27 Outs Away From 27

The NY Yankees are 27 outs and Cliff Lee away from winning their 27th World Series. If the Yankees do win this title, the two plays that will forever be linked to this championship both involved Johnny Damon.

Game tied 4-4 in the top of the ninth, two outs and Brad Lidge on the mound. Johnny Damon had one of his biggest at bats of his career. (Funny how is other biggest AB was his grand slam in Game 7 for the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS.) Damon fought long and hard before finally driving a 3-2 pitch for a single. On the next pitch, Damon made one of the greatest plays of this World Series. Damon stole second base and then made the biggest heads up play in the history of the World Series. With no one covering third, Damon continued running and swiped third base.

This totally rattled Lidge, as he plunked Mark Teixeira to put runners on the corners for Alex Rodriquez.

A-Rod stepped up in the clutch on the biggest stage of the game. 2 weeks ago, that last sentence seem preposterous. A-Rod delivered with what he said was the biggest hit of his career. His go ahead RBI double put the Yankees on top on gave game's greatest closer the chance to put the Yankees up 3-1 in the series.

A-Rod only has 2 hits in the World Series, but his two hits maybe the two biggest hits of the series. His 2 run shot in Game 3 sparked the Yankees' bats as they ran away with Game 3. And last night's 2 out double was pure epic.

After A-Rod's homerun in Game 4, he was hit by a pitch twice. And then in his first at bat last night, Joe Blanton beamed A-Rod. That's dirty play by Charlie Manuel. If you're scared to pitch to A-Rod, intentionally walk him. You don't need to start anything but hitting him. And last night's play, the umpire warned both dugouts which basically meant that if C.C. Sabathia went a little too inside, he'd be thrown out. This is what the Phillies have resorted to.

The Phillies are a great team. They're defending champions. But the Yankees are the team coming up with the big plays in the clutch.

Joba Chamberlain came in the 8th inning and was looking like the Joba we all knew. He struck out the first 2 batters and got ahead of Pedro Feliz 1-2. But Feliz got a hold of a Joba fastball and sent it into the leftfield seats. Game tied 4-4. Joba went on to strike out the side, but it looked like his one mistake could have potentially lost the series.

Mariano Rivera has carried this team on his back. Last night was his 11th appearance in 13 of the Yankees' postseason games. In 14 1/3 innings, Rivera has 13 K's and a 0.63 ERA. Last night's 8 pitch save was his 39th career postseason save. He faced 3 batters last night, and not one ball left the infield. Mark Teixeira was responsible for all three put outs. In the last 2 games, Rivera has recorded 5 outs on 13 pitches. Can you say World Series MVP?

If the Yankees have the lead in the 7th inning tonight, does Girardi go to Rivera for a 9 out save?

The Yankees have a 3-1 series lead while Teixeira/A-Rod/Robinson Cano have a total of 5 hits! Hell, Andy Pettitte has as many hits in the series as Teixeira. But no matter how much Teixeira has struggled at the plate, his defense at first base has made up for his poor hitting.

What's been killing the Phillies? Ryan Howard is 3-17 in the series with 10 K's!

What A Relief

With the Yankees looking at Joba Chamberlain's future, New York got 6 solid innings from their bullpen. Joba threw only 35 pitches in 3 innings as the Yankees completed their sweep over the Chicago White Sox.

Alfredo Aceves pitched 3 innings allowing no runs and just 2 hits. Aceves qualified for the win and is now 9-1.

The bullpen came in threw 6 innings, giving up 5 hits and only 1 earned run.

With the Yankees clinging to a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the 7th, New York broke it open with 5 runs highlighted by Mark Teixeira's 3 run home run. It was Teixeira's 32nd of the year and his 4 RBI's gives him an American League best 101.

Joba has struggled in August. In 5 starts, he's 1-2 with an 8.22 ERA. In those 5 games, he has 18 K's to 15 BB's. His ERA for the season in 25 starts is 4.38.

