Consistently Inconsistent, Yanks overcome Jays

May 25, 2011

Tonight had a warm, fuzzy, nostalgic feeling; in a way it’s almost as if we were brought back to 2009, a year that the Yankees won the World Series. A year that wasn’t that long ago, yet right now seems it was ages ago.

The Yankees were 1-18 when trailing after eight innings coming into tonight’s game, and as fate would have it, they were down 4-3 in the ninth inning at the hands of the Toronto Blue Jays in tonight’s game at home. It looked as if they would be 1-19, but the Yanks made up their minds: they weren’t losing.

Following a double by pinch-hitter Jorge Posada, Curtis Granderson came to the plate and came up with a clutch, two-out base hit to tie the game at four, bringing home Chris Dickerson, who pinch-ran for Posada.

Granderson promptly stole second base setting up the moment.

Mystique and aura made an appearance when Mark Teixeira stepped up to the plate and squeaked a hit past Jays’ first baseman Juan Rivera. The ball trickled into right field as Granderson made his way to the plate, giving the Yanks a 5-4 walk-off win over their division rivals.

A pie to the face for Teixeira and a win for the Bronx Bombers.

In the eighth inning the Yanks scored two runs, receiving an RBI double off the bat of Robinson Cano which plated Granderson. Russell Martin then singled to bring home Cano.

The Yanks got their first run in the third when Martin crushed a solo home run into the left field stands, his ninth of the season.

CC Sabathia did a nice job on the mound tonight, tossing a complete game to save a depleted bullpen (ask Rafael Soriano, who is going to see Dr. James Andrews and is now shut down indefinitely).

 He gave up four earned runs on eight hits, walked one batter, and struck out three. Really the only blemish on his ledger was a 3-run fourth inning, but he retired the last 16 batters he faced.

Sabathia hasn’t been as overly dominant this year, but nonetheless is now 5-3 with an ERA of 3.17. His struggles have defined the Yankees’ play as of late:

Inconsistent.

It’s really not a stretch to say the Yanks have been playing very inconsistently lately. After dropping six games in a row – the longest losing streak since April of 2007 – they came alive with three consecutive wins. Then they lost one to the Mets, only to win their next two.

Following their Subway Series win, they dropped their series opener to the Blue Jays yesterday, only to win in their final at-bat tonight.

If that doesn’t define a hot-cold streak, I don’t know what does.

It’s easy to point out some of the losses that rest on the shoulders of the offense. The one that sticks out like a sore thumb is Friday May 20 vs. the Mets, a 2-1 loss. Freddy Garcia, the Yanks’ starter, gave his team a quality start: seven innings pitched, two earned runs on five hits, two walks and two Ks.

Not for nothing, it was a good outing. The offense on the other hand was a different story.

The Yanks left seven runners on base and were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. Each time they had a chance to score, it somehow got away from them – and I will be the first to say the Mets’ pitching did a solid job of holding the Yankee hitters down. They knew the Yanks were scuffling in terms of scoring runs and took advantage.

My friend’s dad went as far as saying the Yankees made R.A. Dickey look like Bert Blyleven.

But other games, like yesterday’s 7-3 loss to Toronto, are more or less on the shoulders of the pitching. Bartolo Colon seemed to be cruising, despite surrendering a first inning home run to the Blue Jays’ version of Mickey Mantle, AKA Jose Bautista, MLB’s leading home run slugger.

Joey Bats took Colon deep in the first, but the Yanks recovered and tied the game at one in the fourth. However the Blue Jays exploded on Colon in the sixth, scoring five runs and putting the Yanks in a hole they were never able to climb out of.

Colon’s line: six innings pitched, six earned runs on seven hits, four walks and eight strikeouts.

Other than the eight Ks, it’s not a pretty sight.

The bottom line is, the Yanks collectively have to step up if they want to win it all this season, they way they did in 2009. The AL East is not going to be an easy division to claim and this three-horse race (among the Yanks, Rays, and Red Sox) could even become a four-horse race.

The Blue Jays are 24-24, only 2 ½ games out of first place. If they continue to keep their heads above water, and play the way they did against the Yanks yesterday night, they may have a shot to raise a few eyebrows and finish near the top of the division – not saying they will win the east, but at the very least, they could create problems for the Yankees as a spoiler team.

Heck, even Baltimore is only 3 ½ games out at 22-24, as they won their game over the Kansas City Royals tonight. This really could be anyone’s division to win if things keep going the way they are now.

But time will tell our division winner.

As for tonight…tonight reminded me of 2009. Only because the Yankees did not die when they had odds and numbers stacked against them. The ’09 Yanks recorded walk-off victory after walk-off victory, and it never mattered if they were down late in the game.

In a close game, you could not beat them in the late innings. And tonight, they were down in the late innings…and they didn’t get beat.

Tomorrow afternoon the Yanks will look to win the rubber game vs. Toronto and will get a much-needed day off on Thursday.

Garcia (2-4, 3.12 ERA) will gun for the win, opposed by Jo-Jo Reyes (0-3, 4.07 ERA).

Written by A.J. Martelli Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with Bartolo Colon, Blue Jays, CC Sabathia, Curtis Granderson, Freddy Garcia, Jorge Posada, Mark Teixeira, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Robinson Cano, Russell Martin, Subway Series, Yankees