One of the keys to the Yankees’ success this season has been a continually strengthening bullpen.  But Saturday afternoon, one of its’ mainstays, Al Aceves, couldn’t bail out starter Andy Pettitte and the Yankees 8-game winning streak came to a screeching halt.  Gio Gonzalez and the Oakland Athletics topped the Yankees 6-4.

Pettitte entered the 7th inning protecting a 1-0 lead, but quickly ran into trouble.  Scott Hairston led off the inning with a double and Nomar Garciapparra walked.  Jack Cust flied out, but after Pettitte convinced Joe Girardi he felt fine, Rajai Davis singled to right to the tie up the game.  When Bobby Crosby bunted his way on to load the bases, Girardi sent for Aceves.

But after getting Mark Ellis to pop up for the second out,  Aceves gave up consecutive hits to Landon Powell, Adam Kennedy, and Orlando Cabrera to put the Yankees in a 6-1 hole.  The Yankees rallied against A’s reliever Michael Wuertz in the 8th, on a 2-run home run by Derek Jeter and a solo shot by Mark Teixeira.  But after getting the lead off man aboard in the 9th, A’s closer Andrew Bailey got Jorge Posada to bounce into a double play and Jeter flied out to end the ball game.

Gonzalez no-hit the Yankees until two outs in the 5th when Melky Cabrera laid down a perfect bunt for a single.  Jeter drew a one out walk on the 6th and scored on Brett Gardner’s triple for the game’s first run.

Pettitte made back to back outstanding defensive plays in the 5th inning.  Cust hit a tapper towards the 1st base line that Pettitte fielded, adjusted on, and threw to 1st base for the out.  Davis, trying to take advantage of a possibly winded Pettitte laid down a bunt along the 1st base line.  Pettitte slid on his knees, grabbed the baseball, and made a back handed throw to 1st for the out.

Game Notes

Mark Teixeira became the 7th player to hit at least 25 home runs in his first 7 seasons in the majors.

Brett Gardner broke his left thumb breaking up a double play at second base.  He’s been placed on the 15-day DL.

The series concludes this afternoon (1:05 p.m. ET).  Sergio Mitre makes his 2nd Yankees start against Dallas Braden.

WP – Aceves (6-1)  LP – Johnson (3-4)

After all the fuss about high scoring games in the new Yankee Stadium, the Yankees have done it with pitching and defense in putting together their current 4-game winning streak, with the last three wins coming by 2-1 margins.  Hideki Matsui was the hitting hero tonight, giving the Yankees their 9th walk-off win of the season and current 2-1 win over Baltimore with a 1-out blast to right in the bottom of the 9th.  Al Aceves picked up his 6th win of the season after retiring the final two batters in the top of the 9th with the go-ahead run on 2nd base.  The win also moved the Yankees into a tie for 1st place in the AL East.

Andy Pettitte had his best start since beating Seattle on June 1.  The left-hander allowed one run in 7 1/3 innings and got help from the Yankees defense after he departed with runners on 2nd and 3rd and 2 outs in the 8th.  Nick Markakis hit a bullet that Mark Teixeira gloved and then fired to home off of the wrong foot.  Jose Molina made the grab on the 1st base side of home plate and brought the glove across to tag out Cesar Izturis, the ball hanging precariously in the webbing of his catcher’s mitt.

Things got even hairier on the next play when Phil Coke threw a 58-footer that bounced off of Molina towards the Yankees dugout.  The Yankees catcher hustled to track it down and fired to Coke to cut down the speedy Brian Roberts attempting to score from 3rd base.

The Yankees offense had opportunities early against Orioles rookie starter David Hernandez, but couldn’t capitalize. They left the bases loaded in the 1st inning when Robinson Cano flied out to left and then Hernandez settled down.  The Yankees would manage just one hit between the 2nd through 8th innings.  The Orioles run came on a 1st inning home run by Nick Markakis, but Eric Hinske matched it in the 2nd, with his 4th home run in 13 games as a Yankee.

Matsui broke his bat against hard throwing Orioles reliever Jim Johnson in the 9th, but three pitches later turned on a fastball and sent it well back in the right field stands.  It was the 2nd walk-off home run of Matsui’s career and his 15th home run of the season.  Godzilla tossed his helmet airborne as he was greeted by his jubilant teammates and was later pied in the face by A.J. Burnett.   Let the good times roll!

Game Notes

Andy Pettitte had a season high 8 strikeouts and recorded an out in the 8th inning for the first time since April 15.

Hideki Matsui continues to love July.  It’s the month in which he has posted his highest career batting average and best home run total.  In the current July, he’s now 14-40 (.350) with 5 home runs.  He entered the game with an 1.198 OPS in the previous 13 games.

The series continues tomorrow with Sergio Mitre making his Yankees debut.  The right-hander has not appeared in a major league game since September 15, 2006.  Left-hander Rich Hill goes for the Orioles.

