Girardi Loses it as Streak Ends

The Yankees seven game winning streak came to an end last night, 7-2 to the Blue Jays as Roy Halladay won his 20th game, but all anyone wanted to talk to Joe Girardi about was Mariano Rivera's possible injury.

Earlier in the day it was reported that Rivera, suffering from an "cranky" body, had gone to New York for his standard year end physical. Last night it turned out that Rivera's shoulder was bothering him and he was sent to New York to get it examined and have an MRI done. Even Mrs. MM said there was no way Mo would leave the team early unless he was hurt.

The media pounced on Girardi, who has had a habit all season of stretching the truth concerning the teams injuries, during his post-game press conference. Girardi lashed back, showing some of the attitude that the media in Florida complained about. Peter Abraham has audio of both the pre- and post-game press conferences. Tyler Kepner also discusses Girardi's propensity for lying about injuries.

Apparently the shoulder has been bothering Mo for a while, but he didn't want to say anything until the Yankees were eliminated. Hopefully, the MRI will show no structural damage. George King has more...

On another note, the Carl Pavano era has, thankfully, come to an end. Pavano was knocked out last (surprisingly, not literally). He was knocked out with two away in the fourth after allowing 5 runs. He finishes his 4-year, $39.95 million contract with a 9-8, 5.00 record in 26 starts. Almost half those wins came in the second half of this season.







"The price of 20 wins"

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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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The Daily Yankeeland - 8/29

The Yankees open a tough three game series with the Blue Jays tonight at the Stadium. What makes it tough is facing A.J. Burnett and Roy Halladay in two of the games.

Friday - Carl Pavano (1-0, 5.40) vs A.J. Burnett (16-9, 4.58)
Saturday - Darrell Rasner (5-9, 5.03) vs. John Parish (1-0, 4.05)
Sunday - Andy Pettitte (13-10, 4.37) vs. Roy Halladay (16-9)

Veteran outfielder Matt Stairs was dealt earlier today to the Phillies for a player to be named. The Blue Jays are calling up their top hitting prospect Travis Snider, who has played at three different levels in the minor leagues this season.

A Joba Chamberlain update from the Post.

Joel Sherman begs YES not to make yesterday's game a "Yankees Classic".

Hank says don't blame Girardi. He's also monitoring the initial boys- CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett.

Brian Cashman falls on the sword.

Two Yankees prospects in the Dominican Summer League are going to sit 50 games for PED.

Mike Ashmore has an interview with the newest Yankee, Al Aceves.

The NY Times has a profile on Cody Ransom.

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The Pennant Chase - 8/27

If the Mets miss the playoffs by one game, they can look at last night's failure with the Phillies as the difference. The Mets built up a 7-0 lead behind four RBI from Fernando Tatis, but Pedro Martinez and the shaky Mets pen couldn't hold it, and the Phillies prevailed, 8-7, in 13 innings. The win moved the Phils into first place in the NL East by a half-game.

The Red Sox win moved them to within 3.5 of the Rays in the AL East. Tampa had the unfortunate task of going up against the Blue Jays' Roy Halladay last night. The Jays ace won his 16th as red hot Vernon Wells drove in three runs to lead the Blue Jays to a 6-2 win.

The White Sox are now two full games in front of the Twins in the AL Central. Orlando Cabrera had a big night (4-5, 2 RBI, 2 runs), and Nick Swisher hit seventh home run of the month as Chicago downed the Orioles 8-3. Gavin Floyd picked up his 14th win and Carlos Quentin added his 100th RBI.

The Twins meanwhile lost a nail biter to the Mariners, 3-2. Jose Lopez's RBI single snapped a 2-2 tie in the sixth inning, and Ryan Rowland-Smith out dueled Scott Baker.

The Cubs and Brewers broke out the offense in big wins yesterday. Chicago maintained their five game lead in the NL Central with a 14-9 over the Pirates. The Cubbies put seven runs across home plate in the eighth inning to end the see-saw battle. Rookie catcher Geovany Soto hit his 20th home run and drove in a career high seven runs.

