The Yankees were six outs away from being single-handedly beaten by Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard, but the bats finally came through in some big spots as the Yankees defeated the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park by a score of 9-7. The Yankees kept pace with the Red Sox, who beat Washington, remaining two games behind. The Yankees also trail the White Sox by 5.5 games for the A.L. Wild Card spot.

The wheels started turning in the Phillies' favor in the first inning, when Pat Burrell was walked with two outs on a curveball by Mike Mussina that was obviously a strike. The next batter, Ryan Howard, destroyed the first pitch by Mussina for a three-run homer to give the Phillies the early lead. The Yankees chipped away with a one-run 2nd and a two-run 4th to tie the game at 3 before Howard launched another ball into the seats, this time a two-run shot in the bottom of the 4th to put Philly ahead 5-3. Jorge Posada homered to right in the 6th and A-Rod knocked in Johnny Damon with a base hit to tie the score at 5 in the 7th inning, only again to feel the wrath of Ryan Howard, who drove in all 7 Phillies' runs, this time via a two-run triple that put Philadelphia ahead 7-5. The Yankees would come back again in the 8th, highlighted by a two-run, go-ahead triple by Johnny Damon after an RBI single by Melky Cabrera. Damon was brought home by Derek Jeter to put the Yankees up for good, 9-7. Mariano Rivera pitched two perfect innings to record his 14th save, finally retiring Ryan Howard, getting him to ground out to second on the first pitch.

Mike Mussina gave up 5 runs in only five innings, but his performance really wasn't as bad as the box score would lead you to believe. Other than the two home runs to Howard, I thought he was okay. Mussina was pinch-hit for in the 6th inning with the Yanks down a run with a man in scoring position. The bullpen, while not flawless, was for the most part OK despite the two run triple to Howard allowed by Mike Myers. Kinda hard to say whether the pitching was good or bad overall. Seven runs is seven runs, but if it weren't for one guy, the Yankees could have very well shut the Phillies out.

Every Yankee starting position player recorded a hit, including Bernie Williams, who went 5-5 and raised his average to .294. He's just a 2-for-2 away from reaching the .300 plateau and I'm starting to feel more comfortable everyday with him in the lineup. If the Yankees do decide to go out and acquire an outfielder before the deadline it looks like Melky's going to be the odd man out as of now, but hey, in his defense there's still a month to go for the two to turn a complete 180.

The Yankees will try to take the rubber game of this series as Jaret Wright will take on rookie Cole Hamels tonight at 7:05 ET. Hamel is 1-2 with a 4.91 in five starts this season. Wright will try to bounce back from an ugly performance in Washington on Friday in which he failed to get out of the 6th inning. Hopefully the Yanks can escape Philly with two out of three before taking on the red hot Florida Marlins.

Since it was brought up, I figured I'd throw this one out there

I think almost everyone agrees that the Yankees are going to need an additional arm.

I think there is only one name that hasn’t been mentioned but has the potential to be the so called difference maker: John Smoltz.

I know there have been rumors about Tim Hudson but I think Smoltz is the guy we should be talking about. I qualify it because I believe he could be had on the cheap. He is making 11 million this year, and has an incentive that gives him $100K per start. The Braves have a 8 million dollar option on him next year, which is relatively cheap, but for a guy about to be forty and team that needs some rebuilding, they may be interested in moving him. Braves salary info.

I also realize that he may return to the Braves right after this year. But I doubt there is any guy out there who could give the Yankees exactly what they need and fit in perfectly. He is experienced with the postseason, big spots, and high pressure situations. He is an older guy with an expiring contract and from a team that is always looking to save money. Additionally Schurholtz has always been reasonable about making deals, and won't try and hold anybody over a barrel. I think with a package led by Duncan and some other high end low A ball guys may be enough to get Smoltz.

Now I haven’t heard anything so I can really cite any sources, but more than Willis or Schmidt or any of the guys that have been thrown around, I think this man would be perfect. It would compliment the team perfectly, I think Chacon could move into the bullpen, which might be a good fit at this point and Wright could remain as a meaningless number 5.

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The Yankees have gone 3-8 in their last 11 games due to a lovely confluence of some of their hitters slumping (Melky & A-Rod spring to mind), some shoddy defense (I'm looking at you Jorge & Cano) and some just plain bad luck. Of course, there has also been some (mostly) shoddy starting pitching. Even including the last two starts (and a great start by Wang against Cleveland), the numbers from the starters are not pretty: 5.40 ERA, 5.5 Ks, 3.0 BBs and 1.25 HRs per 9.

Still, the last two nights, while not wins, were positives. Both Wang & Johnson pitched very well and on most nights, they would have won. They just got unlucky. However, if we get consistent pitching like that, more often than not, this team will be getting the win. It's just too good not to.

