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The title pretty much says it all as the Yanks were in control from moment one. Of course, today’s success all started with CC Sabathia’s dominant performance. CC came into the game throwing heat; seriously, both the YES radar and PitchFX were clocking his fastball at 95-97 miles per hour all game!
Eight innings and 103 pitches later, Sabathia ended the day with one earned run along with nine(!) strikeouts – five via the slider, two on the fastball, and two on the changeup. The only run against Sabathia came in eighth. Matt Pagnozzi singled to center. Then Charlie Blackmon and Eric Young Jr. both grounded out while managing to push Pagnozzi to third. Seth Smith grounded a ball to right field for a single forcing in the first run for the Rockies. By that point though, the game was well out of reach for Colorado as the Yankees still had a 98.8% win expectancy. For those who take stock in Wins, Sabathia also became the first pitcher to have 10 “Ws” in the Win/Loss column this season.
Offensively, everyone minus Robinson Cano (0-4 on the day) got in on the action. The Bombers scored early and often (two runs in the first, three in the third, one in the sixth, and two in the eighth). The team produced fifteen hits mostly at the expense of Rockies pitcher, Aaron Cook. He lasted only 5.2 innings, was victimized to the tune of 12 hits, and could muster only one strike out. Mark Teixeira also deposited his 22nd homerun of the year off of Rafael Betancourt who conveniently provided a poorly located 92-mph four-seamer.
Quietly leading the Yankees onslaught was Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod went 2-4 on the day and drove in three runs. Rodriguez now has the highest batting average among the team’s starters (.300) and is second to only Curtis Granderson in terms of wOBA. Want some gaudy (albeit small sample size) numbers? Over the past seven days, Alex has posted a .533/.529/.733 (1.263 OPS) slash line. Yeah, he’s been hot!
Unfortunately, during the post game show, we also heard that he’s been aching. Ever since a rouge pitch from the series against the Cubs, A-Rod’s knee has been sore. He’s been playing through it though which isn’t all that surprising given the way he’s been swinging the bat of late. While the team isn’t overly concerned that his knee will be aggrivated further during routine play, Girardi’s decision to substitute Ramiro Pena at third base in the eighth was probably smart nevertheless. By that point in the game, A-Rod had a slight limp to his step and the Yankees had the game well in hand.
Don’t look now, but the Yankees have tied the almighty Red Sox in the standings with a 44-31 record. Use this as your open thread and be sure to check in tomorrow for the final game of the series.
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6 Responses to Yanks resume winning ways: dismantle Rockies 8-3
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TIQ IQ
Awesome recap Matt; thanks for picking this one up! Let’s take the series tomorrow afternoon.
No sweat, dude! I concur.
Didn’t know where else to put this, but seeing ‘Horne’ in the MiLB box scores is really good news to those of us that thought he was going to be the real deal.
Jorge’s name has been noticeably missing from the vast majority of your recent game recaps and analysis. Three more hits today and not even a mention in the game recap. If you can utterly destroy the guy for being a black hole on a daily basis in April and the first half of May, it seems bush league to me to almost completely ignore his .840 OPS over the past month.
You’re absolutely right, BBB. He’s definitely turned it around big time since the batting order incident. We’ll see if we can put something together giving Jorge his fair shake.
First place. Let’s keep it guys!