The Brewers couldn't gain any ground on the Cubs, but they did increase their wildcard lead to 4.5 games over the Mets and Cardinals, by pounding St. Louis, 12-0. Ben Sheets picked up his 12th win and Ryan Braun hit his 33rd home run of the season. He now has 67 home runs and 189 RBI in 234 big league games.

There was no movement in the NL West as Brandon Webb failed in his attempt to become the first pitcher to win 20 games this year. The Padres shelled him in a 9-2 win. Meantime, the Dodgers were done in 2-1 by the Washington Nationals, despite a complete game by Derek Lowe.

Other News

Cliff Lee tied Brandon Webb for the major league lead in wins with his 19th as the Tribe won their ninth straight, 10-4 over the Tigers.

Were those really a bunch of complete games we saw last night? In addition to Lowe, John Lackey (11-2, 2.95) threw one in the Angels 5-1 win over the A's, Bronson Arroyo went the distance in the Reds 2-1 win over the Astros, and Texas' Kevin Millwood threw his second straight CG in beating the Royals, 2-1.

Boston had to place J.D. Drew on the DL with a herniated disk in his back, but acquired outfielder Mark Kotsay from the Braves for minor league outfielder Luis Sumoza.

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A Drubbing

There's no other way to describe last night's game with Toronto. Sidney Ponson got his ass kicked from the start, and the weak-hitting Yankees weren't staging a comeback against one of the best pitchers in the game, Roy Halladay. The result was a 14-3 drubbing that dropped the Yankees a half-game further back in the wildcard race and moved the Blue Jays back to within one game of the Yankees for third place in the AL East.

The lone bright spot for the Yanks was Hideki Matsui's first home run since June 12. It accounted for all three Yankees runs. Every Yankees pitcher, with the exception of Edwar Ramirez, was touched up for at least one run. After Ponson, who allowed seven runs in two innings, Billy Traber was the next biggest victim, allowing four runs in just 2.1 IP. The Blue Jays had 21 hits in all, led by light-hitting Marco Scutaro, who had a 4-hit, 4-RBI night.


News and Notes

Derek Jeter was 1-4 to give him 2,499 hits.

August 21, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
NY Yankees	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0		3	7	1
Toronto	1	1	5	3	3	0	0	1	X		14	21	0

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, CF-LF	3	0	1	0	1	2	1	.313
Jeter, SS	4	0	1	0	0	2	3	.297
Ransom, SS	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000
Abreu, RF	4	0	0	0	0	1	3	.288
Molina, 1B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.227
Rodriguez, A, 3B	2	1	0	0	1	1	1	.308
Betemit, 3B	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.259
Giambi, 1B	3	0	2	0	0	1	0	.250
Gardner, CF	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.189
Nady, LF-RF	4	1	1	0	0	1	3	.327
Matsui, DH	4	1	1	3	0	0	2	.317
Cano, 2B	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	.261
Rodriguez, I, C	3	0	1	0	0	1	0	.288
Totals	32	3	7	3	2	10	13
BATTING HR: Matsui (8, 7th inning off Halladay, 2 on, 1 out). TB: Damon; Jeter; Giambi 2; Nady; Matsui 4; Rodriguez, I. RBI: Matsui 3 (37). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Rodriguez, A; Jeter. GIDP: Abreu. Team LOB: 4. BASERUNNING SB: Damon 2 (23, 2nd base off Halladay/Barajas, 2nd base off Halladay/Barajas). FIELDING E: Giambi (7, fielding).