WP – Albaladejo (4-1)  SV – Rivera (23)  LP – Liriano (4-9)

The Yankees didn’t get what they had hoped for out of spot starter Al Aceves, but the bullpen stepped up and the Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins 6-4 to complete a 3-game sweep in their final regular season trip to the Metrodome.  The Yankees also completed the season sweep, having beaten the Twins in all seven meetings.

While Aceves struggled in his first start of the year, his Twins’ counterpart, Francisco Liriano, had harder a time of it.  The Yankees jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the 2nd inning with just one base hit.  They loaded the bases on a walk to Alex Rodriguez, a hit batsman in Jorge Posada, and a Matt Tolbert error that allowed Robinson Cano to reach safely.  Liriano walked Cody Ransom to force in the first run and a second run followed when Brett Gardner followed with a force out.  Derek Jeter got the inning’s first base hit to score Cano for a 3-0 lead.

The Twins quickly came back against Aceves in their half of the inning on a Jason Kubel home run and a throwing error by Ransom, who got the start at third base so A-Rod could DH.  The miscue allowed Michael Cuddyer, who got into scoring position with a walk and an errant pick off throw by Aceves, to score to cut the margin to 3-2.

The Yankees gave Aceves more breathing room in the 4th.  Posada led off the inning with a single and moved to third on Cano’s double.  Liriano retired Melky Cabrera on a shallow fly ball, but Ransom made up for his error with an RBI single.  A Gardner RBI single made it a 5-2 game before  Jeter bounced into an inning ending DP.

Aceves wouldn’t be around for the win though after the Twins loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning on consecutive hits by Cuddyer and Brian Buscher, and Mike Redmond was hit by an Aceves pitch.  Dave Robertson struck out Nick Punto for the 2nd out of the inning, but issued consecutive RBI walks to Denard Span and Tolbert to cut the Yankees lead to 5-4.  Amazingly, Joe Girardi stuck with Robertson to face Joe Mauer, but the move paid off.  Mauer hit a routine grounder to Cano to end the inning.

Mark Teixeira snapped a 95 at-bat homerless streak with his 21st long ball of the season off of Liriano in the 5th and the Yankees’ pen slammed the door on the Twins.  Jonathan Albaladejo, who picked up his 4th win, Phil Coke, Phil Hughes, and Mariano Rivera combined on 4.2 scoreless innings.  Rivera, who earned his 23rd save, retired Mauer to end the game just as he had less than 24 hours earlier.

Game Notes

The Yankees have won 13 of 15 and 8 straight on the road.  They venture to Anaheim where they have had more than their share of misadventures in the past.    Joba Chamberlain faces Joe Saunders in the series opener Friday night (10 p.m. ET).

Brett Gardner was 5-12 (.417) in the series with 4 RBI and 3 runs scored.

Jonathan Albaladejo has thrown 4 scoreless innings over 3 appearances since his recall to the majors on July 5.

WP – Batista (5-2)  LP – Sabathia (7-5)

The Seattle Mariners couldn’t come up with clutch hits in the first two games of their first series at the new Yankee Stadium, but last night they smacked CC Sabathia around en route to an 8-4 win over the Yankees.  The loss snapped the Bombers’ 7 game winning streak and dropped them 3 games behind idle Boston in the AL East.

Although he allowed a lead off, frozen rope double to Ichiro Suzuki to start the ball game, Sabathia looked dominant in the 1st inning.  But a mid-90s fastball, up in the zone with no movement can get you in trouble fast and that’s what happened to the Yankee ace.  Franklin Gutierrez belted a solo home run off Sabathia in the 2nd inning for a 2-0 M’s lead.  Back-to-back singles by Kenji Johjima and Ryan Langerhans followed and Chris Woodward came through with a run-scoring sacrifice fly for a 3-0 lead after two.

The Yankees kept rallying against Mariners starter Jason Vargas, but couldn’t completely erase the deficit, thanks to Sabathia’s ineffectiveness.  With his team back in the game at 3-2, Sabathia gave up four hits in the 4th inning, including RBI-producing base knocks by Woodward and Ichiro.  Melky Cabrera nearly made a long running catch of Ichiro’s fly ball, but it ticked off the top of his glove for a 2-run double that pushed the Mariners’ advantage to 6-2.

Ichiro’s countryman, Hideki Matsui, answered with a 2-run home run in the bottom of the 4th, but the Yankees couldn’t solve the Mariners’ bullpen.  Miguel Batista, Mark Lowe, and David Aardsma scattered three hits over the final five innings, and a potential Yankees’ rally fell short in the 9th.

Russell Branyan, who had struck out 7 times, combined in Wednesday and Thursday’s games, extended the M’s lead with a titanic 2-run blast off the facing of the restaurant in dead center field in the top of the 9th.  In a non-save situation, Aardsma gave up back-to-back singles to Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher to start the Yankees’ last licks, but retired Matsui and Cabrera on fly balls, and struck out pinch-hitter Jorge Posada to preserve the lead.

