From mlb.com:

From the Trenton Thunder's site:


Via Tony Gicas.

Best pitching match-up that the White Sox have had this series as they try to avoid the sweep by sending Jon Garland up against Roger Clemens. The newest Yankee, Wilson Betemit, starts at SS as Derek Jeter gets a much-deserved day off. Johnny Damon is back in the line-up, starting at DH and leading off. Two other games of note are going on this afternoon as well; Cleveland is up 1-0 on Grady Sizemore RBI single while Boston will go up against Jeremy Guthrie of the Orioles.

First inning is uneventful. The second inning is not. Singles by Konerko and Pierzynski start off the inning followed by a double from the recently rejuventated Jermaine Dye. Two more singles from Darin Erstad and Juan Uribe make the score 3-0 with 2 on and still no one out. A fly out from Danny Richar is the first out but Robbie Cano misplays a Jerry Owens grounder (should have been one, could have been two) and we have the bases loaded for Alex Cintron with one out. Pressure's on but Roger's able to get one more out; Cintron grounds to Clemens who goes home for the force. Bases still loaded, two out with Jim Thome up. Clemens gets up 1-2 but loses the batter as Thome singles through the left side, plating 2 more runs, 5-0 White Sox. Konerko up now as the White Sox have batted around and he doubles on the second pitch, moving Thome to third and scoring Cintron, 6-0 White Sox. Pierzynski up with a single up the middle on an 0-2 count and that's now 8 runs in the inning. I guess you could call this payback for the last two games, huh? The inning isn't over but Clemens' day is as Jermaine Dye doubles (second time in the inning) off a 2-2 pitch, putting runners at second and third with two outs. Mike Myers is now in..and he proceeds to walk Darin Erstad. Jeez - here comes Karstens...and he finally gets the Yankees out of the inning when Uribe flys out on the first pitch he sees. Clemen's final line: 1.6 IP, 39 pitches, 9 hits, 8 runs allowed (3 earned). Yeesh.

Here we go to the bottom of the second. Matsui single to start...followed by a Posada double. Hey, I like the inning so far. Here comes Robbie Cano to try to redeem himself...and he does with an RBI single! 8-1 now with runners at first and second for Wilson Betemit. Man, a homer here would endear him to the crowd huh? AND HE COMES THROUGH! Can't find a Betemit!!! 8-4 Yankees and all of a sudden, this game doesn't seem so lost. Garland gives up another single to Andy Phillips and we still have no one out in the inning. Wait, scratch that - Damon with the K. Way to come through there Johnny - good job earning that starting spot. Cabrera up now and let's see if he can continue making me look good...and he does, single to left; first and second, one out for the heart of the order. An Abreu walk and a A-Rod jack to tie would be sweet...but not meant to be as Bobby decides to drive in a run himself with a single. A-Rod up now as the tying run - a homer here sure would be sweet Alex...but the single you provide is almost as good! 8-6 White Sox, men on first and second, still only one out and Matsui back up as the Yankees have batted around. Here comes Guillen and there goes Garland. That has got to be disappointing - after getting hammered for two straight games, your team goes on a run rampage and stakes you to an 8 run lead...and you cough up most of it. Ouch. Here's comes Boone Logan for the White Sox. At this point, just don't go Groundzilla on me now Hideki...or strike out. Nuts. Matsui Ks but A-Rod and Abreu pull off the double steal. A 2-out hit from Posada would be sweet right here though...AND HE DELIVERS! Ground-rule double! TIE GAME! If anyone has ever underrated Posada during his Yankees tenure, they can't possibly do it after this year. Robbie comes up and grounds into a FC and the inning is over but wow, 8 runs to tie. If this doesn't decimate the White Sox morale...I don't know what will.

Here we go, 8-8, a brand new ball game - and Karstens gets through the 3rd with no problems. The bottom of the inning is much of the same as outside of Damon's single, the Yankees go quietly.

