The Magic Carpet

By Matthew Storey

Yankees opened the 2nd Half of the 2009 Season at home against the AL Central Division Leading Detroit Tigers at the new Yankee Stadium, and the two teams put on a clinic with three well-pitched, nail-biting ballgames. Coming into the break, the Yankees had squandered some of the momentum of a 13-2 stretch that brought them into a first place tie with a sweep at the hands of the LA Angels in Anaheim and renewed questions about the back end of their rotation, which lost Chien-MIng Wang just as he found himself again and has seen an ineffective Andy Pettitte struggle with good lineups. With the rest of four full days off for the bulk of the squad (SS Derek Jeter, 1B Mark Teixeira and Closer Mariano Rivera were All-Stars), New York was hoping to get off to a strong 2nd Half start.

Game 89

NY Yankees 5
Detroit Tigers 3

Winning Pitcher: Phil Hughes (4-2)
Losing Pitcher: Joel Zumaya (3-3)

HR: Granderson (19)
Teixeira (22)

AJ Burnett was the Yankees most reliable starter in the six weeks leading up to the All-Star break, with a 5-1 record and 1.74 ERA, but he struggled mightily with his control in his start against the Tigers, walking 5 against only 1 Strikeout. Still he managed to limit the damage to 3 runs over 6 innings, getting critical help from Melky Cabrera in CF who threw out Miguel Cabrera from the RF wall trying for a 2B and completing a DP on a sinking liner to RCF that looked like the start of a rally, only to end a threat. Burnett, for all his travails, did what Starters need to do to give the Yankees a chance to win. Trailing 3-2 after 6, Yankees brought in Phil Hughes, who closed the 1st half on a roll, with 16 scoreless innings, and he kept that up with a dominating two innings of 97 MPH gasoline, surrendering three hits on curveballs but retiring six of six outs on Strikeouts.

For Detroit, Rookie LH starter, Lucas French, befuddled the Yankee bats with an assortment of 88 MPH 'fast'balls, curves, changeups and stayed in the strike zone to give the Tigers a major boost and hand over a 3-2 lead to his bullpen in the 6th Inning, which Reliever Fu-Te Ni of Taiwan held through an adventurous 2 hit 6th Inning. The Tiger bullpen unravelled in the 7th, however, when fireballing Joel Zumaya came in and the Yankee bats, who'd been chasing the junk of French and Ni all evening, got a chance to see some heat and took advantage with a Derek Jeter single, a Johnny Damon double and a Monstrous 3-Run BOMB into the 2nd Deck in RF from Mark Teixeira to move a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 lead, a lead that held up when Hughes finished off the 8th and All-Star closer, Mariano came in and closed it out for his 24th Save. 5-3 Yankees win.

Game 90

NY Yankees 2
Detroit Tigers 1

Winning Pitcher: CC Sabathia (9-6)
Losing Pitcher: Justin Verlander (10-5)

HR: Rodriguez (18)
Thames (10)

This was a gem of a Baseball Game. The sort of pitcher's duel that lives up to the billing and makes for a thrilling watch. Yankee Starter CC Sabathia faced off against All-Star Jason Verlander and fought through his own early wildness to give the Yankees 7 shutout innings. For his part, Verlander worked through his own 6 shutout innings, before leaving a fastball over the middle of the plate to leadoff hitter, Alex Rodriguez, which he deposited into the first row of seats behind the RF Wall for a 1-0 Yankee lead. Verlander, who came into the game stating that he was unconcerned about the short RF porch in the new stadium, flashed a broad grin when the ball went out and proceeded to get a bit rattled as he allowed a couple of baserunners and a Nifty deke by Nick Swisher on a soft ground ball to SS Adam Everett allowed Melky Cabrera to reach 1B with the insurance RBI as Robinson Cano came home for a 2-0 lead. Alfredo Aceves came in for the 8th Inning and sandwiched Strikeouts of Miguel Cabrera and Magglio Ordonez around a HR to DH (and former Yankee) Marcus Thames, which also landed in the 1st row of seats, this time in LF for a 2-1 game. Mariano Rivera came on for his second consecutive save (25).

Game 91

New York Yankees 2
Detroit Tigers 1

Winning Pitcher: Joba Chamberlain (5-2)
Losing Pitcher: Edwin Jackson (7-5)

HR: Rodriguez (19)
Teixeira (23)

Another gem. All-Star Detroit starter Edwin Jackson, stolen from the Tampa Bay Rays in the head-scratching offseason trade, continued to throw peas at AL hitters and completely shut down the Yankees, except for a low inside pitch that Alex Rodriguez golfed about 440 feet into the Tigers bullpen in CF in the 4th Inning and a 3-1 pitch to Mark Teixeira, that followed a questionable strike on 3-0, that Teixeira sent screeching into the 2nd Deck in RF for the 2-1 lead.

For his part, Yankee starter, Joba Chamberlain had seemed fatigued in his recent outings, his energetic demeanor and upper '90s fastball seemingly gone prematurely in only his 3rd MLB season (he's 23). But he opened up his 2nd half stomping around the hill and dominating Tiger hitters, getting stronger throughout the game. He made one mistake, a hanging 4th Inning curve to Detroit Rookie Clete Thomas (a nice looking LH power hitter with a big RF arm) that he hit in the seats and overcoming a soft line drive single in the 5th that Nick Swisher butchered into a leadoff 3B by Curtis Granderson. Joba got out of the jam, ending it with a 95 mph fastball to Marcus Thames and a patented fist pump and primal scream, as previously parodied by Oriole Aubrey Huff. Apparently, Joba is learning the most important lesson ANY of us can ever learn - if you let the opinions of idiots like Huff stop you from expressing yourself - you are destined for nothing.

Phil Coke relieved Joba after 6 2/3 and got a 1 pitch out, and Phil Hughes was back for the 8th Inning, extending his scoreless innings streak to 19 with 2 more strikeouts, giving him 8 K's in the 9 outs he got from Detroit this weekend. Mariano provided the replay with his 3rd successive Close (26) on OldTimers Day in The Bronx to send the generations of Yankee legends, 50,000 fans in the yard and Millions at home into Sunday night feeling mighty fine about the 2nd Half that begins with a sweep of the Tigers and a pair of BlueJay wins over the Boston Red Sox, moving the Yankees within 1 game of the lead. The only downer being the collapse of the Kansas City Royals bullpen to blow three successive leads against wildcard pursuer, Tampa Bay, meaning the Yankee sweep did not result in a single game of gain over the Rays.

Next Up:

Yankees host the Baltimore Orioles for three game set in The Bronx and then the Oakland A's come in for 3 on the weekend.