Lots of stuff has happened this past week.

The major bit of news was losing Curtis Granderson to a broken forearm five pitches into his Spring. Of course what followed was lots of speculation about who will take over while Granderson is recovering – he’s supposed to be out at least the first month of the season.

Then we have the Yankees struggling to win Spring Training game which isn’t really news because it’s only Spring Training and the regulars haven’t played that much. They’re currently riding a seven-game losing streak (THE HORROR!)

Joba Chamberlain decided he wanted to stir up more controversy by saying he’d rather be a starter. Naturally, the press and angry fans had a field day with this. It was loads of fun for everyone involved.

Let’s see, what else? Oh right, Joe Girardi decided he also wanted to cause a stir by saying Phil Hughes may not be ready for the start of the season. You know what else? He may be ready.

Mariano Rivera and CC Sabathia are well on their way back from their surgeries. Sabathia’s elbow is responding well to pitching sessions and Rivera’s knee is responding well to both pitching sessions and fielding drills. Another guy coming back from surgery, Derek Jeter, has started running and he’s still on track to be in participating in Spring Training games by March 10.

(It is currently 12:53 a.m. and “How Will I Know?” by Whitney Houston is playing on the 80s Music Choice channel as I begin this post. I figured I’d give you an idea of the frame of mind I was in when I wrote it because I am planning on scheduling this post to appear on the site at 9 a.m. just in case I oversleep because I stayed up late to watch the Oscars.)

First things first, this is going to sound a bit nit-picky but as I was looking at Google News for links to put into this post, I kept seeing article titles that say, “Curtis Granderson Breaks Arm,” and that is actually annoying me because he didn’t break his own forearm. It wasn’t like he was diving for a ball and landed on it strangely, J.A. Happ was the one who broke Granderson’s forearm with an errant pitch so let’s not get it twisted, okay? Thanks. Like last season when “Alex Rodriguez broke his finger.” No, Felix Hernandez of Seattle Mariners broke Alex’s finger. Thanks again.

And by the way, my friend’s mother likes to make voodoo dolls, so Mr. Happ better look out because I may be asking for one.

Another thing that’s been bothering me all night is the fact that I was witnessing fans of other teams laughing at Yankee fans who were upset about Granderson’s bad break. More specifically, fans of the Toronto Blue Jays, the team whose pitcher injured Granderson. Did these people not learn from their experiences last season when they lost their entire starting five to injury and lost Jose Bautista to a wrist injury for an extended period of time? You don’t make fun of a guy when he gets injured. It’s not good juju. Plus, they have Jose Reyes and Josh Johnson who both could be injured by April 2 and out for the entire year. Their team’s home field is made of fake grass layered on top of concrete, if Melky Cabrera attempts to make a diving play like the one he made robbing Robinson Cano of a base hit in yesterday’s game, he could break his face or something.

Thirdly, can people please stop declaring the Yankees dead? It’s still February. Is Granderson’s injury bad? Of course it is but if everything goes as scheduled, he’ll be back a month into the season. It’s not a season-ending injury and the Yankees can just plug someone into left field. I know some of you are thinking, “But Stace, they already lost like 1800 home runs with Martin and Swisher leaving for other teams.” Again, it’s way too soon to panic. Does anyone else remember 2007? The Yankees were 12 games out as late as June and they still made the playoffs. Everyone just needs take a few deep cleansing breaths and calm down. I promise, it will be fine.

Next, I briefly touched upon this subject on Saturday but just in case you missed it, trademark judges ruled that an entrepreneur can’t register “Baseballs Evil Empire” because that moniker belongs to the New York Yankees.

“The record shows that there is only one EVIL EMPIRE in baseball and it is the New York Yankees.”

I love this so much that I think the Yankees need to go all out and let everyone know that they are indeed the Evil Empire. They should embrace the evil by dressing Stadium security guards in Imperial Army uniforms and by playing the Imperial March during their lineup intros. Okay, maybe not.

