SWISHER & THE YANKEES GO BIG AGAINST TEXAS

The Yankees put their hope and trust in youngster David Phelps tonight.   Yankee fans probably felt that challenging the two-time AL reigning champion Rangers, and fighting for their own division crown, without CC Sabathia would be somewhat like the Biblical David challenging Goliath with his sling shot.  New York fans were hoping for a similar outcome as the Goliath of the American League sent newly acquired Ryan Dempster to the mound.

The Rangers pecked away at Phelps in the first and second innings.  Elvis Andrus scored in the first on a Nelson Cruz RBI single to center.  David Murphy greeted Phelps rudely to start the second with a HR to right field and the Rangers led 2-0 after two innings.  In the third, the Rangers managed two more hits off Phelps but could not score.

The bottom of the third was the Yankee offensive highlight inning, and turned the game in New York's favor.  Russell Martin and Raul Ibanez both singled to right to start the Yankee half of the key inning.  After an Ichiro sacrifice moved the runners to second and third, Derek Jeter walked to load the bases.  The dramatic blow of the game followed immediately as Nick Swisher drove a HR deep to right field.

It was Swisher's sixth career grand slam and the 200th HR of his career!  The Yankees took a 5-2 lead and never looked back.  Yankee Security was able to recover the ball for Swisher. 

The Yankees added another run in the third as Robinson Cano earned a walk that was followed by two singles and an RBI sacrifice fly to center off the bat of Curtis Granderson.  After the offensive fireworks, Phelps steadied himself.  Like the "little engine that could" Phelps threw 78 pitches through five.  The Yankee version of David allowed only one more hit in the fourth inning.  He had enough rocks in his pouch to slay the AL Goliath and was credited with the win, his third of the season. 

The Yankees played tack on with a HR from Eric Chavez in the sixth and two more runs in the seventh.  Ichiro led off the seventh with a stand-up triple to center; he scored on an RBI double by Jeter.  Jeter then scored on a Nick Swisher single.  Swisher's single gave him five RBI on the night.  The Rangers did not score again.  After Phelps departed, newly acquired Derek Lowe pitched four strong innings.  Taken off the Cleveland scrap heap, Lowe allowed only two hits and struck out three in his four innings of work.  Lowe was also credited with a save, his first of the season.

The pitching effectiveness of Phelps and Lowe was important for another reason.  The win minimizes the impact of Sabathia's stint on the disabled list.  CC will miss only one more start after tonight's game, or at least that is the plan.  The two pitchers' combined effectiveness against a normally potent Texas offense could hardly have been any better had Sabathia been able to pitch.  Phelps and Lowe stifled Ranger hitters to such a degree that older Yankee fans were thinking Texas seemed more like the team of their ancestral lineage, the Washington Senators, than the current AL West powerhouse. 

Finally... on this date in history marks the untimely and tragic death of Mickey Mantle in 1995, as well as the death of Phil "Scooter" Rizzuto just five years back.  In spite of the the sad memories, Yankee fans can celebrate the big win in game one of the Texas series.

The two best teams in the AL square off again tomorrow, but tonight the Yankees celebrate the final:

New York 8  Texas 2   

--Frank Gentry, BYB Writer

Twitter: @yankeefrank23



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