Game Notes

Not counting his start in Florida when he left the game early due to bicep tightness, last night marked the first game since April 16 that Sabathia didn’t pitch into the 7th inning.

Jose Molina’s rehab stint will conclude with four games with the Scranton Yankees.  He’s expected to be activated for Tuesday night’s game in Minnesota.

Mark Teixeira’s throwing error in the 9th inning was his first miscue in 107 games.

The Yankees begin a 4-game holiday series with the Toronto Blue Jays this afternoon (1:05 p.m. ET).  A.J. Burnett makes his 2nd start against his old teammates and will face lefty Brian Tallet.

WP – Aceves (5-1)  SV – Rivera (17)  LP – Lowe (7-6)

The Yankees and Atlanta Braves were in a tight 8-6 game last night when Braves manager Bobby Cox decided to intentionally walk Mark Teixeira and face Alex Rodriguez with the bases loaded.  It’s a move opposing managers might want to think twice about going forward.  A-Rod, who had been slumping prior to Wednesday night’s game, powered a pitch into right field for a 2-run single that gave the Yankees some breathing room.  The Bombers went on to an 11-7 win, led by the bat of Rodriguez, who drove in 4 runs.

It appeared the game would be a laugher after the Yankees knocked Braves starter Derek Lowe from the game in the 4th inning.  But Andy Pettitte struggled all night, and despite being armed with an 8-1 lead, was forced from the game as the Braves rallied for 5 runs in the bottom half of the 4th. What was expected to be a pitcher’s duel between two solid veterans was anything but.  Yuniel Escobar drove in 3 runs for Atlanta and Brett Gardner helped the Braves by misplaying a pair of pop ups to shallow center field.

Luckily for the Yankees, their bats woke up in the middle of Wednesday’s game and continued last night.  In addition to A-Rod, Johnny Damon drove in 4 runs, and Derek Jeter enjoyed a 4-hit, 4-runs scored night.  A-Rod’s big game included his 10th home run of the year, a blast that moved him into 11th place all-time with Reggie Jackson with 563 career home runs.  After a giant June swoon, the Yankees third baseman has gone 4-8 in the last 2 games with 6 RBI.

Al Aceves picked up his 5th win after he replaced Pettitte and pitched 2 scoreless innings.  Mariano Rivera came on in the 9th when the Braves cut the lead to 11-7 and put two men aboard.  Rivera retired Diory Hernandez on a fly out to Gardner for career save number 499.

Game Notes

Xavier Nady’s days in Pinstripes may be over.  The right fielder was on injury rehab in Scranton yesterday when he reinjured his right elbow.  Tommy John surgery may now be inevitable.

Melky Cabrera sat out last night’s game with an upset stomach.

Round 2 of the Subway Series begins tonight at Citi Field.  CC Sabathia goes for the Yankees, while the Mets send Mike Pelfrey to the hill.

WP – Saito (1-0)  SV – Papelbon (16)  LP – Sabathia (5-4)

When Nick Green singled off CC Sabathia to start the 8th inning last night, an ominous sense came over me.  The feeling got stronger when Sabathia couldn’t put away Dustin Pedroia, after being ahead of him 1-2, and ended up walking him in a 10-pitch at-bat.  The feeling became overwhelming when Joe Girardi left an obviously cooked Sabathia in the game.  The end result was a 4-3 Red Sox win and a 2-game Sox lead in the AL East.  It also gave Boston victories in all eight games the two teams have played this season.

The Yankees had rallied from a one run deficit to take a 3-1 lead in the 7th.  Francisco Cervelli doubled down the left field line to score Melky Cabrera from first base with the tying run.  Four batters later Alex Rodriguez ripped a 2-run double to the gap in left-center off Manny DelCarmen to give the Bombers their only lead of the night.

But things fell apart for Sabathia in the 8th.  He had pitched an outstanding game, having just allowed a solo home run to David Ortiz (Yes, Papi did take a curtain call) in the 2nd inning.  But as YES announcer John Flaherty prematurely praised Sabathia’s game, things went to pieces for the big left-hander.  After Green and Pedroia walked, Sabathia hung an 0-1 breaking pitch to J.D. Drew.  The right fielder laced it into center field for a run scoring single to cut the Sox deficit to one.  Girardi finally pulled his starter after 123 pitches and sent for the normally reliable Al Aceves.  He was anything but reliable last night.

Kevin Youkilis greeted Aceves will a soft single to right to load the bases with no one out and Jason Bay followed with a line drive to left that short hopped Johnny Damon for a game tying single.   The Yankees lack of arms in the outfield hurt them on the very next play when Mike Lowell lofted a fly ball to medium left-center field.  Take your pick, center fielder Brett Gardner or the even weaker armed Damon.  Gardner made the catch and made a  throw that was nowhere near home plate nor had any zip on it.

