Game 15 Wrap-Up: NYY 2 CHC 0

(Courtesy of Getty Images)

Tanaka put the Cubs lineup in a body bag in game 1 of yesterday's doubleheader, carving them up with a sick mix of 4-seamers, sinkers, slide pieces, and splitsvilles.  He passed the baton to Michael Pineda for the second game, and Pineda picked up right where Tanaka left off.  There were 18 innings of baseball played by the Yankees and Cubs yesterday.  The Cubs didn't score a run in any of them.

Game Notes:

- The story early was missed opportunities for the lineup.  They couldn't capitalize on a 2 on/2 out situation in the 1st, they wasted a leadoff single in the 2nd, and they couldn't push a run across with runners on the corners and 1 out in the 3rd.

- Luckily for them, Big Mike was on his game again.  He cruised through the first 3 innings by retiring the first 7 batters he faced, then squashed a potential 2-out rally with a strike 'em out-throw 'em out double play to end the 4th.  His cutter looked good and he was using the changeup well against lefties.

- The Yanks finally broke through for a run in the bottom of the 4th when John Ryan Murphy and Brett Gardner strung together a pair of 2-out base hits.  Scott Sizemore, hitless in the first game, scored the run after a base knock of his own.

- Things got a little sticky for Pineda in the 5th when he put the first 2 runners on, but he worked out of the jam with a strikeout and a flyout and finished his night with 6 scoreless innings.  Another great outing.

- Sizemore scored the first run and he drove in the second in the bottom of the 5th.  It was another 2-out RBI single, all the offense the bullpen would need.

- The rested 'pen was solid in relief of Pineda.  David Phelps worked 1.1 scoreless, Matt Thornton got the 2 lefties he was brought in to face out, and Adam Warren picked up the save in the 9th.


F*ck Yeahs:

- Pineda: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K.  Not as overpowering as he looked at times in his first 2 outings, but an excellent performance nonetheless.  He mixed pitches well, he threw a lot of strikes early, and he let his defense support him.  Joe kept him under 90 pitches for the second time in 3 starts, but with results like this you don't even care about that.  Best 5th starter in baseball.

- Sizemore: 2-3, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 LOB.  Didn't get a hit in the early game, so the baseball gods blessed him with 2 BIP luck hits in the late one.  Nothing wrong with that.

Oh Nos:

- Kelly Johnson: 0-4, 1 K, 6 LOB.  Tough night for KJ, who gets a pass for playing all 18 innings.  A hit here or there and the 9th could have been a lot less stressful.

Next Up:

The Bombers will be in Tampa for another 4-game interdivisional weekend series and they'll be in first place when the first pitch is thrown tonight.  CC Sabathia gets the start for New York, David Price for Tampa.