YANKEES HAVE THEIR EYE ON THE PRIZE

It was another championship fight between the two best teams in baseball. The game was delayed one hour and forty-five minutes because of rain, but they were able to get the game played. What a great game for the Yankees!

Freddy Garcia had his good stuff, as he held the Texas Rangers to two runs through 6 2/3 innings. Aside from Josh Hamilton, he dominated the entire lineup, allowing four hits and one walk while striking out six. In what was a great moral victory for Garcia, he struck out the last batter he faced - Geovany Soto.  Josh Hamilton, however, hit a couple of monster home runs off Garcia. The first one was into the second deck; the second one went deep into the right-center field seats. The good news for the Yankees was that both of those home runs came with the bases empty. For most pitchers, if the only thing you do wrong is give up a home run to the guy who leads the majors in homers, you've done well. This was true of Garcia, love it.

Scott Feldman kept the Rangers in the game, dueling Garcia for six and a half innings. Feldman struck out seven and allowed all three Yankee runs in the 3rd inning. The Yankees deviated from their home run strategy, playing small ball against Feldman. In the third, Jayson Nix reached first on an infield single, stole second, took third on a Derek Jeter single, and scored on a Nick Swisher bloop double (we can thank the shift for that one). Jeter scored on a Curtis Granderson sacrifice fly, and an Eric Chavez single brought Swisher in.

Speaking of Eric Chavez, he has been on fire of late. We love him here at BYB, read ERIC CHAVEZ HAS THAT YANKEE HEART for some perspective. Last night he continued. He got three singles and a walk, reaching base in every plate appearance this game. It was also the sixth consecutive time, in which he was in the game, when he had a multi-hit game. While most agree that Alex Rodriguez is a force to be reckoned with, and the Yankee miss him, Joe Girardi has to find a way to get this guy some plate appearances when Alex returns.

Rafael Soriano came in to close out the game. We are giving him press time because of the fact that he faced the heart of the Rangers order - Josh Hamilton, Adrian Beltre, Nelson Cruz, and David Murphy - and he made it look easy. He hung one pitch to Hamilton that made our hearts stop, but he got away with it and ended up striking him out. The only reason Murphy got an at-bat was a bad call at first, but it did not matter in the end as Murphy grounded out to Jeter to end the game. Soriano's 29th save of the season was well earned.

Honorable mentions:

•          Derek Jeter extended his hitting streak to 11 games. Way to go, Captain!
•          David Robertson looked completely unhittable. He struck out the first two batters looking, and Elvis Andrus hit a weak grounder to shortstop on the first pitch he saw. Nicely done!
•           Ichiro Suzuki's speed came in handy as he recorded two infield hits.

It was another important win for the Yankees. They have taken three consecutive games from the Texas Rangers, and are now poised to complete a sweep today. You always love games between the two best teams in the league, no matter who they are. This game was another one that the Yankees draw confidence from, especially for the postseason. Beating the best makes you the best.

Final Score: Yankees 3, Rangers 2

--Ike Dimitriadis, BYB Writer
Twitter: @KingAgamemnon



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