In lieu of a recap, here’s how I “kept score” tonight.

Garcia: 11 pitch 1-2-3 first inning.

Feldman: 13 pitch 1-2-3 first inning.

6 up 6 down for Fred. 21 pitches after two.

Yankees got two on with one out but Martin and Ichiro go down and Feldman escapes a jam.

11-game streak for Jeter – single in the 3rd (157th hit on the season)

Swisher RBI bloop double to LF 1-0 Yankees. Runners on second and third with no outs. Feldman at 48 pitches. That’s 11 RBI for Swisher since being moved into the No. 2 spot a week ago.

Granderson sac fly to right scores Jeter 2-0 one out.

Tex strikes out. Two out.

Chavez with an RBI single scoring Swisher 3-0 Yankees.

29-pitch inning for Feldman in the bottom of the third.

Josh Hamilton hits his first regular season home run in new Yankee Stadium to make it 3-1. Back to back singles by Beltre and Cruz. Runners on first and second with one out.

Yikes, Fred walks the bases loaded, still one out.

Fred induces a ground ball double play and it’s punctuated with some acrobatics from Nick Swisher. He escapes the jam. Still 3-1 Yankees after 3 and 1/2. Garcia at 59 pitches.

Martin walks.

Ichiro hits it to the hole between 2nd and 3rd but Elvis Andrus makes a great play to get the force at 2nd. Ichiro at first, one out in the 4th.

Jayson Nix tries to hit into a double play but beats out the throw to first. Ichiro out at second.

Jete walks. Swish K’s. Going into the 5th, still 3-1 Yanks. Feldman at 85 pitches after four.

Flyball to RF by Mitch Moreland. One out.

Flyball to RF by Olt. Two outs.

Kinsler down on strikes. 1-2-3 5th inning for Freddy. 74 pitches for Freddy.

Granderson pops out to first. One out.

Tex strikes out.

Chavez single.

Ibanez works a walk. Feldman at 103 pitches.

Martin strikes out looking on three pitches to end the inning. Feldman at 106 pitches.

Andrus grounds out to third. One out.

Josh Hamilton hits another home run – thank God it’s a solo shot. 3-2 Yankees.

Beltre strikes out. Two outs.

Cruz pops out to Nix. Three outs. Garcia at 89 pitches.

Ichiro singles. Nix double play. Jeter strikes out. Feldman has 117 pitches.

Murphy grounds out to second. One out.

Soto strikes out. Two outs.

Freddy is replaced by Boone Logan

Final line: 6.2 IP, 4H, 2R, 1BB, 6K / 100 pitches – 64 for strikes.

Michael Young flies out to CF. Three outs.

Freddy Garcia: 3.15 ERA over his last 17 games, all after he got crushed in those first four starts.

New pitcher: Robbie Ross for Texas.

Swisher grounds out to second. One out.

Four pitch walk to Granderson.

Tex strikes out. Two outs.

Eric Chavez with another single. Third three hit game this year and he’s now 14 for his last 23 in his last six games.

Ibanez walks. Bases loaded with two outs.

Ogando in to face Martin.

Martin lines out to RF. Inning over. Still 3-2.

David Robertson in.

Mike Olt strikes out on four pitches.

Ian Kinsler strikes out on four pitches and is thrown out for arguing balls and strikes.

1-2-3 inning for Robertson on 10 pitches – 8 of them strikes.

Mike Adams comes in.

Ichiro gets an infield hit – second of the game.

Nix bunts for a single, Ichiro to second. No outs.

Jeter bunts into a double play. (facepalm) Two outs.

Swish lines out to Andrus who had him played perfectly. Inning over. Still 3-2.

Rafael Soriano replaces David Robertson.

Hamilton strikes out on a nasty slider by Soriano. One out.

Beltre flies out to LF. Two out.

Marty Foster screws up a call at third. Should be three outs. Cruz reaches on an “error.”

Murphy grounds out to short.

UNTUCK!! Yankees win!

I really love when nights like tonight occur.

People were down on the Yankees for signing Derek Lowe. They were wondering why they would even bother with a guy who was let go by Cleveland of all teams.

Well, Lowe showed them why the Yanks took a chance on him by shocking pretty much everyone who watches the sport of baseball.

And the other subplot was that Ryan Dempster, who reportedly was thisclose to becoming a Yankee at the trade deadline, was making the start for Texas.

But let’s start from the beginning of the game, shall we?

The matchup tonight pitted David Phelps, in for an injured CC Sabathia and the aforementioned Dempster who was 1-0 with a 6.35 ERA since coming over to Texas from the Chicago Cubs.

The Rangers struck first against Phelps with a run in the first – Nelson Cruz hit an RBI single – and they picked up a run in the second – on a home run by David Murphy. picking up a run in the first and second innings.

