CC Goes 8 As Yanks Beat Rangers

CC Sabathia’s starts this year have been slow out of the gates, to say the least. In his three starts prior to last night’s game he got hit hard initially, and seemed to really only settle in around the third inning or so. Last night it looked as though CC would again struggle early, but he shut down the Rangers’ offensive threat in the first inning and allowed only one run to cross the plate. The remaining three runs CC allowed came much later in the game in the form of a home run from Josh Hamilton (not much you can do about that short of not pitching to the guy), and an RBI double that took an unlucky hop off the first base bag and skidded down the right field line (such is baseball). At the end of the night, I was supremely happy – CC went 8 strong innings, Mo came in to close it out, and all was right with the world.

The Yankees got on the board early after loading the bases with one out in the first inning. Mark Teixeira came to the plate and struck out, conjuring up the thought that this may be a long night of RISP-failing. But Curtis Granderson came through with a 2-out 2-RBI single to give the Yankees a lead. To quote Suzyn Waldman, “I know this is cliche, but 2-out RBI win ball games.”

Derek Jeter continues to be red-hot at the plate, turning in a 4-5 night before finally being retired on strikes in his last at bat of the night. Alex Rodriguez hit a long homer to deep left-center field, driving in three and looking a lot like his old self at the plate. Even backup catcher Chris Stewart joined the hit parade, knocking a double and scoring two runs on the night.