About a month ago, I predicted that it might be September before Brett Gardner would pick up 7+ total bases in a game again, as he did on May 13. I was wrong. The speedster came through with a career night out of the leadoff spot, going 5-5 and picking up 10 total bases in the Yankees 9–1 victory over the Mets tonight at Citi Field.

The game was all Yankees pretty much from the start, thanks to Gardner's performance (5-5, 3B, HR, 3 R, 2 RBI), a nice performance from CC Sabathia, and some hot potato defense by the Mets in the 2nd inning.

The Yankees jumped ahead in that 2nd inning, courtesy of three Mets errors and RBI hits by both Ramiro Pena and CC Sabathia (the big man finished the game 1–4). The Yankees never looked back, and they added 3 runs in the 8th and 2 in the 9th to cap off their 9-run night. The Yankees have now scored 28 runs over their last three games after scoring only 11 runs in their previous five.

It wasn't clear after CC Sabathia's last start whether he would pitch in tonight's game when he was pulled after only an inning and a third on Sunday in Florida with tightness in his biceps. Sabathia did more tonight than simply show up. He allowed a run on only 3 hits and struck out 8 in 7 innings, and was perfect going into the 5th inning before allowing a solo home run to Gary Sheffield. Brett Tomko relieved CC in the 8th and retired all 6 batters he faced to put the Mets away in the series opener.

The Yankees will try to make it 4 in a row tomorrow evening and they'll send A.J. Burnett to the mound to face the Mets and Tim Redding. Redding, as some of you may recall, started one game for the Yankees in 2005, allowing 6 runs in the only inning he pitched for the ballclub. Game starts at 7:10 ET.

Recap records: Patrick: 21–11, Seamus: 16–14, Andrew: 4–7 (as Seamus was filling in for Patrick).