Game 38 Wrap-Up: NYY 7 CLE 0

(Dude, I want that.  Courtesy of the AP)

The Yankees were blanked in the early afternoon opener yesterday, not surprisingly succumbing to the weak lineup Joe was forced to put out there.  They still had a chance to salvage a split of the doubleheader and finish off a 6-2 road trip in the mid-afternooncap.  Vidal Nuno was getting the start and Brett Marshall was called up to add bullpen depth behind him at the expense of Brennan Boesch, whose demotion to Triple-A may signal another exciting roster move coming today.  It would have been hard for Nuno to make a better first impression in his first Major League start, and this time the offense gave him some support to earn the split.

Game Notes:

- The offense wasted no time getting on the board in this one, plating a run on a pair of singles, a Carlos Santana throwing error, and a Vernon Wells groundout in the top of the 1st.

- Nuno retired the first 8 batters he faced into the 3rd inning, doing what he always does and pounding the strike zone with his 4-seam and 2-seam fastballs.  Hopefully David Phelps was paying attention.

- That 1st inning run was looking pretty lonely on the scoreboard for the Bombers.  They failed to capitalize on 2 walks in the 3rd inning and a leadoff single in the 4th.  Once again, the game was too close and the margin for error was zero.

- It didn't matter because Nuno worked brilliantly within his non-existent margin for error.  He worked around 2 walks in the 4th and 2 2-out singles in the 5th to finish his outing in style with a strikeout of Asdrubal Cabrera.  5 innings, no runs, 89 pitches.  Not bad for having not pitched since last month.

- It took 15 innings, but the offense finally broke out to support Nuno in the top of the 7th.  A pair of doubles by CoJo and Romine got it started, a pair of singles by Nix and Wells gave the cushion, and a 2-run double by Lyle Overbay broke the game open.  By the time the dust settled, it was 7-0 Yanks.

- Adam Warren, who's been sneaky disgusting in his limited appearances, relieved Nuno and pitched 4 shutout innings of his own, with 0 walks and 4strikeouts, to earn a save and finish off the shutout.


F*ck Yeahs:

- Nuno: 5 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 3 K.  Just Nuno doing Nuno, I guess.  He wasn't overwhelming with his fastballs but he attacked with them and mixed his offspeed stuff beautifully.  That's the non-power lefty playbook to a tee, it's basically what Andy does every time out, and Nuno executed it very well.  This now adds even more intrigue to the 5th starter situation.

- Nix: 2-4, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K, 2 LOB.  Hey, guy.  Thanks for showing up.

- The Kids: Rally-starting doubles for Corban Joseph and Austin Romine.  9 combined shutout innings for Nuno and Warren.  If you're one of those "give the kids a chance" people, you had to be in heaven watching this game.  The situation has called for the kids this year and they've delivered.

Oh Nos:

- Robinson Cano: 1-5, 2 K, 3 LOB.  Weird to see a 6-run inning and not have Cano be a part of it in any way.  Maybe there's some fatigue starting to set in here.

Next Up:

The boys will be back home tonight hosting Seattle, likely playing in front of a dead quiet 2/3 full Stadium (zing!), and the people who don't show are going to miss a helluva matchup as CC Sabathia and Felix Hernandez kick off a 3-game series.