NY Yankees	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Ponson (L, 7-4)	2.0	8	7	7	1	0	0	4.67
Robertson	1.1	3	2	2	1	1	0	5.96
Traber	2.1	7	4	4	1	2	1	7.02
Ramirez	0.1	0	0	0	0	1	0	3.57
Britton	2.0	3	1	1	0	2	0	4.61

Toronto	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Inglett, 2B	5	3	4	0	1	0	2	.308
Scutaro, 3B	6	3	4	4	0	1	4	.268
Rios, RF	6	2	3	3	0	1	2	.289
Wells, V, CF	4	1	0	0	1	0	2	.284
Lind, LF	5	3	3	1	0	1	0	.303
Overbay, 1B	4	0	1	0	1	2	4	.267
Stairs, DH	5	0	2	3	0	1	5	.248
Barajas, C	4	1	2	1	0	0	4	.255
McDonald, SS	5	1	2	2	0	0	4	.222
Totals	44	14	21	14	3	6	27
BATTING 2B: Inglett (10, Ponson), Rios (37, Ponson), Stairs (11, Traber), Barajas (18, Britton), Scutaro (14, Britton). HR: Scutaro (5, 5th inning off Traber, 2 on, 0 out). TB: Inglett 5; Scutaro 8; Rios 4; Lind 3; Overbay; Stairs 3; Barajas 3; McDonald 2. RBI: Rios 3 (58), Barajas (41), Lind (36), McDonald 2 (16), Stairs 3 (44), Scutaro 4 (47). 2-out RBI: McDonald 2; Stairs 3; Scutaro. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Inglett; Barajas; Scutaro 2; Overbay; Rios 2. SF: Barajas. Team LOB: 10. BASERUNNING CS: Rios (8, 2nd base by Ponson/Rodriguez, I). FIELDING DP: 2 (Inglett-McDonald-Overbay, Inglett-Overbay).

Toronto IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Halladay (W, 15-9) 7.0 5 3 3 2 9 1 2.68 Downs 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1.38 League 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2.08

Ponson pitched to 5 batters in the 3rd. Pitches-strikes: Ponson 51-31, Robertson 31-19, Traber 48-34, Ramirez 6-4, Britton 38-27, Halladay 94-66, Downs 13-10, League 8-6. Ground outs-fly outs: Ponson 2-3, Robertson 0-3, Traber 1-4, Ramirez 0-0, Britton 0-4, Halladay 7-4, Downs 2-0, League 3-0. Batters faced: Ponson 14, Robertson 8, Traber 15, Ramirez 1, Britton 10, Halladay 27, Downs 3, League 4. Inherited runners-scored: Robertson 2-2, Traber 2-2, Ramirez 3-0. Umpires: HP: Lance Barksdale. 1B: Doug Eddings. 2B: Ted Barrett. 3B: Dana DeMuth. Weather: 73 degrees, clear. Wind: 5 mph, Out to LF. T: 2:57. Att: 37,037.

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Yankees vs. Blue Jays - 8/19

The Yankees already had their work cut out for them before they arrived in Toronto. Now they have to face Roy Halladay and A.J. Burnett as part of a three game series. Things get underway tonight at the Rogers Centre with Darrell Rasner squaring off against Burnett.

Rasner, for the moment, is back in the rotation due to the rotator cuff tendinitis that befell Dan Giese. Rasner pitched well in his last start, but like most of his pitching teammates, he lost, 4-2, due to a lack of run support.

Burnett has put together a 15-9 mark, despite a 4.67 ERA. However, he has excelled against the Yankees in his career, going 5-2, 2.85 in eight starts. He defeated the Yankees, 4-1 on, July 13, and struck out eight in 8.1 innings pitched.

Andy Pettitte faces rookie David Purcey on Wednesday, and the series concludes on Thursday with Sidney Ponson going against Halladay.

The Blue Jays have won 9 of 13, including 5 of their last 6 contests. They swept the Red Sox over the weekend, winning two games with a third rained out. They trail the third place Yankees by just two games.

The Blue Jays have gotten good pitching all season, but have begun to hit better as well. Vernon Wells missed a month, but recently returned and has driven in nine runs in his last seven games. Alex Rios leads the team in just about every offensive category - average, RBI, runs scored, and stolen bases. The Jays don't hit home runs, Matt Stairs leads the team with just 11.

Second year player Adam Lind is beginning to show the promise expected of him. After hitting just .238-11-46 in 290 at-bats last season, Lind is at .308-8-34 in 186 at-bats. He's also struck out only 28 times.

