The Yankees played this one according to the script. Mark Teixeira tied the game at 3 with a long, 2-run home run off Mike Pelfrey. Later on in the game Curtis Granderson gave the Bombers all the lead they would need with another 2-run bomb off Pelfrey, who had only given up four home runs all season prior to this game. That gave the Yankees a 2-run cushion, which was plenty for a combination of Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera, as the Yankees won 5-3 and snapped an ugly 3 game skid.It didn't look this way when the day began. Hughes gave up a Yankee Stadium special to Jose Reyes on the 2nd pitch of the game. Fortunately for the Uptown New York team Pelfrey didn't have it. He gave up back-to-back singles to Brett Gardner and Nick Swisher to start the bottom of the 1st. Tex hit into a double play, but that was all Gardner would need to tie the score.
Hughes gave up a 2nd homer to Reyes later on, but ultimately settled down, especially once Teixeira hit his home run. Phil's final line was a respectable 7 IP, 3 ER, and 4 K's on only 99 pitches. Pelfrey, on the other hand, struggled his entire outing. He gave the Mets 7 innings, but gave up 7 hits, including 2 homers, and walked 3. All 5 runs were his.
Although the Yankees didn't explode for offense in this one, the final output looked good. Most of the starters recorded hits. Five runs is more than the team had scored in its previous 3 games combined. Joba looked sharp after his shaky outing against the Phillies. The team never looked back once it took the lead.
CC Sabathia faces Johan Santana in a matinee rubber-game tomorrow. For the third time in less than a week the team gets what should be a pitcher's duel on paper. None of the big pitching matchups has played to the storyline so far. Tomorrow's game should be an interesting one.
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