And lastly, Andrew Marchand of ESPN New York tweeted this during the Oscars telecast:

“I didn’t think Seth MacFarlane was that bad. But I listen to Joe Girardi for a living.”

Some people thought it was a good zinger. I thought it was stupid but hey, what do I know?

(By the way, as I ended this post at 1:19 a.m., the 80s channel was playing “Baby Don’t Forget My Number” by Milli Vanilli. Oh, and I’m joking about the voodoo doll. Not about my friend’s mom making them but about me ordering one. Happ’s safe, for now…) 

The first full week of Spring Training – full as in the whole team was in camp – is nearly over and what have we learned?

Well, for one thing, we learned that the Yankees are open to switching the defensive alignment of the outfield by placing Curtis Granderson in left field and allowing Brett Gardner to patrol center field. This is all in the beginning stages and it may not even come to fruition but the fact that the Yankees are open to this idea makes me happy. I believe the stronger outfield would have Gardner in center.

Another thing we learned is that Ichiro Suzuki is pretty funny. From him showing up on the first day of training camp in a glittery Yankee cap – at least according to the beat writers who couldn’t take pictures in the clubhouse so there actually isn’t any proof that this hat exists. I guess we’ll have to take their word for it – to his quote in which he subtly made fun of the New York sports media for focusing on Derek Jeter’s weight which, surprise surprise, turned into a non issue to him tipping his cap or, in this case, helmet after he blasted a batting practice home run off fellow countryman Hiroki Kuroda. I like Ichiro. He can stay.

Next up, we have Mariano Rivera who seems to be healthy and ready to pitch in 2013. He threw his first live batting practice and said he felt good. He said that he was more worried about how his knee would respond to fielding practice than he was about pitching. You and me both, Mo. Let’s hope everything stays copacetic.

Jorge Posada returned to Tampa as a guest instructor this week. He already shot down the comeback idea. According to Posada there will be no repeat of what happened with Andy Pettitte last season although some Yankee fans wouldn’t mind it considering the team doesn’t actually have a starting catcher as of this moment.

Phil Hughes hurt his back earlier in the week and was diagnosed with a bulging disc. The Yankees conservatively estimated he’d be out two weeks. Hughes started getting ready for the season two weeks earlier than usual so these next weeks off, according to him, will put him right on schedule. Or something.  Frankly, I’m concerned because this is the third season in a row that Hughes has had a back issue. His 2012 ended when he left Game Three of the American League Championship Series with a back problem.

What else happened in Tampa?

• Joba Chamberlain grew this thing on his face. 
• New Yankee Kevin Youkilis arrived and hugged it out with Joba.
• Alex Rodriguez issued a statement about his rehab and the New York Daily News which seems to be obsessed with Alex, reported that he ate at the same seafood restaurant three nights in a row this week. He ordered oysters. No word on if this is all a part of his rehab.

Derek Jeter had surgery to repair his fractured ankle this morning and reports say it was successful. The recovery period is 4-5 months.

CC Sabathia has a bone spur in his balky left elbow and will be visiting Dr. James Andrews *gasp* to see if anything else is wrong. Let’s hope not.

And finally the eyes have it, or in this case, they might not. The Yankees are sending Curtis Granderson to the eye doctor. Shouldn’t they send the entire lineup minus Ichiro to the eye doctor? To be fair, Granderson did look lost at the plate and it appeared as though he wasn’t picking up some pitches. Also, some of the routes he took in the outfield during the season left a lot to be desired so maybe there’s something to this eye thing after all?

And exhale…

When my brother informed me that there were $20 tickets available for today’s game I told him, “I’m not sure I can handle being at a do or die game.” He agreed and we didn’t get the tickets.

Now that it’s over and the Yankees have won, I’m still glad I made that decision. I wouldn’t have been able to handle being there in person. Kudos to the people who were there.

Today, the star of the game was CC Sabathia, who pitched a complete game to lead the Yankees to victory.

The game followed a familiar pattern: Both teams weren’t hitting and both pitchers were on fire. For the Orioles it was Jason Hammel setting the Yankees’s batter down one right after the other.