Just like that, Boston had the lead back.  Jonathan Papelbon retired the side in order in the 9th, with Mark Teixeira making the only noise- a line out to Youkilis to end the game.

Game Notes

Red Sox’ starter Brad Penny hit Alex Rodriguez in the lower back with a pitch in the 1st inning.  After all four umpires conferred, both sides were given a warning.  If the umpires felt Penny had purposely thrown at A-Rod he should have been tossed from the game.  Otherwise, no warning should have been issued until the Yankees had the chance for some payback.

Nick Swisher deserves to be benched for tonight’s opener with the Mets.  One night after being doubled off first base on a soft liner hit right in front of him, Swisher was doubled off second base on a fly ball to the wall in left.  Both plays killed potential rallies.

Chien-Ming Wang will get one more start and Girardi will take things from there.  The Wanger is set to face the Florida Marlins on Wednesday.

The current Red Sox joined the 1912 Red Sox and 1990 A’s as the only teams to win their first eight games in a season against the Yankees.

The first part of the Subway Series starts tonight at Yankee Stadium.  The Mets are coming off a series loss to their division rivals, the Philadelphia Phillies.

WP – Aceves (4-1)  SV – Rivera (13)   LP – Balfour (2-1)

All the buzz before yesterday’s game between the Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays centered on Saturday’s controversial intentional walk to Rays’ slugger Evan Longoria.  It was part of Mariano Rivera’s failure in a tie game that later had him angry, though he claimed otherwise, at his manager.  So it wasn’t only fitting that with Rivera in to protect a one run lead in the 9th, the game came down to Longoria for the final out.  Rivera retired him on a ground out to Robinson Cano to preserve the Yankees 4-3 victory and got Joe Girardi to admit, albeit jokingly, that “…maybe Mo was right”.  YES sideline/clubhouse reporter Kim Jones also prodded Rivera with her first post-game question, asking if the Yankees closer felt some vindication for the Longoria situation.  Rivera downplayed the situation and was much happier to redeem himself for losing Saturday’s game.

The Yankees pulled out another come from behind victory on Sunday, scoring three times in the 8th inning to overcome a 3-1 lead.  They did it with some major help from the Rays themselves.  Johnny Damon and Mark Teixeira reached on one out singles (Teixeira seems to be in the middle of every rally these days) and Grant Balfour walked Alex Rodriguez to load the bases.  J.P. Howell walked Cano to force in a run and Willy Aybar butchered Jorge Posada’s potential double play grounder to tie the game.

The Yankees got another break when Hideki Matsui’s chopper up the middle was hit slowly enough to allow him to beat the relay throw to first as the Rays tried to turn two.  Though Girardi praised Posada for breaking up the double play by running through second baseman Ben Zobrist, Posada actually would have been smarter to stop running and force Zobrist to either chase him or just throw to first to get Matsui.

Melky Cabrera had a chance to bust the game open after Nick Swisher walked to put two aboard, but struck out swinging.   Soon, “Enter Sandman” blared over the PA system as Rivera jogged in from the bullpen.  He made quick work of the Rays, getting Matt Joyce on a ground out to Teixeira and then struck out Gabe Gross with a nasty cutter before setting up the final showdown with Longoria.

Joba Chamberlain threw a fairly effective six innings before turning things over to Al Aceves, who improved to 4-1 with the win.  He gave up an RBI double in the 3rd inning to Joyce, but took a 1-1 game into the 6th, where he ran into trouble.  Though his fastball increased in MPH, Chamberlain lost his command of it.  He struck out Carl Crawford to start the inning, but then gave up singles to Aybar and Carlos Pena and issued a 2-out walk to Joyce.  With the bases loaded, Chamberlain hung one to Gross, who ripped it to center for a 2-run single and a 3-1 Rays lead.

The Yankees only managed one run, a solo home run by Swisher, against Rays’ starter Matt Garza despite having at least one man on base in every inning but the first.   Aceves continued his excellent relief work.  He tossed two scoreless innings and struck out the last four men he faced, including the side in the 8th.

Game Notes

The rubber game of the match is this evening at 7:05 p.m. ET.  Andy Pettitte faces Andy Sonnanstine.  One would think Phil Hughes would be at the ready in case Pettitte’s back acts up.  If not, why is Hughes still up with the ball club?

How about this obscure stat from the Elias Sports Bureau – “Mariano Rivera induced a ground out from pinch-hitter Evan Longoria to cap a one-two-three ninth inning and notch his 13th save of the season. It was only the second save of Rivera’s career in which he recorded the final out by retiring the major-leagues’ outright RBI leader. He did it previously on July 16, 2005 at Fenway Park when David Ortiz popped out to end the game.”

