Mariano Rivera did it again. He entered the bottom of the ninth with a one run lead and was able to retire the potent Texas Rangers to preserve a win for the Yankees.
He faced Rod Barajas to start the inning and got him to pop up to second for the first out. Gary Matthews, Jr. worked the count even at 1-1 and looked like he was very conscious of the cutter inside. Mo picked up on it and painted the outside corner twice to catch Matthews looking for the second out. Ian Kinsler singled up the middle and Mo had to face tough hitting Michael Young. Kinsler ran on the pitch but Young grounded to Jeter at short to end the game. The save for Rivera is his 25th of the season. His ERA now stands at 1.95.
The Yankees were behind 4-2 until the eighth when then erupted for four runs off of Francisco Cordero. A-Rod led off with a home run to cut the deficit to one run at 4-3. Bernie walked and that was followed by a single from Andy Phillips. With runners on first and second and no outs, Cabrera was up next to advance the runners with a bunt. He bunted foul twice and then doubled deep to left center to score both runners. Newly acquired Sal Fasano sacrificed Cabrera to third and he scored on a wild pitch to put the Yanks up 6-4.
In the bottom of the eight Farnsworth was suppose to pitch but his back tightened up and he couldn't go. T.J. Beam entered as was ineffective. He walked Matthews and then Kinsler doubled to put the tying runs on with no outs. Proctor relieved and was greeted with a single from Michael Young to tie the score. Teixeira followed with a bloop single and Young took third on the play. Hank Blalock then bounced a ball over the head of Phillips at first and Texas had the lead at 7-6. Kevin Mench singled to load the bases and Chacon then relieved Proctor. Chacon struck out Mark DeRosa for the first out and got Brad Wilkerson to line back to the mound and he was able to catch the ball and double up the runner off of first to end the inning.
In the ninth Jeter led with a single and Giambi homered to put the Yankees up 8-7. With the win and losses from Boston and Chicago, the Yankees now have a 1/2 lead over Chicago and Minnesota in the Wild Card race. They are 1 and 1/2 games behind Boston for the AL East lead.
READ BEFORE COMMENTING: Participation constitutes agreement to our
User Guidelines, which are stricter than most other blogs', so please read them before commenting. No advertising (posting links to your site), inflammatory (flaming) remarks, vulgarities (any kind of profanity that you can imagine) or questions about our
guidelines or comment deletions. We generally try to maintain a family friendly atmosphere here. Please keep this in mind. A few common examples:
- Posting a link to your blog or to any site you are affiliated with will probably get your comment deleted, unless we asked for it or it acts as a TrackBack.
- Asking why your comment was deleted will get your comment deleted. Please contact us instead.
- Attacking a blogger or fellow commenter instead of attacking their point will probably get your comment deleted.
Treat our users and our
guidelines with respect and you'll be fine. As long as you do that, we're happy to have you at the MarianoRivera.com.
Please note that all comments made on entries that are at least 14 days old are moderated.
