WELL, WELL, WELLS

Vernon Wells had a big night last night in Colorado. He hit a 2 run homer in the first inning and scored the game winning run in the 9th on an infield hit by Brennan Boesch.  But not only that, he made a perfect defensive play in the bottom of the 9th to help preserve the Yankees 3-2 lead over the Rockies... and then the Yankees won, just like that!

That defensive play was key, because he wasn't in the outfield at this point, he was at 3rd base... that's right, 3rd.  According to the New York Times, "Girardi had no more infielders for the bottom of the ninth. He considered using catcher Austin Romine at third, but decided to go with Wells, whom he had seen take ground balls at third during batting practice earlier this season. Wells said he takes grounders as a way to keep his hands active and to practice catching bouncing balls. And he uses his own glove, a small outfielder’s mitt...  In the bottom of the inning, Wells said he got chills after the brief infield warm-up when he was able to throw the ball to closer Mariano Rivera... With one out, Carlos Gonzalez hit a bouncer to Wells’s left, and he threw a strike to first baseman Lyle Overbay."  Read HERE.

Good for him.  The Yanks put a good win together. Only 3 other Yanks had hits last night...Brett Gardner, Chris Nelson and Brennan Boesch.  Wells had 3.

David Phelps started and went 6 innings and allowed 3 hits and 2 runs.  David Robertson got the win. Mariano Rivera got the save...Save number 12. 

Final: Yankees 3 - Rockies 2.

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* FART NOISE *

Sometimes the Yankees surprise me.  They've been playing so well lately, so when they lay an egg like they did last night, it's really disappointing and yes, I suggest the game was like a small fart noise. It came, it went, we lost and we move on. Can't do much more than that.

The Yankees had 4 hits all night. Jayson Nix was 2 for 4. Ichiro Suzuki had a hit and so did Chris Stewart.  That's it.  With all the big bats in the lineup, it was Nix and Stewart who hit.  Suzuki always hits. 

The pitching by Hiroki Kuroda looked like this: 7 innings, allowed 2 runs on 2 hits.  He struck out 3. He gave up a home run which was his only real mistake.  As Girardi said HERE, "'He made one mistake to Gonzo,' Girardi said of Kuroda. 'He made him pay for it. He got two quick outs that inning, and Rutledge hit it a little bit off the end for the base hit. He got to a 3-2 count, and he made one mistake. It cost him the game.'"

All you can do is blow this game off and move on, it is what it is.

Final Score: Rockies 2 - Yankees 0.

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ALL-STAR GAME STARTING LINEUPS

American League Starting Lineups:

SS: Derek Jeter, New York Yankees

2B: Robinson Cano, New York Yankees

LF: Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers

RF: Jose Bautista, Toronto Blue Jays

1B: Prince Fielder, Detroit Tigers

3B: Adrian Beltre, Texas Rangers

DH: David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox

C: Mike Napoli, Texas Rangers

CF: Curtis Granderson, New York Yankees

SP: Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers

National League Starting Lineup:

DH:  Carlos Gonzalez, Colorado Rockies

CF: Melky Cabrera, San Francisco Giants

LF:  Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers

1B:  Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds

RF: Carlos Beltran, St. Louis Cardinals

C: Buster Posey, San Francisco Giants

3B:  Pablo Sandoval, San Francisco Giants

2B: Dan Uggla, Atlanta Braves

SS:  Rafael Furcal, St. Louis Cardinals

SP: Matt Cain, San Francisco Giants

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WILL ROBINSON CANO REPEAT AS HOME RUN DERBY CHAMP?

Robinson Cano will be defending his home run derby title against the following players tonight.  Can he repeat?  Who do you think will take it?

(Robinson Cano receives trophy after winning the 2011 MLB Home Run Derby)

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Jose Bautista
BATS: R | POS: RF | TEAM: TOR
• Derby No: 2nd - 2012 HRs: 27
• Average: 403.3 ft. - Longest: 455

Robinson Cano

 BATS: L | POS: 2B | TEAM: NYY
• Derby No: 2nd - 2012 HRs: 20
• Average: 406.8 ft. - Longest: 440

Prince Fielder
BATS: L | POS: 1B | TEAM: DET
• Derby No: 4th - 2012 HRs: 15
• Average: 411.7 ft. - Longest: 456

Mark Trumbo
BATS: R | POS: RF | TEAM: LAA
• Derby No: 1st - 2012 HRs: 22
• Average: 419.5 ft. - Longest: 459

(Matt Kemp of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates after hitting his first home run during the 2011 MLB Home Run Derby)

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Carlos Beltran
BATS: B | POS: RF | TEAM: STL
• Derby No: 1st - 2012 HRs: 20
• Average: 408.9 ft. - Longest: 464

Carlos Gonzalez
BATS: L | POS: LF | TEAM: COL
• Derby No: 1st - 2012 HRs: 17
• Average: 412.4 ft. - Longest: 445

Matt Kemp
BATS: R | POS: CF | TEAM: LAD
• Derby No: 2nd - 2012 HRs: 12
• Average: 411.4 ft. - Longest: 454

Andrew McCutchen
BATS: R | POS: CF | TEAM: PIT
• Derby No: 1st - 2012 HRs: 18
• Average: 398.9 ft. - Longest: 446

--Mikey Blue, BYB Senior Writer

Email: DonnieBaseball2323@gmail.com
Twitter: @MikeyBlu23

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