WP – Pettitte (5-1)  SV – Rivera (10)  LP – Lee (2-6)

It’s a statistic that is hard to imagine for a team that has had its’ share of success since the mid-90′s.  With the Yankees‘ 3-1 win over the Cleveland Indians last night, the Bombers moved into sole possession of first place in the AL East for the first time since the final game of the 2006 season.  They won for the 13th time in 16 games despite a shaky outing from Andy Pettitte, who walked five batters in 5+ innings and had to leave the game in the 6th with a sore back.

The offense wasted a bases-loaded opportunity in the 1st inning, but scored a pair of runs off reigning AL Cy Young winner Cliff Lee in the 2nd and never trailed.  A one-out walk to Nick Swisher and a single by Brett Gardner put runners on the corners for the red hot Derek Jeter (11-24 over the last four games, and a 2-game hitting streak).  The Captain came through with an RBI single to left field for a 1-0 lead.  Johnny Damon’s single loaded the bases and set up Mark Teixeira’s RBI ground out.

The Yankees added their final run in the 3rd on singles by Robinson Cano and Jorge Posada, and a sac fly by Swisher.  Then it was up to Pettitte and the bullpen to make the lead stand up.  The Yankees’ left-hander escaped a 2-on no-out situation in the 2nd with three ground ball outs.  In the 3rd, he walked Victor Martinez and Jhonny Peralta to load the bases with two outs, but retired Mark DeRosa on a ground out to Cano.

Pettitte doubled over in the 4th after delivering a pitch, prompting a visit from manager Joe Girardi and assistant trainer Steve Donahue.  Pettitte insisted he was all right, but when he walked DeRosa and Ben Francisco to start the 6th, and fell behind Jamey Carroll, 2-0, Girardi decided enough was enough.  Pettitte, who strained his back in Texas, didn’t want to come out, but later admitted it was the right decision.

Al Aceves, the Yankees’ new version of Ramiro Mendoza, came on and completed the walk to Carroll to loaded the bases with no one out, but escaped with just one run scoring on a Shin-Soo Choo sacrifice fly.  Aceves followed with two scoreless innings before Mariano Rivera came in to pitch for the first time since last Sunday.  Choo led off the 9th with a flare single, but the Yankees’ closer struck out Asdrubel Cabrera and Grady Sizemore, and retired the dangerous Martinez on a ground out to Teixeira for his 492nd career save.

Game Notes

Mariano Rivera’s 10th save of the season was his 58th career save of an Andy Pettitte win.  That breaks the major league record shared by Dennis Eckersley and Bob Welch.

To activate Jorge Posada, the Yankees sent fellow catcher Kevin Cash down to Scranton.  The Indians recalled reliever Rafael Perez before the game and designated former Yankee David Dellucci for assignment.

Xavier Nady (elbow) and Jose Molina (quad) both played in an extended spring training game on Friday.  Nady, who DH’ed, is expected to resume throwing on Monday.

WP – Jennings (2-1)  LP – Aceves (3-1)

The Texas Rangers may want to send a “thank You” note to the Baltimore Orioles‘ Adam Jones.  It was Jones’ line drive that knocked Joba Chamberlain out of his last start after facing only four batters. The rust was apparent last night as Chamberlain threw an ineffective four innings and the Yankees lost to the Texas Rangers 7-3.

Though the Yankees rallied from the 3-0 deficit Chamberlain put them in, Joe Girardi had to go to the bullpen early.  Al Aceves had his worst outing of the season; he allowed three runs in two innings and was handed his first loss of the year.  But the story of last night’s game was Chamberlain’s inability to throw strikes and the Yankees failure to take advantage of the situations handed to them later in the game.

After waiting out  a 2-hour, 24 minute rain delay, Ian Kinsler led off the ball game with a drive to center that hurt the Yankees two-fold.  Melky Cabrera couldn’t come up with the catch and crashed into the center field wall.  Kinsler ended up with a triple and Cabrera had to leave the game with what was later determined to be a sprained shoulder.

Trouble was temporarily avoided when Alex Rodriguez made a spectacular play to nail Kinsler, who was trying to get back to third base.  A-Rod moved to his left to field Michael Young’s grounder.  He double pumped, and seeing Kinsler start to move down the line towards home, held on to the ball and raced Kinsler back to third.  A-Rod dove and tagged Kinsler out before he could get back to the base safely.

But Chamberlain’s lack of a good fastball put him in 2-2 and 3-2 counts all night.   A Nelson Cruz double and a walk to David Murphy loaded the bases.  Marlon Byrd chased a pitch out of the strike zone and flicked it into right for a 2-run single.  Chamberlain struck out Chris Davis to end the inning and struck out the first two hitters in the 2nd, but the handwriting was on the wall.  Chamberlain walked one batter in the 2nd and two more in the third, but escaped the latter jam with a double play ball.

