Sabathia dominates. Teixeira’s slam paces Yanks 
BRONX – While the Yankees have battled their way to the top of the AL East, where they also hold the best record in baseball, two of their biggest players have yet to make an impact on the season.
CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira were big cogs in the championship season last year. This season, they have been inconsistent to say the least.
Yesterday, each of them put their stamp on the game and that was too much, powering their way in front of another sold out Yankee Stadium crowd of 49,240 as the Yankees won the rubber game over the Mets 4-0.
The victory capped an end to the 2010 edition of the Subway Series, with each team winning three games apiece. The only other time the two teams could meet would be in the World Series.
“That would be great for New York,” said Alex Rodriguez. “They’re playing as well as we’ve seen them in a long time.”
With the win, the Yankees also took sole control of first place in the AL East after the Rays lost again to the Marlins in Miami. However, the team does not want to think about the standings this early in the season.
“Are we?” said Derek Jeter when asked about the Yankees first place standing. “That means we don’t have to worry about anyone else.”
“I haven’t been paying attention to it, but that’s where we like to be,” add Nick Swisher. “If we keep playing the way we have the past couple of days, it’s going to be fun the rest of the season.”
Channeling his hot streak from last season, Sabathia from the first pitch pitched one of his best games of season, throwing eight shutout innings, limiting the Mets to only four hits.
Sabathia would have pitched the ninth inning if not for a short rain delay in the bottom of the eighth inning, preventing him from a complete game.
On a steamy Sunday afternoon battle of aces Sabathia and Johan Santana, Santana blinked first.
Both pitchers threw up zeroes through the first two and a half frames, but the Yankees finally broke through in the bottom of the third. Brett Gardner led off with a single and Derek Jeter followed with an infield hit on a slow chopping ground ball.
With the infield playing back, Nick Swisher would then surprise everyone with a push bunt to the right side that got past Santana and the throw by Alex Cora dropped between the gloves of both him and first baseman Ike Davis to load the bases with no outs.
On a 1-1 pitch, Teixeira would take a fastball and sent it over the wall in left center for a grand slam to give the Yankees a 4-0 lead. For Teixeira, it was his second homerun in as many days, and third in the last six. Despite his season struggles at the plate (.226), he is in a second place tie on the team in runs batted in (44).
With the way Sabathia was pitching, having a four-run lead was the equivalent of leading by forty runs. Only three Mets hitters reached base through the first five innings. In the sixth, Ruben Tejada doubled to begin the sixth, but the next three hitters could not advance him after a ground out and two flyouts to end the inning.
Besides the homerun by Teixeira, the Yankees offense did not do much against Santana, going only 2-for-9 with men in scoring position and both of those came in the third inning. In six innings, the Mets ace gave up just those four runs to go along with eight hits, walking one and striking out three over 114 pitch
es.
This contrasted from Sabathia’s eight shutout innings of four hit ball, walking two, striking out six, needing only 100 pitches to get through the day, and lowering his ERA to 3.68.
“You go eight inning and give up no runs against a team like that and you have to feel pretty good,” said Sabathia, who held the Mets hitless in seven at bats with runners in scoring position.
The bottom of the lineup went a combined 6-for-14 despite not scoring as the offense still seeks another breakout game.
Mariano Rivera pitched another hitless ninth, raising his hitless batters total to 21 straight, the equivalent of a seven-inning perfect game.
Interleague play continues tomorrow night as the Yankees travel to Phoenix to take on the Diamondbacks at Chase Field.
BRONX – While the Yankees have battled their way to the top of the AL East, where they also hold the best record in baseball, two of their biggest players have yet to make an impact on the season.
CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira were big cogs in the championship season last year. This season, they have been inconsistent to say the least.
Yesterday, each of them put their stamp on the game and that was too much, powering their way in front of another sold out Yankee Stadium crowd of 49,240 as the Yankees won the rubber game over the Mets 4-0.
The victory capped an end to the 2010 edition of the Subway Series, with each team winning three games apiece. The only other time the two teams could meet would be in the World Series.
“That would be great for New York,” said Alex Rodriguez. “They’re playing as well as we’ve seen them in a long time.”
With the win, the Yankees also took sole control of first place in the AL East after the Rays lost again to the Marlins in Miami. However, the team does not want to think about the standings this early in the season.
“Are we?” said Derek Jeter when asked about the Yankees first place standing. “That means we don’t have to worry about anyone else.”
“I haven’t been paying attention to it, but that’s where we like to be,” add Nick Swisher. “If we keep playing the way we have the past couple of days, it’s going to be fun the rest of the season.”
Channeling his hot streak from last season, Sabathia from the first pitch pitched one of his best games of season, throwing eight shutout innings, limiting the Mets to only four hits.
Sabathia would have pitched the ninth inning if not for a short rain delay in the bottom of the eighth inning, preventing him from a complete game.
On a steamy Sunday afternoon battle of aces Sabathia and Johan Santana, Santana blinked first.
Both pitchers threw up zeroes through the first two and a half frames, but the Yankees finally broke through in the bottom of the third. Brett Gardner led off with a single and Derek Jeter followed with an infield hit on a slow chopping ground ball.
With the infield playing back, Nick Swisher would then surprise everyone with a push bunt to the right side that got past Santana and the throw by Alex Cora dropped between the gloves of both him and first baseman Ike Davis to load the bases with no outs.
On a 1-1 pitch, Teixeira would take a fastball and sent it over the wall in left center for a grand slam to give the Yankees a 4-0 lead. For Teixeira, it was his second homerun in as many days, and third in the last six. Despite his season struggles at the plate (.226), he is in a second place tie on the team in runs batted in (44).
With the way Sabathia was pitching, having a four-run lead was the equivalent of leading by forty runs. Only three Mets hitters reached base through the first five innings. In the sixth, Ruben Tejada doubled to begin the sixth, but the next three hitters could not advance him after a ground out and two flyouts to end the inning.
Besides the homerun by Teixeira, the Yankees offense did not do much against Santana, going only 2-for-9 with men in scoring position and both of those came in the third inning. In six innings, the Mets ace gave up just those four runs to go along with eight hits, walking one and striking out three over 114 pitch
es.This contrasted from Sabathia’s eight shutout innings of four hit ball, walking two, striking out six, needing only 100 pitches to get through the day, and lowering his ERA to 3.68.
“You go eight inning and give up no runs against a team like that and you have to feel pretty good,” said Sabathia, who held the Mets hitless in seven at bats with runners in scoring position.
The bottom of the lineup went a combined 6-for-14 despite not scoring as the offense still seeks another breakout game.
Mariano Rivera pitched another hitless ninth, raising his hitless batters total to 21 straight, the equivalent of a seven-inning perfect game.
Interleague play continues tomorrow night as the Yankees travel to Phoenix to take on the Diamondbacks at Chase Field.
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