The first hit for the Orioles came in the fourth inning off the bat of Nate McClouth but the Orioles didn’t score off Sabathia and the game remained scoreless.

In the fifth inning, Mark Teixeira led the inning off with a single and in a move that shocked pretty much the entire world, stole second.

Yes, Mark Teixeira stole a base.

That set up Raul Ibanez to play hero again and he did, smacking a single to center which scored Teixeira and putting the Yankees up 1-0.

Things got interesting in the sixth inning when McClouth came up and hit a ball to right that just missed being a home run. It was so close that Buck Showalter asked the umps to review the play to make sure it wasn’t a home run.

Thankfully for the Yankees, the call stood, it remained a foul ball and Sabathia ended up getting McClouth swinging to end the inning.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Yankees struck again, thanks to a Derek Jeter single which was quickly followed by an Ichiro Suzuki double to put the Yankees up 2-0.

After CC set the Orioles down 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh, Nick Swisher continued his stellar performance at the plate by striking out on three pitches. Yes, that was sarcasm.

Curtis Granderson, whose bat awoke from its series long slumber to hit a single in the fifth, hit a solo home run to right to put the Yankees up 3-0.

Now, the eighth inning is when things got dicey.

Matt Wieters started things off with a single, then Sabathia walked Manny Machado. The next batter was Mark Reynolds who struck out – the Yankees did a good job quieting his bat this series. Lew Ford came up and hit a single past a diving Jeter to score Wieters and advance Machado to second.

Robert Andino hit an infield single, thanks to the fact that no one was covering third and CC had no one to throw the ball to. The bases were loaded with one out and Nate McClouth coming to bat.

To say that my heart was beating out of my chest would not be hyperbole. It really was. I thought I was having a cardiac episode.

In the battle of Sabathia vs. McClouth, CC won this time. He struck McClouth out.

With two outs and the bases still loaded, with the Orioles still threatening, Sabathia got J.J. Hardy to ground out to end the inning.

Crisis averted.

After the Yankees were set down quickly in the bottom of the eighth – thanks to a Robinson Cano double play – Sabathia walked out to the mound to finish what he started.

He got Adam Jones to fly out to left on an 1-0 pitch. One out.

He got Chris Davis to strike out. Two outs.

And for the final out, Sabathia was able to get Wieters to hit a grounder back to him to end the game.

Ballgame over, Yankees win, and they’re heading to the American League Championship Series to face the Detroit Tigers.

(If you noticed, I didn’t mention a certain player being noticeably absent from the lineup. That’s because it’s been discussed enough.)

Some things to take away from this series

A few guys need to start hitting the ball. I’m looking at you Swish and Cano. Tex and Granderson snapped out of it alittle bit today.

The pitching was superb – both the starters and relievers. Courtesy of Jeff Quagliata who does research for YES: the Yankees had a team ERA of 1.76 in this series which is the lowest ERA in a five-game LDS since division play began in 1995. Amazing.

If there were an ALDS MVP I think CC Sabathia would win it with Raul Ibanez getting an honorable mention for his performance in Game Three and overall in the series (he was 4-9).

And there is no rest for the weary, Game One is scheduled for tomorrow night.

Rest up kids, there’s more baseball to watch!

After tonight’s game, Derek Jeter was interviewed on the field at Yankee Stadium and said these words:

“Now, the real season begins…”

For the Yankees, their postseason begins on Sunday. They were able to beat up on the wretched Red Sox tonight and with the help of the Tampa Bay Rays beating the Baltimore Orioles in Tampa, they won the American League East Division outright.

The Yankees clubbed four home runs tonight and with a total of 245 on the season, set a new franchise record. The record they surpassed was 244 held by the 2009 World Series Champion team.

Is that an omen? Let’s hope so.

Hiroki Kuroda held the Red Sox to two runs one seven hits in seven innings and earned his 16th win of the season. Kuroda and Phil Hughes tied for the most wins on the staff. They also became the first set of Yankee right handers to win that many since Roger Clemens and Mike Mussina, who did it in 2001 and 2003.