A-Rod's getting hotter and it looks like Jeter and Giambi are as well. Between the three of them, they could carry this team for weeks at a time. It also looks like a great time to move Melky Cabrera from the 2-hole to lower in the line-up. When he's getting on base at a .370, he's an asset. When he's not (and he hasn't been in a little while), he's getting closer to Bubba Crosby territory. However, in the end, it will come down to what it always seems to comes down to: the kind of starting pitching the Yankees get. So far, they have gotten nothing from Shawn Chacon and if he wants to keep his starting role, he'd better start shaping up soon. Unfortunately, the Yankees have a lot of options in terms of starters right now. Man, I wish Rasner hadn't gotten hurt - it would have been a great time to give him a shot. Heck, if he can come back and rehab well (and Chacon continues pitching as he has), he'll still be one of the first in line. What happened to all the pitching depth we had at the beginning of the season!? Oh well...anyone want to throw out pitchers the Yanks could legitimately acquire that might help?

An extremely frustrating evening for the Yankees universe as Philadelphia slinger Brett Myers (he of the rapidly ascending reputation and a 2006 ERA+ of 123!!) stymied the offense. I'm sure you were struck, as I was, by his moving mid-90s fastball coupled with a rude, disruptive curve. However, after giving credit where credit's due (to Myers), it felt like the Yankees stranded more men last night than the original Jamestown colony:

In the top 1st w/2 outs, Jeter's single, Giambi's base hit and Alex's walk loaded the bases, and Jorge stranded them all with a popup.

Top 4th, Jason launched an inside pitch into the second deck in right, his 19th. He also had two other hits and a walk: .274/.442/.617. Giambi's transition from "lingering question mark" to "offensive powerhouse" is complete. I, for one, could not be happier for this man. Again, I ask you to think back 18+ months to the apparently futile, sad final gasps of Giambi's career. To return from his self-imposed obstacles was a Herculean task.

Top 5: Alex K'd to end the inning after two base hits by Jetes and Giambi.
Top 6: Randy Johnson's sharp hit was improbably stabbed by Nunez, preventing the second run.
Top 7: After a John Damon infield hit, a Giambi walk and an Alex walk, Posada's well-placed infield hit brought the Yankees to within a run, 2-3.

Lest I forget, the aging southpaw was on his game for the 3rd time in his last 5 starts. (Detroit, Cleveland and last night). Perhaps he read "The Undefeated" and did not want to go out like Manuel, Hemingway's bullfighter. He gave up two key RBI hits to Burrell and Rowand, but the Yankees offense should have made these minor blemishes on an otherwise well-pitched evening. His velocity was again 95-96 mph with effective complementary pitches. If the Unit can return to form in the 2nd half, I don't need to explain the impact on this team's probability for success.

BTW, did anyone notice when YES displayed the Yankees offensive scoreboard late in the game that Bubba Crosby's 0-3, 2 Ks was identical to Randy Johnson?

Hey, I'm back...it's been a long time between posts as work has been exceptionally busy these past few weeks. This wasn't helped by a company outing to Citizen's Bank park last Thursday to see the Mets take on (and finish sweeping) the Phillies. I loved the break but you end up trying to fit in 5 days of work into 4. Anyway, for those of you who haven't had the chance to check out the stadium, I took a few pictures and they're hosted on my Flickr page. It's a beautiful park with just tons of standing room and surprisingly good sightlines from pretty much everywhere. Anyway, here are a couple of the things that have popped up on my radar lately.

When Obi-Wang is on, he's something to watch, isn't he? If he can develop a solid strikeout pitch, he would be Roy Halladay-lite. Seriously - they are very similar pitchers, if you look at their tendencies and how they get people out. Still, Wang is what he is and if he can keep pitching like that, I will take that every single time.

As for A-Rod's slump, well, it looks like his fielding slump has been broken. His play on Pat Burrell in the bottom of the 8th saved the Yankees from being down even more going into the top of the 9th (a moot point in the end but nevertheless, important at the time). His bat is starting to come around as well and people will be booing him for some other reason before you know it ;)

It's a little odd to hear but you know Farnsworth is enigmatic when you can hear the frustration seeping out of both Susan Waldmyn and John Sterling when they were calling his inning. This guy is the goods - he just needs to get back on track. Of course, as every Yankee fan knows, Octavio Dotel is coming soon. Here's my take on that. Dotel could be the saviour for the pen but please, wait until he proves it first. Don't annoint him in advance and get those hopes up just yet. He's been a great reliever in the past (and I'm very high on him) but remember that he's coming off some serious arm injuries and we all need to remember that and temper our expectations. That being said, hopefully he will be fine because if he's his usual self, then he takes over Tom Gordon's place and Farnsworth becomes a better option than Scott Proctor. If you're looking at Proctor, you can split his season so far into two halves. In his first 17 appearances, 1.42 ERA , 7.1 Ks, 3.9 BBs and .36 HRs per 9. In his last 17 appearances, 6.64 ERA, 7.5 Ks, 3.5 BBs and 1.77 HRs per 9. Still, I give the man his due - he hasn't been completely Strutzed (i.e. overworked to the point of injury) yet and he's pitched well this month. if it all breaks right, Torre can then start using Proctor less and Villone more and both in lower-leverage situations.