Meanwhile, Dempster set the Yankees down in order during his first two innings.

When the bottom of the third rolled around, Dempster wasn’t so lucky.

Of all of the people in the Yankees lineup, Russell Martin got things started with a single. Raul Ibanez followed with a single of his own to runners on first and second with no outs. Ichiro Suzuki hit a sacrifice bunt and Martin and Ibanez advanced to second and third. Dempster followed that with a walk to Derek Jeter which loaded the bases for Nick Swisher.

Swisher deposited an 1-0 slider into the second deck of right field in about three seconds. It was Swisher’s 15th home run of the season, the 6th grand slam of his career and it was the 200th home run of his career.

It was also the Yankees’s 9th grand slam of 2012 and put them up 4-2, a lead they wouldn’t give up.

While the offense was a big story in tonight’s game, the biggest story was Lowe’s performance.

As I mentioned in the beginning of this recap, the Yankees acquired Lowe off the scrapheap this past weekend. A signing that was made fun of by pretty much everyone – fans of the Yankees, fans of other teams, writers, bloggers etc. And coming into tonight’s game, people weren’t expecting much from Lowe.

Well, he showed them! Lowe pitched four innings of two-hit ball with four strikeouts. He was able to keep the Rangers off the scoreboard and he picked up an elusive four-inning save. It was his first save since 2001.

People are already poo pooing the performance claiming that it’s only one game. I know it was only one game, even Lowe himself knows that but this was a game in August against a very good, division leading Texas Ranger team who is looking to make their third World Series in a row.

So why can’t people be happy about it?

And it wasn’t as if Lowe was pitching against a terrible team or even a mediocre team. He had this performance against a fellow Division leader when the Yankees really needed it.

And, of course, we cannot forget David Phelps who did a good job starting in CC Sabathia‘s absence.

Phelps lasted a full five innings and gave up two runs on six hits. He surrendered one walk, struck out three and gave up a home run to David Murphy in the second inning.

So the combination of Phelps and Lowe gave guys like Boone Logan, Clay Rapada and Cody Eppley a much needed break tonight. Another victory for the Yankees who don’t have off until a week from today.

Some game notes:

• Eric Chavez who returned to the lineup and batted fifth, continuing his hot hitting, picking up two more tonight. His average is now .293 on the season.
• Ichiro hit a stand up triple which led to the Yankees scoring two more runs in the seventh inning.
• And last but certainly not least, Derek Jeter picked up his 154th hit of the year. He’s now tied with Nap Lajoie for 13th all-time with 3,142 hits. Next up: Eddie Murray. Jeter needs 13 more hits to get there.

You knew this was going to be an interesting night when David Cone dropped a “Moves Like Jagger” reference in the bottom of the first inning after a diving play by Derek Jeter to nab the speedy Rajai Davis for the first out of the game but then he ended up outdoing himself later in the night…

The Yankees struck first against Jays starter Ricky Romero, scoring two runs in the second inning. Kelly Johnson hit a home run in the bottom of the inning to pull the Jays to within a run but Freddy Garcia was able to get out of it without further damage.

In the top of the third the Yankees scored again, this time on a single by Robinson Cano which scored Nick Swisher from second base – he singled to start the inning and advanced to second on a ground out by Mark Teixeira.

Johnson struck again in the fourth inning with an RBI double which scored Yunel Escobar and the Jays were within a run once more. Garcia settled down again and got out of the fourth by striking out Omar Vizquel and getting Jeff Mathis to ground out to end the inning.

Things were quiet until the top of the eighth.

Steve Delabar replaced Ricky Romero and was greeted rudely by Teixeira who hit a first pitch home run. It was his 22nd of the season and he passed Darryl Strawberry and tied Joe Adcock for 94th on all-time home run list with 336.

After two ground outs by Robinson Cano and Andruw Jones, Jayson Nix and Russell Martin both singled. Well, Martin’s ball should have been an out. The Jays defense was having issues tonight. They only had two errors but it felt like they should have had more.

Ichiro Suzuki hit a two-run single to score Nix and Martin to give the Yanks a 6-2 lead. Toronto scored a run in the bottom of the eighth that was charged to Joba Chamberlain – he gave up a lead off single and was replaced by David Robertson. Anthony Gose, who hit that single, stole both second and third while Rajai Davis was up to bat. Davis walked and Robertson got Colby Rasmus to ground into a double play. Gose scored to make it 6-3 but Robertson was able to get Edwin Encarnacion to pop out to Swisher to end the inning.