Joba is probably the 4th best starter in the rotation. He's had his ups and downs. The big money is how he'll contribute in the postseason. Joba's only previous postseason experience is the "bug game" in Cleveland.

The White Sox have now dropped 7 of 8 and are quickly sinking out of post season contention. And off course Ozzie Guillen chimed in.

"Well, we came to New York and visited the new Yankee Stadium. It is a very nice ballpark, and the hotel we stayed at was also very nice," manager Ozzie Guillen said. "That's all I have to say about these last three days."

New York is now a MLB best 82-48, 31-11 since the All Star break, and 6 games up on Boston.

Something's Gotta Give

This is really gotten out of hand.

What has basically become a daily incident, MLB pitchers seem to be retaliating more than ever. Just this past week, we've seen Prince Fielder after the game try to barge into the Dodgers' clubhouse. Ozzie Guillen publicly announced that he would seek revenge after seeing 3 of his players hit by pitches last Saturday.

"If I see somebody hitting my players and I know it's on purpose, two guys are going down," Guillen said. "I don't care if I get suspended."

And now, last night the Tigers and Red Sox had a bench clearing brawl that saw Kevin Youkilis and Rick Porcello both ejected in the second inning. All this fueled from Monday night's game where Miguel Cabrera was hit hit in the top of the fourth inning and Youkilis immediately beamed in the bottom of the inning.

The teams didn't waste anytime drawing blood last night. Cabrera was hit in the top of the first inning. Porcello hit Youkilis in the back to lead off the bottom of the second. Benches cleared as Youkilis charged the mound throwing his helmet at Porcello before tackling the Detroit pitcher.

All that being said, it's only a matter of time before somebody is severely injured. Let's not forget that this is a baseball being thrown 90 mph.

Last night we saw Youkilis throw his helmet at the pitcher. How long until we see a batter use his weapon, a wooden bat! in retaliation.

Fielder tried to single handily bum rush the Dodgers' clubhouse. What next? A player lurking outside the stadium waiting for his target. Or even worse, a player tracking down the pitcher after the game at a restaurant/bar/club?

Let's not forget that pretty much all these teams are deeply involved in a pennant race. If your Detroit, why would you risk losing one of your top starting pitchers in only the second inning? The same for Boston. Why would Youkilis, one of the Red Sox best hitter, risk being ejected for nearly an entire game. Although it did work out in Boston's favor. Mike Lowell replaced Youkilis and homered twice.

The fines and suspensions are pretty weak. A pitcher is suspended 5 games. For a starter, that's one start. And a fine for a MLB player? Not really gonna hurt their bank account.

MLB has managers and pitchers who are notorious for head hunting. Joe Maddon of the Tampa Rays has made it clear that the Rays no longer want to be treated like the "little brother." Rays pitcher Matt Garza was fined a couple of weeks ago for hitting Mark Teixeira. And last year we saw James Shields plunk Coco Crisp to spark a Rays/Red Sox brawl.

Remember Dodgers' pitcher Guillermo Mota, who hit Fielder, running away from a storming Mike Piazza?

Just last week, the Texas Rangers released Vicente Padilla who was portrayed as a bad teammate with a poor attitude. Padilla is well known for head hunting. Earlier this season, Padilla hit Mark Teixeira twice in one game.

I guess it's safe to say that opposing pitchers don't like Teixeira.

MLB is going to have to address this problem that is continuing to snowball. They will have to impose stiffer penalties. Maybe they should begin by suspending players 15-20 games.

I get the fact that pitchers are trying to get batters to back off the plate. If you're going to try to brush back a batter, you don't need to throw at their face.

Most people say they should just let the players go after each other and finish it on the field. That would turn baseball to a violent sport with crowds showing up just to see a fight. We have the UFC for that.

I did some research on batters hit by pitch on baseball reference.com. Here a some things I found.

