Game 70 Wrap-Up: NYY 7 TOR 3

(Job well done.  Courtesy of the AP)

I know I said this series was going to be a big test for the Yankees, but in all honesty, can they just play the Blue Jays at home all the time?  They own them there.  Totally have them twisted into pretzels.  Case in point, last night's game.  Yanks had Chase Whitley up against Toronto ace Mark Buehrle, a matchup that should heavily favor the Jays.  Not in The Stadium though, and not when Buehrle was sporting a career ERA over 6 against the Bombers.  They tuned him up for a few early last night before tacking on against the bullpen late to secure their 15th (!!!!) straight win over the Jays at home.

Game Notes:

- The usual suspects at the top of the order gave Whitley a tad of run support in the bottom of the 1st.  Brett Gardner led off with a single, moved to second on an error, third on a flyout, and scored on a 2-out ribbie single by Alfonso Soriano.  For real.

- Whitley made it stand up through 3 innings.  He was mixing pitches again, working both sides of the plate to hitters hitting from both sides of the plate, and keeping the Blue Jay lineup off the basepaths.  Not electric at all in comparison to Tanaka, but effective.

- A 1-out HBP seemed to rattle him in the 4th and he surrendered a couple of RBI singles to give the Jays a brief lead.  But a Carlos Beltran leadoff single and a Brian McCann home run in the bottom half put the Yanks back in front.

- Joe got Whitley through 5, then got out of that game while he was ahead and went to his bullpen.  Adam Warren tossed 2 perfect innings with 3 Ks, Dellin Betances cleaned up Jose Ramirez's mess in the 8th, and D-Rob breezed through the 9th.

- The offense tacked on 4 insurance runs in the bottom of the 7th again to make life a lot easier down the stretch.  Gardner was at the forefront of the rally with his 4th hit of the night, Ichiro drew a pinch hit, bases loaded walk, and Big Mac cleared the bases with a triple to right-center.

F*ck Yeahs:

- Gardner: 4-5, 2 R.  So leadoff hitter it hurts.

- McCann: 2-3, 1 3B, 1 HR, 2 R, 5 RBI, 1 BB.  Best game as a Yankee to date?

/checks game logs

/sees 2-HR game against John Lackey in April

Alright, so his second best game as a Yankee to date.  I'll take that.

Oh Nos:

- Ramirez: 2 BF, 2 H, 1 ER.  I know they were a couple of good hitters, but you have to be able to get guys out when you're pitching with a 5-run lead to stick around in the show, son.

- Solarte/Roberts: Combined 0-7, 1 BB, 2 K, 4 LOB.  The only 2 spots in the order that didn't get a hit were the 8 and 9 with these 2.  Good thing Kelly Johnson and his hot bat stayed on the bench.

Next Up:

I'd love to get the brooms out on Toronto for this series.  David Phelps gets the ball with the chance to help make that happen tonight against Drew Hutchison.