CC dominant, Yanks break out brooms

Behind yet another phenomenal performance from CC, the Yanks beat the A’s 5-0 to sweep the four-game set and notch their sixth straight victory. It was the Yanks’ first four-game sweep of Oakland at home since 1985.

The Good:

On the ninth anniversary of Mike Mussina’s near perfect game against Boston, CC (19-5) went eight innings and gave up just one hit with five strikeouts to three walks. The A’s failed to hit a ball out of the infield from the second inning until Coco Crisp’s fly ball to right in the eighth inning. CC did it all on just 95 pitches, with 58 going for strikes.

With the win, CC tied Whitey Ford’s record for consecutive home starts without a loss (21) and is 16-0 over that span. Over his previous 20 home starts coming in (since ’09 All-Star Break), CC was 15-0 with a 2.17 ERA. Wow.

Grandy, who went 2-for-3 with two homers and three RBI on Thursday, has 31 hits vs. lefties this season (after missing a month), he had 33 against LHP all of last season. He is now 10-for-24 against LHP since working with Kevin Long. It was his six career multi-homer game and second this season.

A-Rod tested out his injured calf by fielding ground balls and taking batting practice, and Pettitte is on schedule to make his simulated start on Saturday.

As I predicted the other day, Javy will start over Moseley on Saturday.

Dallas Braden left the game in the sixth inning with cramps…I’ll leave it up to you to insert the proper joke.

The Bad:

Jeter, who went 1-for-4 on Thursday, is now 12 for his last 75 (.160). He came into Thursday hitting .238 since August 1 and .155 since August 14. Yikes. But Girardi still thinks he’s a good candidate for the leadoff spot.

Swish Dog left the game after his first at-bat with a stiff left knee and is listed as day-to-day.

Marcus Thames has cooled off considerably, he is 1 for his last 10 with five strikeouts.

At Wednesday’s game, in which I moved to 6-0 this season, I dropped a ball that Swish Dog threw to me after he caught the final out of the first inning. What I’m trying to say is that I suck at life. Although I did sit right in front of head Bleacher Creature Bald Vinny, so I got that going for me.

In other news, A-Rod has left agent Scott Boras and has been spending time with Hollywood agent Guy Oseary. That’s according to SI.com.

Girardi on CC:

"The big thing about CC is CC doesn’t beat himself, he doesn’t walk people and he doesn’t give extra base runners."

Swish Dog on his injury:

"It feels fine, I fouled it off the same spot (I hurt the other day). I got a lot of treatment, got a lot of ice, I’ll come back tomorrow and see how it feels."