From 1916-1992, the average for a player hit by a pitch in a game never reached above .25%.

From 1995-2009, that average has never been below .30%. The highest was .39% in 2001!

From 1887-1911, pitchers were hitting a lot of batters. Why? I have no idea.

In the National League, from 1911-1994, with the exception of one Ron Hunt, no player was ever hit by a pitch more than 20 times in a season. From 1995-2008, 11 seasons there had been at least one player hit by a pitch at least 21 times in one year.

In the American League, from 1911-1993, with the exception of Don Baylor, only in 5 seasons had the league leader in HBP exceeded 20. From 1995-2008, 9 seasons there had been at least one player hit by a pitch at least 21 times in one year.

So what does all this tell us? One, that Ron Hunt and Don Baylor knew how to get hit by a pitch, just like Ernie "Coach" Pantusso from Cheers-"Just try to miss me!"

Two, pitchers hit a lot of batters before 1911.

Three, basically since 1994 we've seen more and more batters hit by pitches.

You can argue that in the early '90's batters began wearing more protective gear. The elbow pad, the knee bad, the shin pad-think Barry Bonds. He wore everything but a bullet proof vest. That's when more and more batters really began crowding the plate. Maybe MLB should start taking away some of that body armor and batters won't be so bold to crowd the plate.

How Sweep It Is!

So much for 8-0.

It's safe to say these two bitter rivals are going in opposite directions.

The NY Yankees completed a 4 game sweep of the Boston Red Sox with a 5-2 win at Yankee Stadium. It was the first time in 24 years the Yankees had swept Boston in a 4 game series. And what a series it was.

Boston went 31 consecutive innings without scoring a run! At the New Yankee Stadium! I mean, you would think by accident someone in the Boston lineup would hit a homerun. Imagine if Boston wouldn't have got those 2 meaningless runs in the 9th inninng on Thursday's game? You could tack on another 4 innings.

Sunday night's series finale was another epic pitcher's duel, this time featuring Jon Lester and Andy Pettitte.

The game was scoreless until A-Rod hit a solo homerun in the bottom of the 7th to put New York up 1-0. It was the second time in three nights that A-Rod hit a homerun to break a scoreless game. On the year, A-Rod has 5 homeruns in the seventh inning or later.

With the score 1-0, you'd think that would have been enough. But the Red Sox finally! got on the board in the top half of 8th. Newly acquired Victor Martinez hit a 2 run homer off Phil Coke put the Sox up 2-0 and perhaps give Boston a pulse.

Of course it was Phil Coke on the mound to break up Boston's scoreless streak. Why did Joe Girardi not go to Phil Hughes?

But when you're hot, you're hot. In the bottom of the eighth, young phenom sensation Daniel Bard easily retired the first two Yankees and looked like Boston would escape with a win. But then back to back curtain calls by Damon and Teixeira and the stadium was electric. The Yankees ended up scoring a total of 4 runs in the inning all coming after 2 outs and no one on.

And then it was Mariano Rivera in the ninth and the game was over. Rivera hasn't allowed a run in the last 21.1 innings. He's converted 100 of his last 104 save opportunities. Yeah, that's why he's "The Sandman." Good night.

The Yankees have won 7 in a row, the Red Sox have lost 6 in a row. The lead has quickly shot up to 6 1/2. And the Red Sox are tied for the Wild Card and have many roster questions.

For the series, NY outscored Boston 25-8.
Out hit Boston 41-25.
Boston batted .174 for the series!

And Boston's strength, their bullpen, allowed 14 runs in 15.1 innings-a 8.34 ERA.

The one bright spot for the Red Sox, the Yankees only scored 1 run off Beckett and Lester. So Boston can still be a lethal team to face in the playoffs.

