Game 63 Wrap-Up: NYY 2 SEA 1

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The Yankees got back on the winning side of things yesterday despite continued struggles by the offense.  Andy Pettitte turned in one of his best starts of the season, allowing just 1 ER in 7 innings, and put his team in the driver's seat to secure a series win today.  It was going to be an uphill battle against Yankee beater Felix Hernandez, but the first 3 games of the series already had been against far inferior pitchers.  Once again, the Yanks are left to just hope they score enough to win.  Today, that hope was fulfilled.

Game Notes:

- The lineup made King Felix work in the first 2 innings, with a Brett Gardner leadoff single and 2 walks in the 1st and 3 base hits in the second.  They only turned that into 1 run, though, on Gardner's second single of the day.

-  Phelps matched King Felix through 5, from the inefficient early pitch count, the run allowed in the 2nd, and then settling down after.  He got out of the 3rd on a double play and then sat down 6 in a row.

- Hernandez got bailed out by a Robinson Cano inning-ending GIDP in the 2nd and really settled down from there.  He gave up just 1 hit in his last 5 innings and struck out 4.

- Phelps finished the 6th in style with a pair of strikeouts and then gave way to the bullpen.  Boone Logan handled the 7th and David Robertson worked around a leadoff double to keep the game tied at 1 heading to the 9th.

- Seattle stuck with Yoervis Medina for the 9th and the Yanks made them pay.  Ichiro led off with a double, moved to second on a Jayson Nix sac bunt, and scored on an RBI single by none other than Chris Stewart.

- The offense did their part and got Mo a lead, and he held it down in the bottom half despite giving up 2 hits and a walk.  It was just barely enough to win, AGAIN, but I'll take it against Felix Hernandez.


F*ck Yeahs:

- Phelps: 6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 K.  Another game, another good start for Phelps.  He wasn't super with his command again, but he made it work with all his pitches and got big outs when he had to.  There's almost no chance Nova ever gets back in the rotation unless somebody gets hurt.

- Gardner: 4-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K, 1 SB.  Gardner is absolutely on fire right now.  He was all over King Felix today.  Keep it up, man.  Maybe the guys behind you will start to do something.

Oh Nos:

- Cano: 0-3, 1 BB, 4 LOB.  Like this guy.

- Mark Teixeira: 0-5, 4 K, 6 LOB.  Or this guy.  Oofda on that batting line, Mark.

Next Up:

The Yankees will get a scheduled off-day today to rest their bullpen and hopefully start to shake off this new offensive slump as they travel to Oakland.  They'll start a 3-game series there on Tuesday night.