Top of the fourth - here comes the meat of Chicago order so let's see what Karstens can go against some good hitters. Umm..no idea what just happened but Scott Podsednik just replaced Jim Thome. Well, that's a step down...and naturally Podsednik doubles to start off the inning. Groundouts from Konerko and Pierzynski and maybe he can get out of it. Nope - there goes Dye again - 2 run HR and the Yankees are back down. 10-8. Darin Erstad singles with two out but Juan Uribe pops out to end the inning.

On a side note, Cleveland will win their game so the Yankees need this game to keep pace. The Orioles and the Red Sox are knotted at 3 through 5 and a half.

Bottom of the fourth. Abreu grounds out to start and we have a new pitcher, Ryan Bukvich in to face Alex. A-Rod promptly singles off him but both Matsui and Posada follow up with a groundout.

Top of the fifth - Karstens give ups another leadoff double but gets groundouts from Jerry Owens and Alex Cintron. He can't stop the run from scoring as Podsednik singles to get Richar home. Karstens then strikes out Konerko to get out of the inning. 11-8 White Sox.

Bottom of the fifth - the Yankees get two runners on but Melky can't deliver with two-outs.

Top of the sixth - Ron Villone comes in and breezes through the inning.

Bottom of the sixth - Bobby Abreu homers to cut the lead to 11-9 but A-Rod pops out and Matt Thornton comes in and strikes out Hideki and Jorge.

Top of the seventh - Villone strikes out Juan Uribe to start off the inning but a walk to Richar and a single to Owens puts men on first and third with one out and Josh Fields up at bat. Villone gets Fields to pop out to Cano...and Richar tries to score! Ain't happening buddy as Cano nails him at the plate - double play and the Yankees are out of the inning.

Time for the bottom of the seventh and it's starting to get late early as both Boston and Cleveland have won their games. Robbie Cano works out a walk (!) on 8 pitches and that's a good start to the inning. I would pinch hit Jeter here (and Joe listens) though I was tempted into thinking about letting Wilson swing away and then pinch hit for Damon later on. Ozzie counters with Mike MacDougal from the pen...which is odd since Jeter is hitting .333 with 7 of his 8 homers against righties. Well, Jeter strikes out so Ozzie's move works out. Andy Phillips comes up and singles on the first pitch to put runners on at first and second with one out for Johnny Damon. Nuts, on an 2-0 count, Damon lines out hard to Uribe who doubles up Cano off second.

Top of the eighth. It's Farnsworth time! No really - it's as if Joe realizes that Kyle can't be used in high leverage innings...and does it anyway. Well, Podsednik flies out to start so hey, that's one down...maybe he's getting better. Nope - there goes that idea, HR Konerko. Piersynski strikes out...but hey, here's another HR off the bat of Jermaine Dye! He gets out of the inning but gives up two runs, 13-9 White Sox. Also, what a game for Dye - 4-for-5 with 2 doubles and 2 HRs and 4 RBIs and he raises his OPS from .745 to .780 in one game.

Bottom of the eighth; can the Yankees put up 4 runs off of Mike MacDougal and Bobby Jenks in the next two innings? Well, we'll see. Melky grounds out to start off the inning and MacDougal strikes out Abreu and A-Rod for the second and third outs.

Top of the ninth - Sean Henn in, 3 up, 3 down. See how it's done Kyle?

Bottom of the ninth - Bobby Jenks in...and man is he a big boy. The most runs he's given up in an appearance this year has been 2 so scoring 4 would be a minor miracle. Matsui down on strikes, Molina flies out and down goes Cano to the K. Game over. It was a rollercoaster of a game but here it is in an nutshell. What the heck? (Clemens), Holy Cow (Bottom of the second), Awww (Karstens giving up the lead), BOOOOOOOOOO (Farnsworth).

As an update, the situation with SFX Baseball has been resolved. For now, at least. Hopefully, forever.

Because they traded Gabbard the other day in the Gagne deal, the Red Sox are forced to start Julian Tavarez tonight. The guy's a decent reliever but he was shelled in his last three starts. He's going right back to the pen when Shilling comes off the DL so these opportunities aren't going to last. In addition, the Red Sox are going up against Jeremy Guthrie on Thursday, he of the 2.89 ERA and the guy who shut down the Yankees TWICE.The Red Sox, who have lost to him earlier in the season, counter with Wakefield.