Finally, not to beat this point any further but seriously, why is Bubba Crosby on this team? I'm not trying to be mean-spirited since Bubba seems like a nice guy. I'm being completely serious. Please, if you can, honestly tell me what he brings to the dish that Kevin Thompson cannot. If you have a clear argument FOR him, I would love to hear it. Otherwise, you just switched up a younger (you can actually use any of the following here; cheaper, faster, stronger, better) player for someone who probably shouldn't be in the majors (at least not being used in leveraged situations as he is with the Yanks). I ask since the Yankees pleasantly surprised me by DFA'ing Long, Erikson and Small in the pursuit of a younger, more efficent roster and I think that Bubba really should be (but probably won't be) next.

I’d like to thank Patrick and all the other guys for allowing me to share my thoughts on the site. I love the idea of a community of Yankee fans exchanging ideas and opinions.

I wanted to start off with something that’s been irking me the last six months. It follows with the recent additions the Yankees have made to the major league roster. What I mean is the contributions of Chien-Ming Wang, Robinson Cano, and Melky Cabrera. I follow as much as I can about the Yankee farm system and how people evaluate it. In recent years, especially when the trade deadline approaches, the so called experts (from ESPN, to Baseball America, etc..) have ridiculed the Yankee farm system and declared that it is void of impact players. Now I used the three players listed above, especially the first two, to point out that these so called experts should be held accountable for the mistakes they have made, and maybe the current harsh criticism of Yankee prospects isn’t that fair.

For three years I have heard about how the Angels and others have the greatest farm systems in the world. I haven’t seen many young players demonstrate the abilities of a Robinson Cano or a Chien-Ming Wang. And now with Melky, the Yankees seem to have found a legitimate twenty one year old corner outfielder.

That leads to my second point which is directed to the outcry for the Yankees to build from within. I think most anybody would agree with that, but with everything moderation is the key. Even in the late 1990’s the team has been built with a balance of youth and veterans. The team is now poised to have the same sort of renaissance and yet none of the so called experts seem to want to believe it or acknowledge that its happening.

We have a new blogger here at YanksBlog.com. His name is Steve. Readers of Off the Facade may recognize him as commenter "Steve."

Good to have you, Steve.

AM New York has the story of Andy Phillips and his wife, Bethany's battle with a rare form of a cancer that was related to a lost pregnancy. Rough stuff. But:


Good to hear. We wish them the best from this point forward.

Via Pride of the Yankees.

There were some positives in this game, but unfortunately none of them came after the top of the 5th inning. The Yankees lost 11-9 in Washington after building up a 7-run lead in the 5th inning, only to watch it all slip away. The bullpen was the culprit, allowing just 5 of the 11 runs, but two scored on a double off Matt Smith that were charged to Shawn Chacon. Chacon himself was a bit shaky as he failed to hit his spots and had to leave the game before finishing the 5th inning because his pitch count was too high.

The Yankees scored 7 runs in the 5th to take a 9-2 lead, highlighted by a two-run homer by Alex Rodriguez and a grand slam by Johnny Damon. A-Rod finally had a decent game, going 2-5 and breaking a 2-2 tie with a home run. Damon's salami was one of four hits in the game for him including two doubles. Derek Jeter (.337) had three hits as well as Robinson Cano (.332), who increased his hitting streak to 15 games.

It was all downhill from there though. Chacon was only able to record one out in the bottom of the 5th, and the bullpen collapsed from there as the Nationals scored 4 in the inning to make it 9-6. The Nationals scored another two in the 7th to make it 9-8, highlighed by a home run by Daryl Ward off off T.J. Beam. In the 8th, the Nationals tied it after Soriano walked and stole both second and third, drawing a throwing error by Jorge Posada which allowed him to score. Jose Guillen tripled two batters later to score a chugging Daryl Ward from first and was then brought in by a single by Ryan Zimmerman.

I know that it's baseball and you win some and you lose some, but games like this just can't happen. The Yanks had this one. All they had to do is NOT play the worst 5 innings of baseball they played all year in order to hang on and win this one. I guess this goes without saying, but the pen was just awful. I'll give T.J. Beam a pass because he did pitch exceptionally well in his first inning of Major League work, but it seemed like getting guys out was like solving a rubix cube for these guys all day. Also, I know that we were short in the pen today but you can't have Mo go in for two innings on back to back days, especially on a day game after a night game.

Hopefully the Yankees will put this one behind them and take the rubber game of this three-game set tomorrow as Chien-Ming Wang will take on Michael O'Connor at 1:05 E.T. this afternoon. O'Connor is just 3-4 but his E.R.A. (3.70) is actually lower than the 7-2 Wang's (4.12). Wang's coming off a very good start against Cleveland and hopefully he can give the bullpen a much needed rest after the first two games of this series.

From The Star-Ledger:


...

LOL. Well, you can't blame them for trying, I guess.

Via SG.