The Yankees weren’t done scoring. They scored four more runs to make it 10-3 going into the bottom of the ninth. Swisher hit an RBI double to score Jeter, Raul Ibanez hit a single to score Swisher and the big blow – another double – came off the bat of Ichiro. It was a two-run double and it gave Ichiro five RBI on the night – his first 5 RBI night since August 2004 and the third such game of his career.

The Blue Jays scored a run in the bottom of the ninth but that was all they’d get.

Garcia earned his sixth win of the year and 151st of his career. He gave up two runs on five hits in six innings. He struck out four and did not walk a batter.

Back to David Cone. It seems he’s been catching up on pop culture because earlier in the summer he sang “Call Me, Maybe” on the air and made a reference to the Real Housewives of New Jersey.

His latest, hilariously inappropriate reference was this gem following a Mark Teixeira at bat: “That pitch tied him up. Tied him up tight. Tighter than the novel Fifty Shades of Grey.”

Okay, why is David Cone reading that book? Actually, you know what? I’m afraid to find out. Ken Singleton to his credit replied with, “I haven’t read that one.” Thank Goodness.

So the Yankees are back to being 20 games over .500 on the year and have now won three games in a row.

(Post syndicated from The Yankee Analysts)

Courtesy of featurepics.com

You can all thank me for today’s win. I was there. Apparently I was all they needed to win a game. I hadn’t attended a game since July 1st and had missed being in my happy place.

Speaking of missing things, we missed the first inning thanks to construction on the Tappan Zee Bridge. By the time I made it up to my seat, the game was tied 1-1.

Did I mention how hot it was? Actually it wasn’t that bad for me. I sit in the penthouse, the top row of the upper deck. So even when it’s over 90 degrees, there’s a steady breeze. It’s annoying when you’re attempting to eat but it’s a welcome comfort when everyone in the seats below are sweating like crazy.

Speaking of sweating like crazy, Freddy Garcia started for the Yankees. If he were pitching against any other team he probably would have been knocked out after the first inning. Thankfully it was the Mariners who aren’t known for their offense.

As for the Yankees, their offense woke up a little today after yesterday’s swoon against Felix Hernandez.

In the fourth inning, Chris Stewart – the artist formerly known as CC Sabathia‘s personal catcher – singled, stole a base and scored on a Derek Jeter single to make the score 3-1.

Seattle pulled to within one in the bottom of the frame when Jesus Montero – currently known in some circles as the best player the Yankees traded away, ever – picked up another RBI on a single to right that scored Michael Saunders.

The Yankees added one more run in the fifth and in the sixth. Raul Ibanez hit a two-run home run, extending the lead to 6-2. It was his 15th home run of the year. On a personal note, it seems like Ibanez hits a home run every time I’m at the Stadium. I can think of at least four games he’s gone deep in while I was in attendance. See? It’s all me.

Boone Logan, David Robertson and Rafael Soriano combined to pitch four scoreless innings to help the Yankees salvage the series and pick up their 63rd win of the season.

Today’s win was Garcia’s 150th of his career. He pitched five full innings, gave up the two runs on five hits, walked four and struck out two batters.

Ichiro Suzuki extended his hitting streak and now has a hit in each of his 12 games with Yankees. According to Elias, he’s now tied with Don Slaught for most hits to start a Yankee career. Slaught’s streak was way back in 1988.

One story from the game:  Trayvon Robinson who was playing leftfield for Seattle hit into three line drives in his last three at bats. The first two were to Teixeira and to Jeter. Tex’s catch was funny. It was one of those, “Oh look at what’s in my glove?” types of catches. When Robinson came up in the ninth, my brother said, “Wouldn’t it be funny if he lined out again?” Well, would you know it? He did, right into Soriano’s glove for the first out of the ninth. My brother felt bad. I didn’t.

Flickr Image by Brent Danley

I joked the other day that YES was silly for advertising the Charlie Sheen Centerstage to run at 11pm on the night of a Yankees/Red Sox game. And here we are, it’s after 11pm, the game was three hours and 59 minutes and the postgame show just started.

When the Yankees opened up the game with five quick runs, people assumed it would be a laugher. When the Sox answered with five runs of their own in the bottom of the frame, they quickly realized it was going to be a classic Yankees/Red Sox see-saw affair.

Obviously both starters – Josh Beckett and Hiroki Kuroda – didn’t factor in the decision. Kuroda, who has been lights out of late, just didn’t have it tonight.

With the Sox up 7-6 in the seventh, Mark Teixeira hit a big two run triple – which scored both Curtis Granderson and Alex Rodriguez – off Vicente Padilla to put the Yankees ahead for good. Teixeira finished with four RBI on the night.

Both teams combined for 18 runs and 28 hits. Amazingly, the Yankees didn’t hit any home runs and the Red Sox hit two – a three-run home run from Jarrod Saltalamacchia in the first and a solo shot from Cody Ross in the seventh. The Yankees are now 2-14 when not hitting a home run.