Back to the home runs, they were hit by Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson. They each finished with two. Cano had a big night. He was 4-4 with six RBI. Granderson reached a career-high with his 43rd home run.

So now the Yankees get to rest until Sunday when they will be meeting the winner of Friday’s Wild Card game between the Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles.

Two things stick out in the standings. Wait, no, three things.

1. The Yankees have sole possession of first place again.
2. The magic number is now 2 to clinch the Division.
3. Holy shit, the Red Sox are really 69-91 and 24 games out?!

This is exactly the game Yankees fans were hoping for this afternoon when the Red Sox lineup was posted.

Jokes were made about the Red Sox throwing the game. Even Boston’s beat writers were joining in on ripping on the lineup Bobby Valentine came up with.

And the Yankees needed to beat up on a team that was trotting out six guys who were in Triple-A at one point in the season and who was without both Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury.

It was a must-win situation.

CC Sabathia started things off with an eight-pitch two strikeout, first inning and the Yankees were on their way.

The Yankees, in a shocking turn of events, didn’t score any runs in the first inning which had been their specialty this year against the hapless Red Sox. Instead, they waited until the second inning tonight to drop a nine-spot on Boston.

Clay Buchholz started for the Red Sox but was not in the game as that second inning ended. He became the only Red Sox starter in the live-ball era to allow eight earned runs in fewer than 2 IP against the Yankees.

Robinson Cano, Curtis Granderson, Russell Martin and Mark Teixeira who returned to the lineup tonight, all hit home runs in the second inning.

Cano’s was one of the longest hit at the new Stadium, Martin’s was reviewed – and upheld – and Teixeira’s was his 24th of the season. Oh and Cano, just for good measure, added a double in that second inning. He finished the night 3-5, all three were extra base hits.

Sabathia earned his 15th win of the season and thanks to a strong eight-inning performance, reached the 200 inning plateau. He gave up two runs on four hits with two walks and seven strike outs.

From Jeff Quagliata, research guru for the YES Network, “CC Sabathia one of just 2 pitchers since 1995 to throw 200 innings in 28 or fewer starts – the other was Cliff Lee in 2010.”

Freddy Garcia came in to finish the game in the ninth and induced two ground outs and struck out one batter.

The Yankees victory coupled with the Orioles’ loss in Tampa helped to give the Yanks a one game lead (again) in the American League East with two to play. The magic number is down to two.

In a cute moment, Melky Mesa came to bat in the bottom of the eighth inning and hit an RBI single – his first major league hit – which scored Eduardo Nunez. While he was running to first, the YES Network cameras caught Eric Chavez yelling, “Touch the base!!” from the dugout.

That guy Brett Gardner, remember him? He actually came to bat in the ninth, ahead of Mesa. He ground out but advanced Nunez to second. The good news is he didn’t break!

Some facts:

• Yankees have scored 9 or more runs in three of their last four games.
• Alex Rodriguez tied Stan Musial for 5th on the All-time RBI list with 1,950.
• Granderson and Martin hit back-to-back home runs in that explosive second inning. It was the 12th time the Yankees have done that this season.
• Nick Swisher hit the 250th double of his career.

 

I think the Yankees may be trying to kill me or at least make me age at least 3-5 years every game they play this week.

This easily could have been one of those games, you know, the kind that makes you want to punch holes in your walls. And it actually was heading in that direction when the Jays took a 5-1 lead in the fifth inning. Phil Hughes was taken out of the game after surrendering all five runs on eight hits. He walked two batters, struck out four and gave up a home run. Yes, I know, shocker.

Derek Lowe came into the game to stop the bleeding and actually did what he was supposed to do. He pitched 1.2 innings of no-hit, no-run ball. Boone Logan also did his job by getting a left handed batter out and then even got a right handed batter out!

Amazing!

The Yankees scored one run in the sixth inning thanks to a Henderson Alvarez wild pitch which scored Nick Swisher from third. That pulled the Yankees to within three.