Why bring this up? Well, looking at the match-ups on paper, it wouldn't unimaginable that the Red Sox lose both those games. Now, and dream with me here, if the Yankees can win the next two against White Sox (certainly not a given) and Boston's games go the right way, the Yanks would be 5 games out with 54 games to go (and with 6 games left against Boston). I might be dreaming...but that wouldn't be too bad of a situation to be in.

The logos and marks for the 2008 All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium have been unveiled. Here they are:

Primary Logos

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Peter Abraham reports that Phil Hughes will pitch Saturday.

From Kat O'Brien:

The Yankees scored 16 runs tonight. With the exception of an Andy Phillips sacrifice fly, every single run scored on a home run. The game started off like that, as well. In the 1st, Damon singled, Jeter singled and then Abreu hit a 3 run shot. Then A-Rod made an out. And Matsui hit a solo home run to cap a 4 run 1st. And that's pretty much how the game went.

Cano and Cabrera (a hot duo, like James said) homered to add 5 more runs in the 3rd. In the 4th, Posada homered to score 2 more. In the 6th, Matsui homered again - this time a 2 run shot - and Phillips had the sac fly. Then, in the 7th, Damon and Shelley Duncan (in his only AB of the game) both hit solo shots.

The guys on ESPN said it was the 2nd time in team history where they've reached 8 homers in a game. The last time was June 28, 1939. It is, however, the first time that they've ever had 7 different players hit home runs in the first game.

Though he had some close calls, A-Rod was 0 for 5 today. Him and Phillips were the only players to go hitless, though Phillips did score a run and drive in a run through that sac fly. Besides that, you've got:

Damon: 2 for 3, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI, 2 BB.
Jeter: 1 for 5, 1 R.
Abreu: 3 for 4, 1 HR, 2 R, 3 RBI.
Duncan: 1 for 1, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI.
Matsui: 2 for 3, 2 HR, 4 R, 3 RBI, 2 BB.
Posada: 4 for 5, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 R, 2 RBI.
Cano: 2 for 5, 1 HR, 1 R, 3 RBI.
Cabrera: 1 for 4, 1 HR, 1 R, 2 RBI.

KA-BOOM. Crazy.

Not to be missed, of course, Moose had a nice outing, allowing 3 ER over 6 innings of work. He struck out 6 and walked none. Farnsworth, Myers and Henn pitched 1 inning a piece, only facing 3 each (Farnsworth pitched a 1-2-3 and the other two got DPs) to end the game.

Ozzie Guillen got tossed in the 1st for arguing balls and strikes as did Paul Konerko in the 6th.

As if that wasn't nice enough, both Boston and Cleveland lost. So, we're 8 games back in the division and 3.5 back in the Wild Card. Tomorrow, we'll get Pettitte (6-7, 4.11 ERA) vs. John Danks (6-7, 4.83).

With that HR, Robbie Cano has got his average back at .300 and his OPS back over .800. This is why when he was scuffling earlier on in the season, I didn't really understand the point of the trade talk surrounding the guy.

He's young, he's cheap and apparently people haven't noticed that he's gone from below-average/average in 2005 to very good at playing second base. He has very good range, pivots on the DP exceptionally well and he's got a great arm.

Then you look at the offense and since May 16th, which was the last time his OPS was under .600: .336 /.373/.547/.920 and that's over 68 games and 265 Abs so it's not just a hot streak.

Very good defensive 2nd basemen who hit .300+/.340+/.500+ aren't exactly easy to find, especially ones that are still in their age 24 season.

Update: Thought I would do the same for Melky as well since he just went deep too. More people have been talking about his play recently but most of the focus has (deservedly) been on the great defense he's provided. Here's the offensive side of that story, also from the last time that he was under .600 (May 30th): .335/.388/.490/.878 over 55 games and 200 ABs. Not too shabby, huh? Especially for a kid (age 22 season) with a "4/5th OFer" ceiling.

Update 2: Updated the stats to inlcude last's night homerfest.