Yankees Play Lethargic, Uninspired Baseball - And WIN!

It wasn't pretty tonight in Seattle. Pettitte didn't have his best stuff, at least early. He battled and managed to get 6 innings in and leave tied 2-2. He gave up hits to the first 3 batters, then settled down. The bats were quiet. We made Rowland-Smith look like Sandy Koufax. Bruney looked good. Hughes looked good when he wasn't walking batters. Walked two, then went to a full count to load the bases. He blew a fastball down the middle and struck the guy out.

Then, in the ninth - bingo. Teixeira starts the inning with a long home run. That was followed by a bloop double by Cano, a bloop single by Swisher just over the second baseman's glove, then another bloop by Hairston.

Mariano came in and got three quick ground balls. He is not himself right now. Yankees win 4-2.

That was big because of the stupid Texas Rangers. Down to one strike to beat the Boston Satans, they gave up a double to Martinez and then the gates opened. I suspect that Texas will fold now, go into a funk and Boston will sweep them. Hope not, but Boston is a front running team. They beat up on weak opponents like Texas. Hope Texas can get a win, but I am expecting a sweep.

That makes the Yankees win tonight a big deal. We are still up 6 1/2 after two games of the 10 game road trip.

Now, it gets interesting. Our next two starters are not exactly Sabbathia and Burnett. Sergio Mitre and Chad Gaudin. Wow! I am afraid the bats are going to have to engage if we are going to get these games and hold steady on the lead.

By the way: Sabbathia, Burnett and Teixeira - MONEY WELL SPENT!!

Present Concerns: injuries

Arod has elbow swelling and back problems. I think I could outrun Hideki Matsui (his knees seem to be hurting) and Mariano Rivera is obviously NOT himself (though still getting the job done - 80% of Mariano is still pretty good). We need these guys healthy and doing their stuff down the stretch.

I suspect that since we won the first two, Arod will sit another out tomorrow.