Sidney Ponson took the mound for the first time as a Yankee last night, and after allowing a three run homer to Richie Sexson in his first inning of work, I couldn't help but think "Ugh, here we go." Ponson, however, actually settled down after that, allowing only one more run and leaving the game with a line of 5 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 5 SO in 6.2 IP. He was still on pace for the loss though as the Yankees were trailing when he was replaced by Ron Villone in the 7th.

The Yanks were still trailing 4-2 in the 9th when Andy Phillips led the inning off with a double. Aaron Guiel brought him in with a base hit with one out, and moved to third on an infield single by Jorge Posada in which he probably should've been called out. Johnny Damon followed that up with a sacrifice fly to tie the game. Alex Rodriguez, who was out of the lineup with what Joe Torre said was a bruised toe, entered the game as a pinch hitter and struck out in his only at bat, which was interrupted halfway through with a 2 hour rain delay. Both teams went scoreless in the 10th and Melky Cabrera led off the bottom of the 11th and ended the game with his 4th home run of the season.

The win is the Yankees' 5th in a row as they kept pace and remained a half game behind the Red Sox and 2.5 behind the White Sox, who both won last night as well. A-Rod's replacement at 3rd base, Nick Green went 3-3 with two doubles and has actually been a pretty decent contributor so far when the Yankees have used him. Andy Phillips had two hits including a home run in the 2nd, and Jason Giambi drove in his 77th.

The Yankees will look to sweep their second consecutive series (3rd if they would've been able to hold onto a 5-run lead in St. Petersburg) and they will be sending Randy Johnson to the mound to face Gil Meche. Johnson has been solid of late and hopefully this is the start to the type of second half he had last season. Meche has been pretty good for the Mariners this year, as he is 9-4 with an E.R.A. of 3.87.


EDIT: Fans who run on the field are idiots and I don't condone it, but something about this picture just makes me laugh. Found it on the Seattle Times website.