Strange things happen in Toronto, maybe it's the 7:07 start time. Derek Jeter suffered that devastating shoulder injury back in 2003, and last year there was the infamous Alex Rodriguez "HA" incident. And of course there was the Dave Winfield seagull brouhaha back at old Exhibition Stadium in 1983.

UPDATE 3:33 PM

As expected, Justin Christian was optioned to Scranton to make room for Hideki Matsui's return. Chad Jennings also reports that Jason Lane has been released and will most likely sign a minor league deal with the Red Sox.

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Around the Horn - 7/1

Look out AL Central, here come the Detroit Tigers. In case you haven't noticed, the Tigers, after last night's come from behind 5-4 win over the Twins, are now two games over .500 (42-40). The Tigers were 19-8 in June, and have won 7 straight, moving them to within 5 games of the White Sox for the AL Central lead.

The Tigers will be tested now though. Magglio Ordonez went on the DL after straining an oblique muscle on Sunday and Miguel Cabrera may be joining him after suffering from a hip flexor last night.

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Detroit (42-40) «	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	5	12	3
Minnesota (45-38)	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	4	13	0

W: C. Fossum (1-0) L: M. Guerrier (4-3) S: J. Zumaya (1) HR: DET - M. Thames (15) MIN - None

Recap/Box

The Mets just can't build off of anything. They had a big win on Sunday against the Yankees after losing two straight. So what did they do last night? Go out and get clobbered 7-1 by the Cardinals. John Maine had a rough outing and the Mets offense fell flat. And Kyle Lohse is 10-2!

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
N.Y. Mets (40-42)	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	7	3
St. Louis (48-36) «	2	1	1	1	2	0	0	0	x	7	10	2

W: K. Lohse (10-2) L: J. Maine (8-6) HR: NYM - None STL - C. Duncan (5)

Recap/Box

Tampa Bay has its first big Summer series...EVER. They got off on the right foot last night, holding off the Red Sox 5-4 despite Troy Percival being forced from the game in the 9th inning. The Rays closer apparently re-aggravated a hamstring problem. Back up closer Dan Wheeler had already pitched, so J.P. Howell closed things out. And the Red Sox still haven't, and won't, taken any disciplinary action against Manny Ramirez.

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston (50-35)	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	2	4	8	1
Tampa Bay (50-32) «	1	0	0	2	1	0	1	0	x	5	6	0

W: J. Shields (6-5) L: J. Masterson (4-2) S: J. Howell (2) HR: BOS - J. Drew (16) TB - B. Upton (6), G. Gross (6)

Recap/Box

Jr. still has some pop in that bat. Ken Griffey Jr. came off the bench to hit a walk off 2-run home run to give the Reds a 4-3 win over the Pirates in the 9th. It was career home run number 603. Before the game, Jr. playfully asked manager Dusty Baker's 9-yr old son Darren why he wasn't playing. "You can't hit lefties, and you're old!", responded Darren. Take that kid.

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pittsburgh (38-44)	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	3	9	0
Cincinnati (39-45) «	0	0	1	0	0	1	0	0	2	4	8	0

W: F. Cordero (3-1) L: M. Capps (1-3) HR: PIT - A. LaRoche (8) CIN - J. Hairston (2), K. Griffey (10)

Recap/Box

The Marlins walked one off too against the Nationals. After the fish tied the game in the 9th, Josh Willingham hit his second home run of the game in the bottom of the 10th. These fish know how to hit home runs.

Final 10th	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
Washington (33-51)	0	0	1	1	2	0	0	1	0	0	5	10	0
Florida (43-39) «	0	1	2	0	0	1	0	0	1	1	6	11	0

W: K. Gregg (6-2) L: J. Rauch (4-2) HR: WAS - E. Dukes (4), D. Young (4) FLA - J. Willingham (7), H. Ramirez (19), J. Willingham (8)

Recap/Box

The White Sox know how to hit home runs too. Nick Swisher hit a pair last night, including his second grand slam in a week, as the White Sox out lasted the Indians 9-7. Jim Thome also went deep as the Pale Hose increased their lead over the Twins to 2.5 games in the AL Central.