Davis took Chamberlain deep, for the first of his two home runs on the night, in the 4th for a 3-0 Rangers lead.  The Yankees left runners in scoring position against Rangers starter Kevin Millwood in each of the first four innings.  Mark Teixeira finally broke through with a solo home run in the top of the 5th and the Yankees tied things up with a pair of runs in the 6th.

Brett Gardner, who replaced Cabrera in the first, singled, stole second base and came home on Hideki Matsui’s double.  One batter later, Francisco Cervelli tied the game with a single back through the middle.  But the Rangers answered immediately with a run in their half of the sixth against Aceves, who had entered the game in the 5th.  The right-hander hadn’t been scored upon in six straight appearances before allowing a run in the series opener on Monday, and he couldn’t work out of trouble last night.

Phil Coke didn’t help Aceves either.  He came on to pitch after Kinsler and Young reached on a single and a double, respectively, in the 7th.  Josh Hamilton and Murphy brought them home with productive outs for a 6-3 Texas lead.  Davis put the icing on the cake when he went deep on Coke for his second long ball of the night.

The Yankees had an opportunity to break the 3-3 tie in the top of the 7th when they loaded the bases with one out.  Robinson Cano and Gardner singled, and left-hander C.J. Wilson hit Matsui with a pitch.  But Wilson made up for it by getting Nick Swisher to bounce into an innning ending double play.

Game Notes

Mark Teixeira’s home run was his 11th this month and the RBI was his 27th in May.

David Robertson pitched a scoreless inning after being recalled to replace Brian Bruney.

The finale of the series is tonight at 8:05 p.m. ET with A.J. Burnett (2-2, 5.28) facing rookie left-hander Derek Holland (1-1, 4.82), who is making his second major league start.  Burnett is 0-2 with five no decisions since winning his first two starts of the year.

Chamberlain retired lead-off hitter Brian Roberts before taking Jones’ line drive to the side of his right knee.  He was able to chase down the baseball and throw out Jones before doubling over in pain.  After several minutes of being checked out by trainer Gene Monahan and Joe Girardi,  Chamberlain threw some warm ups and stayed in the game.  But after he allowed back-to-back singles to Nick Markakis and Aubrey Huff, Girardi removed Chamberlain from the game.  X-Rays of the knee were negative and Chamberlain said afterward that he expected to make his next scheduled start on Tuesday.

Just as they did in the previous two games of the series, the Yankees went right to work in the first inning.  Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano, and Mark Teixeira opened the at-bat with consecutive doubles off O’s starter Adam Eaton for a quick 2-0 lead.  Eaton retired Alex Rodriguez and Hideki Matsui, but walked Nick Swisher to put two runners aboard.  Melky Cabrera brought them both home with the Yankees’ fourth double of the inning, a gapper to left-center field.  Cabrera did Eaton a favor by getting thrown out on the base paths to end the inning.

Cano gave Aceves more room to work with in the 2nd, when he hit a laser line drive home run to right for a 6-0 Yankees advantage.  Aceves gave the Yankees 3.1 scoreless innings to pick up his third win in the last five days.  There would be no late, put-away inning this time, however, as the Yankees had done the last two nights.  Instead, reliever Jonathan Albaladejo made a game of it.  Roberts greeted him in the 5th with a solo home run.  Then Ty Wigginton drove home a pair of runs with a 6th inning double, and Markakis took him deep for a solo shot in the 7th.  In between, Matsui added a solo home run in the 5th inning to give the Yankees a franchise-record eight multiple home run games in a row.

The “good” Jose Veras showed up for a change and tossed 2.2 scoreless innings.  He ran into a two-on, two-out jam in the 8th, but retired Roberts on a fly-out to end the inning.  Then it was Mariano Rivera time, and the Orioles went down in order for Rivera’s 9th save of the season, and #491 all time.

Game Notes

All of the blather before the game about the possibility of Joba Chamberlain throwing at Aubrey Huff quickly went out the window when Chamberlain was hit by Adam Jones’ line drive.  Huff was the last batter Chamberlain faced and singled to right.  Ironically, Mariano Rivera struck out Huff to end the game.  Maybe Joba gave a fist pump from wherever he was at the time.

Johnny Damon’s back was sore after attempting to make a catch on Wednesday, so Girardi gave him the night off.  Brett Gardner was back in center field after missing two games with a sore shoulder.

The World Champion Philadelphia Phillies come to town tonight for the start of a three game series.  A barrage of home runs from the two teams is expected.  A.J. Burnett (2-1, 5.02) will look for his first win in a month when he faces Brett Myers (3-2, 4.50) this evening at 7:05 ET.

WP – Aceves (2-0)  LP – Crain (2-2)

Sunday was just another day in the Bronx.  Tight ball game, lost leads,comebacks, extra innings, a walk off win.  Maybe the last three days haven’t gone the way Joe Girardi would have drawn them up, but he’s clearly happy with the outcome.  Yesterday’s hero was Johnny Damon, the team’s hottest hitter. With the game tied 2-2 in the 10th, Damon sent the paying customers home happy with a second deck blast off of Jesse Crain for his 10th home run of the season and the Yankees third straight walk off win.  It was also the team’s season high fifth victory in a row.

