Not A Good Day, A GREAT Day!…

 

Who knew that all it would take to put me in a good mood is a little rain, a couple of homers and great pitching?…

 

 

 

The Yankees picked up two wins today against the Minnesota Twins.   The first game was the continuation of Tuesday’s game which had been suspended after five innings due to rain.  At the time, the game was scoreless, and the game was stopped after the conclusion of the bottom half of the inning.  So, for the game before the game today, it was essentially a short four inning game. 

 

 

 

 

 

In an interesting stat, Derek Jeter’s home run in the 6^th inning (or first inning of the continued game today) made a winner of Tuesday’s starter, A.J. Burnett.  It’s not often you can pitch on one day and receive the win on a different day.  Jeter backed up the homer with a great defensive play in the bottom of the 6^th to preserve the Yankees’ 1-0 lead which was subsequently the final score.  If this game had been in New York, Derek’s play would have been worth a pie!

 

 

King/AP

 

Mariano Rivera gave fantasy baseball owners a great thrill when he saved both games today.   Andy Pettitte went 8 innings in the regularly scheduled game to pick up his sixth win of the season.  The Twins had taken an early 1-0 lead, but the score was tied at 2 in the top of the 9^th inning when Nick Swisher homered to give the Yankees a 3-2 advantage.  Once again, Mo trotted out and retired three batters in order to earn the second save of the day.   While Swisher’s homer was huge, the hitting star was once again rookie Kevin Russo.  He hit a game-tying double in the fourth, and his two-out single in the sixth led to another run.   Despite limited opportunity, Russo’s bat has been more effective than Alex Rodriguez in recent days. 

 

 

King/AP

 

The wins against the Twins are definitely a great start to putting last week behind us.  The Tampa Bay Rays, who had appeared invincible, have lost three straight games (a sweep) to the Boston Red Sox.  So, while the Yankees haven’t lost ground to the Rays, the Red Sox have been climbing.  Before the season, if you had said Josh Beckett would be on the DL, John Lackey struggling, and Jacoby Ellsbury ailing, I would not have given the Sox a chance.  Instead, they’ve stolen the “invincible” title from the Rays…at least for now.   

 

 

Boston Globe staff

 

 

He’s back!  With two ex-Yankee relievers on the street following their respective releases (Chad Gaudin by the Oakland A’s and Brian Bruney by the Washington Nationals), the Yankees added one to their roster today (Gaudin).  To make room for Gaudin, lefty reliever Boone Logan was optioned to AAA Scranton/Wilkes Barre and recent minor league free agent pickup Shane Lindsay was released from the 40-man roster.  Hopefully, Gaudin didn’t throw away his razor when he left the A’s…

 

 

AP