Pitching Clinic

Andy Pettitte was awesome yesterday. He was completely smooth and dominant through his 8 innings of 4-hit ball with 9 Ks. And just like that, the Yankees swept the A's in their first series of the second half, moving 4.5 games behind the Rays. In fact, the Yankees were the only team in the top three of the East who moved forward; TB fell to the Jays and the Angels actually did go ahead and sweep the Sox. Phew!

Scott Baker had perfection going into the 6th, but he gave up rookie's first major league hit. Unfortunately, this hit was a HR and the only run allowed in the entire game. God I hate when that happens. Well, at least the Chisox lost as well, so no ground was lost in the Central.

For the next three days, my baseball watching will be consolidated as the Twins journey to the Bronx for the final time. I'm not going to like this series. On one hand, I want the Twins to succeed because there are those out there who STILL refuse to call them contenders and a series of victories would silence all the naysayers. But on the other, those victories would have to come against my top team, and being only 4.5 back is...so...close! So either way, I lose this series. I'd like to see the Twins take the opener behind Blackburn, the Yanks take the third behind Moose, and the middle game to just end in a tie. Or something. Ugh.

(If it's any solace to the Yankee fans out there, I seriously debated which hat to wear this morning before the mere consideration made me feel dirty. Yanks all the way...)