A.J. Burnett and Kevin Slowey locked up in a scoreless duel until the 7th inning when the Twins pushed a pair of runs across on a Matt Tolbert RBI single and a wild pitch.  But the Yankees came right back  against Slowey in the home half of the inning.  Alex Rodriguez started things off with his 3rd home run of the season to cut the lead in half and Hideki Matsui followed with a double into the right field corner.  Nick Swisher laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Matsui to third base and Melky Cabrera brought Godzilla home with a fly out to left.  The ball wasn’t deep, but Denard Span’s throw was well up the first base line.

The Twins had a chance to take the lead in the 8th when they loaded the bases with one out against Jonathan Albaladejo, but Brett Tomko came on to get Span on a force out at home and Tolbert on a foul out that ended the inning.

The Yankees had their own chance in the bottom of the 9th when Jose Mijares walked Swisher to start the inning and Cabrera sacrificed pinch-runner Brett Gardner into scoring position.  Francisco Cervelli, batting for the first time in the game, hit a comebacker that deflected off Mirajes and towards home plate.   Gardner saw Joe Mauer vacate home plate and never stopped running as he anticipated Mauer’s throw to first. There was just one problem- Mauer never threw the ball.  Instead he raced Gardner to the plate, getting there just ahead of the Yankees’ speedster to tag him out.  It was an aggressive play, but not a smart play with Robinson Cano waiting on deck.

But all was forgiven in the 10th when Damon delivered another game winner and Burnett delivered another celebratory towelful of whipped cream to the face.

Game Notes

Al Aceves picked up his second win of the season and his second in as many days.

It was thought that Mariano Rivera would be unavailable after throwing two innings on Saturday, but he tossed a scoreless 9th.

It was the first trifecta of walk off wins by the Yankees since August 27 and 29, 1972, when the Yankees played back to back doubleheaders.  The Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 7-6  in the opener on Johnny Callison’s bases loaded single in the 9th.  The nightcap went 16 innings after the Yankees scored a pair of runs to tie the game in the 9th.  Horace Clarke’s sacrifice fly gave the Yankees a 9-8 win.

The third victory came against the Texas Rangers in an 11 inning opener of a twinbill.  The Yankees again tied the game up in the 9th before a Callison single once again gave the Yankees a 7-6 victory.

The Yankees go for a sweep of the four game series tonight with Andy Perkins facing Glen Perkins.

WP – Aceves (1-0)  LP – Breslow (1-2)

Alex Rodriguez homered in his first at-bat this season down in Baltimore, but since then he’s shown more rust than a ’57 Chevy.  A-Rod shook some of the cobwebs off this afternoon and delivered a clutch, walk-off 2-run home run in the bottom of the 11th to give the Yankees a 6-4 win over the Minnesota Twins at the Stadium.

Mark Teixeira, who was 4-4 on the day, opened the inning with a walk.  That brought up Rodriguez, who was in a 3-24 skid since that Camden Yards home run.  Craig Breslow got ahead in the count with a first pitch strike, but than hung a slider that A-Rod drilled into the left field seats for career home run number 555.  A-Rod flipped his bat on the way to first base and flashed a knowing grin to the Yankees’ dugout before circling the bases to an awaiting mob scene at home plate.  Al Aceves pitch a scoreless inning to earn his first win of the season.

Joba Chamberlain started for the Yankees and threw a fairly effective game.  He allowed just 3 hits in 6 innings and struck out 6, but did walk 4 batters.  He left with a 3-2 lead, but the Yankees bullpen quickly put the team in a hole.  Justin Morneau hit his third home run in two days, a long shot off left-hander Phil Coke, to tie the game at 3 apiece in the 8th.  Later in the inning with 2 outs and a man aboard, Brian Buscher doubled into the right field corner.  Michael Cuddyer was waved home by third base coach Scott Ullger and scored the go ahead run as Melky Caberera’s relay throw missed the cut off man.

The Yankees came right back in their half of the 8th.  Pinch-hitter Hideki Matsui started the inning with a ground rule double off starter Nick Blackburn.  Derek Jeter bunted pinch-runner Ramiro Pena over to third base, but Johnny Damon hit a tapper back to the mound for the second out of the inning.  That gave Teixeira the opportunity to continue his best game in a Yankees uniform.  He didn’t disappoint- Teixeira’s fourth hit of the game, a hard single to right, scored Pena with the tying run and ended Blackburn’s day.

Teixeira had given the Yankees their first lead of the day, in third inning, with a long home run following two out walks to Jeter and Damon.  Trailing 3-1, Joe Mauer took Chamberlain deep to halve the lead in the fourth.  It was the second straight game in which Mauer homered, with both balls landing in Monument Park.