Rafael Soriano was called upon with two outs in the eighth to convert his first four-out save since August 29, 2007 when he was with the Atlanta Braves. He got Adrian Gonzalez to ground out for the final out of the eighth and had a 1-2-3 inning to end the game. It was his 21st save of the season.

From Elias: With tonight’s win by the Yankees, the all-time series at Fenway Park is tied 459-459-4.

I’m so glad we don’t have to see the Slop again until September. Yes, I call it the Slop because it’s a terrible baseball stadium.

David Phelps only lasted four and a third innings but he had eight strikeouts and held the Rays to one run. The bullpen (sans Boone Logan) shut down the Rays and struck them out eight more times. Logan actually picked up the win even though he gave up a two-run home run to Carlos Pena that gave the Rays a 3-1 lead. Luckily for Logan, his offense came back in the next half inning and scored three to take a lead they’d never relinquish.

The star of the game was Robinson Cano who finished 2-5 with two RBI. In his last 11 games Cano is 20-45 with five home runs and 15 RBI. He also has an eight-game RBI streak which is a career high.

So the Yankees have a much needed off day before their series with Boston at Fenway Park.

Frankly, we all need one…

Courtesy of ballparkbiz

What? You didn’t really think I was going to write about the crapfest down in Tampa, did you?

Tonight, I attended a game between the Rockland Boulders and the New Jersey Jackals at Provident Bank Park in Ramapo, NY.

The Boulders are the team John Flaherty partly owns and they play in the Can Am League. I’ve been to three games now and all three have been victories.

Going into the bottom of the eighth it looked like my mini-streak was in jeopardy with the Boulders down a run and with time running out. Well, wouldn’t you know it, in the bottom of the eighth Orlando Mercado hit a game-tying home run into the left field bleachers.

They had life!

The game went into extras but only lasted one additional frame. After Phillip Cuadrado tripled to open the bottom of the tenth, Matt Nandin hit the game-winning hit – a safety squeeze – that scored Cuadrado and the Boulders won 2-1.

Apparently this isn’t the first time Nandin has been the hero this season and it’s not the first time I’ve seen the Boulders walk-off. In fact, they walked-off the first game I attended, last season. Earlier this season, I saw them defeat the Worcester Tornadoes and Jose Canseco. So I’m now 3-0 at Provident Bank Park and I think the Boulders should reward me with either a job or free tickets.

Oh I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Angel Berroa plays the Jackals. Yes, that Angel Berroa.

Okay, fine. I’ll briefly talk about the “game” in “Tropicana Field.” I used quotes for both because the game wasn’t really game it was a shitshow and Tropicana Field isn’t a real ballpark.

From what I was seeing on Twitter, it was ugly. Oh and Sean Rodriguez needs to be taken care of Nancy Kerrigan style. What a pain in the ass.*

All I have to say is these guys better get their act tomorrow. They don’t need to be shipping up to Boston on a three-game losing streak.

*That was sarcasm, I don’t really think someone should bash him in the knee with a tire iron…or do I?

They split the series! Hooray!

I’ll admit when Hughes gave up those two runs in the first, I was a little uneasy. The last time I saw Hughes pitch on a steamy day – against the Braves over a week ago – he gave up four home runs.

I was pleasantly surprised when he recovered and pitched such a strong game. I was also pleasantly surprised that the Yankees recovered from a really terrible RISP fail in the first inning to score in the next two innings – on two-run home runs by both Eric Chavez and Robinson Cano.

Another thing that was pleasant? The breeze in the last row of the upper deck. At one point it was a little irritating when I was trying to eat food and I ended up chewing on my hair but aside from that, it was very welcome and was helpful on such a hot day.

The Yankees as a whole recovered nicely from two tough losses on Thursday and Friday to salvage the split in the series and quieted the lippy White Sox fan in Section 419, so thanks for that boys!

Strong performance by the starter?

Check.

Home runs galore?

Check.

Nick Swisher smiled a lot?

Check.

Three-game winning streak?

Check.

Behind a strong outing by Hiroki Kuroda, the Yankees extended their winning streak to a season-high five games with a 2-0 victory over the Oakland Athletics.

Kuroda pitched eight shutout innings, only giving up four hits and striking out three.

In the first inning, the Yankees had the bases loaded and couldn’t score a run off A’s starter Tim Milone who took the loss. Andruw Jones put the Yankees on the board first with a solo home run in the second inning and Mark Teixeira hit an RBI double in the seventh. Teixeira finished 2-4 on the day and had a strong series. He seems to be waking up offensively.

The Yankees completed the three game sweep of Oakland and now head down to Anaheim to face the Angels.