Yanks sweep doubleheader with Rays

Today’s doubleheader with the Rays (72-66) could not have gone any better for the Yankees (89-50). Both CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett held the Rays to one run, and the offense provided quality run support in 4-1 and 11-1 wins.

Quick ‘Caps:
The afternoon game was tied at 1 through seven and a half innings, until Robinson Cano came up with the bases loaded and nobody out. Cano hit a sac fly to break the tie, and then Jorge Posada added an RBI single and Eric Hinske scored another with a sac fly.

Seven innings of one-run ball from Sabathia was not good enough for the win, but it did make way for Phil Hughes to improve to 6-3 on the year. Mariano Rivera recorded save No. 39 for the season. Full box score here.

Game two fell apart for the Rays in the third inning. The Yanks put up an eight-spot thanks to Mark Teixeira’s three-run homer and Jose Molina’s two singles. Teixeira smoked his second homer of the game in the sixth, and the Yanks tacked on two more to make it 11-1.

With the seven-run lead, Joe Girardi opted to give the September call-ups some work. Edwar Ramirez, Jon Albaladejo and Mike Dunn each contributed a shutout inning. Full box score here.

Thoughts:
For once, my series preview outlook was correct. The one-two punch of Sabathia and Burnett clicked like never before. Now the Yankees have a ton of confidence for the remaining two games.

Line of the Night:
Derek Jeter: 0-for-8, R, RBI, BB, K. Entering the day three hits shy of Lou Gehrig’s record for most hits all-time in a Yankee uniform, Jeter utterly failed. Hopefully he will still be looking for the record-breaking hit this weekend when I will finally be at the new Yankee Stadium.

Up Next:
Tuesday’s game is set for a 7:05 p.m. start time between David Price (7-7, 4.75) and Chad Gaudin (5-10, 4.98).