When the seventh inning started, two moves were made. Toronto replaced Alvarez with Brett Cecil and Joe Girardi pinch hit Eduardo Nunez in place of Eric Chavez.

The Yankees won that move when Nunez singled to start the inning.

Next, Toronto brought in Steve Delabar who promptly gave up a ground rule double to Derek Jeter to put runners on second and third with no outs. Ichiro Suzuki hit a sac fly to cut the lead to 5-3.

In one of the biggest at bats of the year, Alex Rodriguez, worked a walk against Delabar to put runners on first and second with one out.

Robinson Cano stepped in and hit his 46th double of the year which scored Jeter and pulled the Yankees to within one run, 5-4.

Toronto, once again made a pitching change, this time bringing in Aaron Loup who added his own wild pitch which scored Rodriguez from third to tie the game at 5-5.

Just as things were getting good for the Yankees, Nick Swisher lined into a bad luck double play to end the inning.

Still, the Yankees came all the way back to tie the game. Momentum seemed to be on their side.

After Lowe and Logan combined to pitch a scoreless bottom of the seventh the Yankees made things happen in the eighth. They scored two more runs thanks to a walk, a single, a sac bunt, a sac fly and a single. The run scoring sac fly was hit by Nunez and the single by Jeter.

David Robertson pitched a scoreless eighth and the Yankees came up big again in the top of the ninth.

Rodriguez singled, Cano singled and Swisher walked to load the bases against Jason Frasor. Then Curtis Granderson hit a rocket down the right field line for a double which scored both Rodriguez and Cano. The Yankees went up 9-5.

Now, you didn’t think things would end all nice and tidy with a 1-2-3 inning by Rafael Soriano, did you? Come on, kids. You know better than that.

Soriano had to make it so scary that most Yankee fans were looking for brown paper bags to breathe into. He gave up two singles and a walk to load the bases with no outs.

Then by the grace of God or some other force of nature, Soriano got Yunel Escobar to ground into a double play. Yes, a run was given up but hey, I’d give up one run for two outs any day of the week. Especially with a four-run lead.

Thankfully, he got Adam Lind to ground out to second to end the game.

Untuck, Yankees win, all that jazz, breathe in, breathe out…

So the Yankees are still tied for a share of first place in the American League East because there was no way Baltimore was losing to Boston because Boston is absolutely horrible.

Anyway, hold onto your butts Yankee fans, these final three games are going to be frightening.

Curtis was just one of a few heroes for the Yanks in this one, but I can never turn down an opportunity to make an allusion to Arrested Development. I love the Twin Cities, I do, but I just don’t get nervous when the Yankees play the Twins. I’m not being cavalier or overly confident. It’s just that the Yankees seem to have had the Twinkies’ number since the early aughts. The Yankees are Ron Gardenhire’s daddy, I guess.

The Yankees dominated this one from the outset, holding the Twins at bay until 3 “garbage time” runs in the 8th and 9th. Let’s have a look.

Watch out Orel Hershiser

All that Andy Pettitte has done since coming off the DL is toss 11 scoreless innings over 2 starts. NBD. The really wild part? He hasn’t even looked that good yet.

Andy got off to an inauspicious start against the Twins tonight, allowing back to back singles to Denard Span and Ben Revere after his teammates staked him to a 3-0 lead in the Top of the 1st. After getting Joe Mauer to line out, Pettitte walked the dangerous Josh Willingham to load the bases. “Oh boy,” I thought, “here we go. It’s cold and Andy is old and this is going to be a reality check.” Reality check indeed. Pettitte responded to the walk (and my lack of faith) by striking out Justin Morneau looking and getting Ryan Doumit to ground out to short to end the inning. It wasn’t pretty, but he found a way. That, to me, is some vintage Andy Pettitte.