I don't think I've ever seen a Yankees' team play so loose and have so much fun. You watch the dugout and see all the smiles and dancing. Robinson Cano has his high five jump. Nick Swisher seems to have a personal handshake for every player. And the pie in the face routine brought on by A.J Burnett is priceless. I don't recall every seeing a Yankees team acting like this with Joe Torre.

The Yankees are now 18-5 since the All Star Break. They're 31-10 in the last 41 games. And they have the best record in baseball at 69-42. Yeah, it was a great weekend.

Yankees Still Rolling, Set MLB Record

On a night where Joba Chamberlain had the best game of his career, the first place New York Yankees set a MLB record. That record? 18 straight games without an error. During that span, the Yankees are 14-4.

A big part of that record can be credited to Mark Teixeira. Not only does Teixeira bring consistency at the plate, by he also brings a gold glove to first base. The Yankees really haven't had a solid first baseman since Tino Martinez.

While exorcising the demons from the 2007 playoff "bug game" in Cleveland, Joba returned to the scene of the crime and Progressive Field was littered with birds and the infamous midges.

Chamberlain got to work right away retiring the first 11 Cleveland batters he faced. Joba also had the longest outing of his career pitching 8 innings. For the night, Joba gave up 2 runs, 4 hits, 5 K's and 2 walks. He also hit 97 mph as he approached 100 pitches.

But the biggest play of the game was Joba's defense. With runners on first and second and nobody out, Kelly Shoppach bunted a ball that popped up toward the third base line. Joba quickly jumped off the mound and made a full body dive to catch and ball and land on his stomach. Joba got back up and fired the ball to second for the double play. After the play, Joba did his signature fist pump. It was an amazing play!

Mariano Rivera came on and worked a perfect ninth for his 11th save and the Yankees have now won 15 of the last 19. The scary thing? This team is only getting better.

Derek Jeter extended his hitting streak to 15 games and has upped his average to .311. Guess he's washed up. Teixeira also extended his hit streak to 14 games.

Guess Who's Bizaack!

It's the team everyone loves to hate. If the NY Yankees are to stay in the Playoff race, this 4 game sweep of the Minnesota Twins could be the turning point. Yes, it's way too early in the season, but remember just a week ago, everyone considered the Yankees dead and a complete mess.

So now you really have to give Joe Girardi a lot of credit. With all the turmoil and injuries surrounding the team, Girardi has weathered the storm thus far with the Yankees. The Yankees have won 6 in a row and are 8-2 since A-Rod's return.

We all know the Yankees started the season without A-Rod, and since then, Jorge Posasda, Jose Molina, Xavier Nady, Hideki Matsui, Brian Bruney and Chien-Ming Wang have spent a considerable amount of time on the DL. Boy, did I forget anyone?

And yet, Girardi has managed the Yankees to a 21-17 record, 4.5 games out of first and just 1 game behind the second place (and struggling) Red Sox. Girardi has moved mountains with this team, the injuries, the A-Rod circus, the horrible pitching (starting and bullpen) and even the problems with the new Yankee Stadium.

And this last weekend series vs. the Twins turned into a pie eating contest. The Yankees won the first three games in dramatic walk off fashion before finishing the sweep last night with the help of Mark Teixeira's two homeruns.

Minnesota has now just won 3 of their last 26 games in the Bronx.And how about Teixeira? Since A-Rod's return, he's batting .342 with 5 homeruns and 13 RBI's. The Teixeira/A-Rod 1-2 punch could be lethal.

Nick Swisher has really cooled off since his hot start. Swisher batted .312 in April, literally keeping the team afloat. So far in May, Swisher is batting .109, 5-46.

And with both catchers on the DL, Francisco Cervelli has filled in great. Through 9 games Cervelli 9-24 at the plate, batting .375. As the Yankees' are finally getting their money's worth and expectations from their starting rotation, give Cervelli credit for calling these games.

One other note, after 17 games at the new stadium, there have been 63 homeruns-32 by the Yankees and 31 by opponents, almost 4 homeruns a game.