Game Notes

The bullpen had an up and down day.  Jose Veras got himself in a two on, no out jam in the 7th, but was rescued by Coke.  Mariano Rivera threw a pair of scoreless innings and got out of his own jam in the 9th.

Mark Teixeira finished a triple shy of the cycle and raised his average to .238.

Nick Swisher will never be called “Mr. May” by George Steinbrenner.  His 0-4 this afternoon dropped him to 4-40 for the month.   To make matters worse, he has struck out in 18 of those 40 at-bats.

When the Yankees look out on the mound at the Boston Red Sox‘ Jon Lester, they see the culmination of good scouting, hard work, and talent coming to fruition.  The Yankees hope one day they can look at Phil Hughes the same way.  For now though, Hughes is still a work in progress.  Meanwhile, Lester is dominating major league hitters.  He did so last night in beating the Yankees 6-4 after a 2 hour-17 minute rain delay that pushed back the start of the game to 9:22 ET.

Save for a couple of home run balls, Lester used a mid-90s fastball and wide sweeping breaking pitches to strike out 10 hitters in 7 innings.  In doing so he evened his record at 2-2.  Hughes was ineffective in his four innings of work.  YES announcer Michael Kay repeatedly pointed out that Hughes only allowed one run per inning, but those runs add up.  Hughes threw 94 pitches, just 56 for strikes.  He allowed 7hits, walked 4, and struck out just 2 in an outing that was the complete opposite of the dominant performance he had last week in Detroit.

Mike Lowell was Hughes’ biggest nemesis.  He cracked a long home run in the second inning that gave the Sox a 2-0 lead and added an RBI single an inning later.  David Ortiz, hitting just .208 entering the game, had a pair of doubles off Hughes, with an RBI and a run scored.

The Yankees were as lifeless as the rain soaked crowd for much of the game.  Lester struck out Derek Jeter, Johnny Damon, and Mark Teixeira to start the game, then added strikeouts of Melky Cabrera and Jose Molina with two on and two out in the second inning.  It wasn’t until Jeter was called out on strikes in the fifth inning that the Yankees came to life.

Jeter didn’t like the called third strike from home plate ump Jerry Meals, who had seemingly squeezed the strike zone on Hughes in the early innings.  Joe Girardi quickly came out to protect his shortstop and was ejected for arguing ball and strikes, but gave Meals a piece of his mind before exiting.  With Molina on first, Damonlaunched his 5th home run of the season into the right field seats and just like that the Yankees were back in the ball game.  The crowd finally had some life and really got fired up when the next hitter,Teixeira, homered to left-center field to cut the Red Sox lead to just one.

Al Aceves, recalled earlier in the day from Scranton, replaced Hughes to start the fifth and pitched effectively.  The one blight on his record was a 2-run home run surrendered to Jason Bay that gave the Red Sox a 6-3 lead.  Teixeira got it back to 6-4 with his second solo home run of the game, this time from the left side of the plate, in the eighth to set up a showdown with Jonathan Papelbon.

When Ramon Ramirez followed Teixeira’s home run by walking Robinson Cano, Red Sox manager Terry Francona didn’t hesitate to bring on his closer for a five out save.  It was an unusual call by Francona, who doesn’t like to use Papelbon for more than an inning, but it paid off in the long run.  Papelbon struck out pinch-hitter Hideki Matsui, and after a single by Cabrera, retired Molina on a pop up.

The Yankees had one more potential rally in them in the ninth.  Pinch-hitter Brett Gardner reached on a lead off single and Papelbon hit Jeter with a pitch to put the tying runs on base with no one out.  But Damon flied out and Teixeira struck out, leaving it up to Nick Swisher.  First Gardner and Jeter made it more interesting by pulling off a double steal.  When Papelbon walked Swisher to load the bases, the fans that remained were on the edge of their seats.  That excitement quickly turned to groans whenPapelbon struck out Cano to end the game at 1:10 a.m.

Game Notes

Jose Molina had to bat for himself in the eighth inning, because Jorge Posada had to leave the game with a bad hamstring.  Posada had injured the leg last week.  He’ll be sent for an MRI today and a trip to the disabled list is not out of the question.

Alex Rodriguez’s teammates and opponents, including David Ortiz, don’t believe Selena Roberts‘ accusation that A-Rod tipped pitches to opponents.  Former teammates like Michael Young have also said the accusation is absurd.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Jon Lester became the first Red Sox left-handed pitcher in 73 years to strike out 10 or more Yankees.  Lefty Grove last accomplished the feat in 1936.

Elias also came up with this crazy stat.  It was only the second time in 773 visits to Yankee Stadium(s) that Boston scored a single in each of the first four innings- the “picket fence”.

The series concludes tonight with Joba Chamberlain squaring off against Josh Beckett.