Over his 6 innings of work, Andy struggled more often than not, only retiring the side in order in the 2nd and the 6th. You know what though? Didn’t matter all that much, because Pettitte made the exact pitch he needed to make every time he seemed to be on the brink of giving in. With 1st and 3rd and 1 out in the Bottom of the 3rd, Pettitte got Willingham to bounce into a 6-4-3 inning ending double play. Similarly, in the 5th inning, Pettitte was able to induce a grounder to double up the speedy duo of Denard Span and Ben Revere. Twin killings for everyone! (Sorry, sorry)

Andy Pettitte also got some help from his defense in the 4th inning, in the form of a great play by both Curtis Granderson and Russell Martin. With 1 out in the frame, Ryan Doumit doubled to deep right. After retiring Trevor Plouffe on a shallow fly ball to Ichiro in RF, Pettitte was unable to snag a grounder up the middle from Jamey Carroll. Granderson charged as Doumit came chugging around 3rd and threw a one-hop strike to Martin who deftly swung around to apply the tag and nail the runner to end the inning. I’m a sucker for plays at the plate, especially if we can avoid a collision. There’s no prettier play in baseball than the bang-bang sweep tag at home on a throw from the outfield. What a treat!

Final line for Immortal Andy: 6 IP, 7 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 88 pitches. If he’s going to keep getting sharper, fantastic. If not, then just more of this, please.

This park can’t hold me!

“Too many home runs! Yankee Stadium is a band box! Jet streams! It’ll never fly on the road!” And so on, and so on. Well, maybe the Yankees brought the jet streams out to the Midwest with them because man, were they mashing tonight. Isn’t Target Field supposed to play large? Isn’t the ball supposed to stop carrying in the Twin Cities once the temperature drops? Tell that to Nick Swisher, Curtis Granderson, Raul Ibanez, and Eric Chavez.

The Yankees wasted no time making themselves at home in this one. In the 1st inning after a walk to Jeter, newly minted AL Player of the (Last) Week Ichiro Suzuki got things going with a 2B that was smoked high off the wall in right field. A-Rod was retired on a fly ball to right field, but Robbie Cano was able to drive in the first run of the game on a grounder to SS. Enter Nick Swisher. Exit baseball. With two outs, Swisher crushed the Liam Hendriks offering off the facing of the upper deck in RF for a 2-run shot to put the Yankees up 3-0. Seemingly an effective way to get to the young Australian righty, the rest of the lineup got to work.

Hendriks actually flashed some pretty good stuff at times after the 1st inning, settling in nicely until the 4th. After striking out Swisher looking to begin the inning, Hendriks showed Granderson a pair of curveballs before trying to surprise him with a fastball on the inner half. Curtis Status: Not surprised. Granderson one-upped Swisher with his blast, a solo shot that traveled approximately 437ft. into the upper deck in right field. It was Curtis’ 40th HR of the year, and put the Yankees ahead 4-0.

Credit to Henriks again for settling down after giving up a mammoth blast, as he made it into the 7th inning without allowing any further damage. That is, however, where the run of success would end. Raul Ibanez led off the inning with the Yankees’ third monster home run of the game, a solo shot down the RF line to increase the lead to 5-0. Two batters later, Eric Chavez joined the party with an opposite field solo shot that barely cleared the fence and only cleared Willingham’s glove by a pork chop on a stick’s length. 6-0 Yankees, and the end of the night for Hendriks.

Other than the excitement of the long ball, it was good to see the offense roll along pretty effortlessly. Ibanez built on Saturday’s special day and turned in a 2-for-4, living up to his reputation as a feast or famine streak guy, and Eric Chavez went 3-for-4 in his attempt to get off the snide.

Tidbits and Other Fun

• Derek Jeter went 1-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 18 games. He came into this game hitting .339 in the second half. Yeah.
• Curtis Granderson’s 40th HR put him in pretty elite company as a Yankee. With 41 dingers last year, Curtis joins Ruth, Gehrig, Mantle, and, um, Jason Giambi as the only Yankees to hit 40+ HR in back-to-back seasons. If Curtis wear a lucky golden thong, let’s hope he sticks with it for the next month or so.
• The 2B that Andy Pettitte allowed to Ryan Doumit in the Bottom of the 4th was his first XBH allowed since coming off the DL. Doumit was the 36th batter he faced.
• Nick Swisher is playing an impressive 1B in Teixeira’s absence. Stretches, picks, you name it. What an asset to have that depth.
• Joba Chamberlain celebrated his 27th birthday yesterday and continued the party by pitching a 1-2-3 7th.
• Cory Wade may have thrown his last inning as a Yankee tonight and unsurprisingly allowed a home run. Wade may be a roster casualty when Gardner returns or David Aardsma is activated.
• Josh Willingham was removed from the game after his leaping attempt on Eric Chavez’s HR in the 7th inning and it was announced that he suffered a shoulder injury. Makes the Yanks’ lives a lot easier if he needs to sit out the rest of the series.

