also went deep. Ordonez picked up his 1,000th career RBI in the process.

The Red Sox won their 6th straight, and has become custom lately, won it late. Dustin Pedroia doubled in the go-ahead run in the 8th to give the Sox a 7-6 win over the Angels. David Pauley was the emergency starter for Josh Beckett who was scratched with a stiff neck.

Craig Monroe hit a game tying home run in the 8th and Jason Kubel singled in the game winner in the 9th in the Twins 5-4 win over the A's. Monroe was hitting just .231 entering the game, but capped off his 3-hit day with his first home run of the year.

Arthur Rhodes won his first game in two years in the Mariners 4-2 win over the Orioles. Jose Vidro's 2-run single in the 8th snapped a 2-2 tie. Mariners starter Felix Hernandez was effective (7 IP 2 ER 7 K), but got no decision.

Dionner Navarro made a triumphant return from the DL with a 3-hit, 2 RBI night, and Eric Hinske matched him in the Rays 6-4 win over the Jays. Hinske also homered and James Shields picked up his 2nd win.

News and Notes

Wednesday's Pitching Match up of the Day - Diamondbacks vs. Dodgers. Dan Haren (3-0, 1.80) vs. Derek Lowe (1-1, 2.59)

The San Fran Chronicle reports that the A's are considering bringing back Frank Thomas, who had big year for them in 2006.

Blue Jays 3rd Baseman Scott Rolen has started his rehab assignment, going 0-6 in two games. He returned to the infield after DH'ing the first game.

The Tigers defense wasn't helping their cause any, so they decided a defensive switch was in order. Shaky 3rd Baseman Miguel Cabrera was moved across the diamond to 1st Base, and 1st Baseman, and former shortstop, Carlos Guillen was shifted to 3rd.

Gabe Gross scored the Brewers winning run in the 12th inning yesterday- and then was traded. With a glut of outfielders, the Brewers sent Gross to the Rays for minor league pitcher Josh Butler.

Braves oft-injured pitcher Mike Hampton says he's ready to start a rehab assignment. Good luck with that.

The Star-Ledger's Jeremy Cothran has a feature today on how Carlos Delgado's struggles are dragging down the Mets and his career.

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Around the Horn - 4/17

6-hours, 16 minutes. That's how long it took the Colorado Rockies and San Diego Padres to complete 22 innings of baseball. Troy Tulowitzki, in his 10th plate appearance, doubled in the game winner. The final out was recorded 1:21 a.m. PDT.

Jeff Francis (7 IP 0 R 7 K) and Jake Peavy (8 IP 0 R 11 K) started the pitchers duel off. No one scored until the 14th inning when both teams put a runner across home plate.

The Phillies belted 4 home runs in thrashing the Astros 10-2. Pat Burrell continued his hot start (.373-6-17) with a home run, single, and 2 RBI.

The Mets and Nationals went 14 innings before Joel Hanrahan wild pitched home the winning run.

The Brewers rallied from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Cardinals 5-3 in 10 innings. Prince Fielder ended his month long home drought with a game winning 2-run blast.

Joey Votto homered and drove in 5 runs in the Reds 9-2 win over the Cubs. Ken Griffey Jr. slugged a 3-run shot, the 596th of his career.

Chipper Jones, Mark Teixeira, and Brian McCann hit consecutive home runs in the 5th inning to propel the Braves past the Marlins 8-0. Jones went 4-4 with a pair of home runs as John Smoltz picked up his 210th career win.

In an AL Central battle of heavyweights, Fausto Carmona and the Indians outpitched Justin Verlander and the Tigers. The Tribe won 11-1 with a 13 hit attack. The game also featured some hit batters (Verlander into Garko's back) and clear retaliation (Carmona and Sheffield), but no ejections.

Vincente Padilla outpitched Roy Halladay in the Rangers 4-1 win over the Blue Jays. Halladay pitched his 2nd straight complete game.

The Mariners used a 5-run 3rd inning to beat the A's 8-1. Raul Ibanez (.343) and Jose Lopez had 3 hits each. After Kurt Suzuki (.327), the highest average in the A's lineup was Ryan Sweeney at .267.

The Orioles rallied from 2 down in the 9th against White Sox closer Bobby Jenks, and Adam Jones stroked the game winning single in the 10th.