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Cleveland (37-46)	1	0	0	1	0	2	0	0	3	7	14	0
Chi. White Sox (47-35) «	3	0	5	0	0	1	0	0	x	9	9	2

W: G. Floyd (9-4) L: J. Sowers (0-4) S: M. Thornton (1) HR: CLE - J. Peralta (12) CHW - J. Thome (16), N. Swisher (10), N. Swisher (11)

Recap/Box

Good and Bad news for the Astros last night. Roy Oswalt struck out 9 to lead the 'stros to a 4-1 win over the Dodgers. The bad news? Oswalt left the game in the 7th inning with a strained hip. Lance Berkman belted his 22nd home run.

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
L.A. Dodgers (38-44)	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	11	0
Houston (40-43) «	1	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	x	4	6	0

W: R. Oswalt (7-8) L: E. Stults (2-1) S: J. Valverde (22) HR: LA - None HOU - L. Berkman (22)

Recap/Box

Talk about a change in fortune. The Rockies lead the Padres 8-3. Final score- Padres 15 Rockies 8 with a 7-run 9th inning. The Pads hit 4 home runs, including a pair by Edgar Gonzalez. Jody Gerut also had one and knocked in 4.

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
San Diego (33-51) «	1	0	2	0	0	5	0	0	7	15	22	0
Colorado (32-51)	3	0	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	8	9	0

W: H. Bell (6-3) L: B. Fuentes (1-4) HR: SD - E. Gonzalez (2), K. Kouzmanoff (11), J. Gerut (4), E. Gonzalez (3) COL - B. Hawpe (11)

Recap/Box

Greg Smith pitched the A's to a big 6-1 win over the Angels. Smith threw the first complete game of his career, limiting the Angels to just 4 hits. The win moved the A's to within 3.5 games of the Angels in the AL West.

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Oakland (45-37) «	0	2	0	0	0	0	2	1	1	6	13	0
L.A. Angels (49-34)	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	4	2

W: G. Smith (5-6) L: J. Garland (7-5) HR: OAK - None ANA - M. Napoli (12)

Recap/Box

Complete games are nothing out of the ordinary for Roy Halladay, who went the distance in the Blue Jays 2-0 blanking of the Mariners last night. It was the 10th career shutout for the big right-hander.

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Toronto (41-43) «	0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	2	10	1
Seattle (31-51)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0

W: R. Halladay (9-6) L: R. Dickey (2-4) HR: TOR - None SEA - None

Recap/Box

Mark DeRosa homered twice, including a grand slam, and drove in 6 as the Cubs pounded the Giants 9-2. Ted Lilly won his 9th while Barry Zito, unfortunately for Giants fans, went back to pitching like Barry Zito.

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Chi. Cubs (50-33) «	0	1	2	0	2	0	0	4	0	9	10	0
San Francisco (36-47)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	8	2

W: T. Lilly (9-5) L: B. Zito (3-12) HR: CHC - M. DeRosa (9), M. DeRosa (10) SF - None

Recap/Box

Good to see Doug Davis out on the mound and competing. In fact he picked up the win against his old club for the Diamondbacks last night.

Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Milwaukee (44-38)	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	7	1
Arizona (42-41) «	2	0	0	0	3	0	1	0	x	6	11	0

W: D. Davis (3-3) L: D. Bush (4-8) S: B. Lyon (17) HR: MIL - None ARI - M. Reynolds (17)

Recap/Box

O's closer George Sherrill blew a save in the 9th for the second straight game. This time it was the Royals coming from behind to tie things up on a Miguel Olivo home run. Jose Guillen knocked in the game winner in the 11th. Joakim Soria, the best unknown closer, picked up his 22nd save.

Final 11th	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	R	H	E
Kansas City (38-45) «	0	0	1	0	0	2	1	0	1	0	1	6	14	0
Baltimore (41-40)	0	0	1	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	10	1

W: R. Mahay (4-0) L: C. Bradford (3-3) S: J. Soria (22) HR: KC - M. Olivo (9) BAL - R. Hernandez (7)

Recap/Box

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