With this win and Baltimore’s loss to Toronto in the nightcap of their double header, the Yankees now hold a 1 1/2 game lead in the AL East. This is the first time the Yankees have been separated from the Orioles by more than 1 game since September 2. For those who count the Sudden Death Golden Goal All the Beans Wild Card Duel as the playoffs, the Yankees magic number is 4. Still a long haul for the division crown though.

Tomorrow’s matchup pits Phil Hughes (16-12, 4.05 ERA) against Esmerling Vazquez (0-2, 6.75 ERA). It would be ideal to see Phil bounce back from a lackadaisical outing against the Blue Jays last time out, as we’re starting to run out of time for working out the kinks here. In other news, Esmerling is a phenomenal name, but I hope that the home run barrage carries over. Enjoy folks.

I apologize in advance for the not-so-clever Ivan Nova cliche but it must be said. Nova was super today. In his first outing since August 21, Nova pitched into the seventh inning surrendering only two earned runs – one was a Luke Scott single given up by Joba Chamberlain – and four hits while striking out eight Rays and only walking two.

Nova was on a pitch limit and when he surrendered a single to Jeff Keppinger to open the seventh inning he was taken out after having thrown 85 – 53 for strikes.

Offensively for the Yankees, Curtis Granderson and Eduardo Nunez went back-to-back in the second inning off Rays starter James Shields. Granderson’s two-run shot was his 39th of the season and Nunez’s solo shot was his first of the year.

In the bottom of the fifth, Derek Jeter hit an RBI single to put the Yankees up 4-0. The Rays got one back in the top of the sixth when Evan Longoria took Nova deep cutting the lead to 4-1.

After Nova was removed in the seventh – following the Keppinger single – Boone Logan replaced Nova and Ben Francisco bunted into a force out, Keppinger was out at second but Francisco made it to first. The next batter, Ryan Roberts, hit a double, advancing Francisco to third. Girardi replaced Logan with Joba Chamberlain, while Joe Maddon countered with Sam Fuld pinch hitting for Chris Gimenez.

That move worked out for the Yankees when Fuld grounded out to Chamberlain. The Yankees weren’t out of the woods yet and Luke Scott made them pay when he singled on a 1-2 pitch from Chamberlain, scoring both Francisco and Roberts, cutting the lead to 4-3.

Chamberlain got the next batter, Desmond Jennings to strike out on three pitches.

In the top of the 8th, David Robertson replaced Chamberlain and retired the Rays 1-2-3. In the bottom half of the inning, the Yankees scored an insurance run, thanks to the heroics of both Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez. Actually, we can add a third person to the equation, B.J. Upton who had trouble tracking down Cano’s ball and it turned into a double. Rodriguez followed with an RBI single, putting the Yankees up 5-3.

Rafael Soriano made things slightly interesting in the ninth. It felt like I was watching John Wetteland circa 1996. Things started off fine when he got Keppinger to pop out to Nunez. Francisco followed that up with a single and Ryan Roberts flied out to Granderson for the second out. Just one more out to go.

Maddon pinch hit Stephen Vogt for Jose Lobaton and he walked. So with two on, two outs and the go-ahead run at the plate, Soriano settled down and got Elliot Johnson swinging the end the game.

The crowd, both at the Stadium and watching on TV exhaled, Soriano untucked and the Yankees high fived, celebrating their 82nd victory of the year.

(Syndicated from The Yankee Analysts)