Eric Hinske homered and Jason Hammel picked up his first win in the Rays 7-3 victory over the Twins. Carlos Pena had to leave the game with a hamstring injury and has been listed as day-to-day.

Garrett Anderson drove in 3 runs and John Garland improved to 2-2 in the Angels 5-3 win against the Royals. David DeJesus already bothered by a bad ankle this year, had to leave the game with a jammed toe.

News and Notes

Evan Longoria has only played 6 major league games, but the Rays know what they've got. That's why they've signed him to a 9-year, $44 million deal.

Braves pitcher Peter Moylan may have to have season ending elbow surgery, but the Braves are still looking into all the options.

Miguel Tejada may or may not have lied about P.E.D. use, but he did lie about his age. Tejada admitted yesterday that he's 33 not 31.

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Around the Horn - 3/31

Nice try kid. They kept ya out of school for nothing.

Plenty of opening days did go off today, and last night. How about Ryan Zimmerman of the Nationals breaking in the new ball park with a walk off home run last night against the Braves.

It only took the Tigers Miguel Cabrera two at-bats to hit his first American League home run. Justin Verlander only allowed 1 hit through 5 innings, then blew a 3-0 lead. The game is now in extra innings.

The White Sox Mark Buehrle must be looking for a do over. The Indians tagged him for 7 runs in just 2 2-3 innings. Jim Thome has smacked a pair of 2-run homers off of C.C. Sabathia. Thome had been 0-11 against him entering the game.

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Tigers Bag a Moose

Was there any doubt in anyone's mind that what took place at Yankee Stadium was inevitable. Mike Mussina had won in his previous 4 decisions, but this was the Tigers lineup. Justin Verlander would be somewhere between fair and great, but the Yankees needed to get to him early. Gary Sheffield would get on base, albeit, without taking a fastball to the ribs. And the Yankees would lose. 8-5 was the final.

Carlos Guillen belted a grand slam off of Mussina (8-8) in the top of the 1st and the game was pretty much over. Don't let the final score fool you, the game was never close after the first pitch. It was Guillen's 3rd career slam and 2nd this season. Hideki Matsui got a run back in the bottom of the 1st with an RBI single, but the Tigers responded with 2 more runs in the 2nd.

Bobby Abreu's 2-run HR, his 13th, cut the lead to 6-3 in the 3rd. Verlander (13-4) was on the ropes, but the Yankees couldn't deliver a solid knock out blow. Mussina lasted only 5 innings, and took the full brunt of the blame afterwards. He left trailing 7-3.

Jason Giambi's 1-out single in the 6th finally sent Verlander to the showers after a gritty 119 pitch performance. Verlander and other Tigers were battling a viral infection. Melky Cabrera's 2-out single kept the inning going, but Zach Miner struck out pinch-hitter Shelley Duncan to end the threat.

Strikeouts by Cabrera and Wilson Betemit end another potential rally in the 8th. Matsui's 2-out RBI double and Jorge Posada's RBI single accounted for the final runs in the 9th off of Todd Jones, who was in for a non-save situation.

...

Prior to the game, Alex Rodriguez was presented with a key to the city by NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg. Rumors were false that A-Rod asked if he could use the key to opt out.

Brian Cashman stated on WFAN yesterday that the Yankees will not re-sign A-Rod if he opts out. They are open to extension since Texas would still be putting money towards that, but a new contract is not financially reasonable.

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Verlander Throws 2nd No-No

Last Night Justin Verlander became the first Detroit Tigers pitcher to toss a no-hitter since Jack Morris one memorable Saturday afternoon in 1984. Verlander walked 4 Milwaukee Brewers and struck out 12, including the first two batters in the 9th. J.J. Hardy flew out to Magglio Ordonez in deep right for the games final out.

Verlander faced the minimum 3 batters in 6 of the 9 innings to up his record to 7-2. The reigning AL Rookie of the Year threw 112 pitches, 73 of them for strikes. He lowered his ERA to 2.79 in the process.

Verlander joins the White Sox Mark Buehrle, who performed the feat against Texas on April 18, as the only pitchers in the majors with a no-hitter this season.

Morris had no-hit the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park in front of a national TV audience on the NBC's game of the week, April 7, 1984.

The Brewers were last no-hit by the Twins' Scott Erickson on April 27, 1994. It was the first no-hitter thrown in Detroit since the Angels' Nolan Ryan blanked the Tigers in 1973.

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