Long Ball Beats Byrd, Tribe

Score: Yankee 6 Indians 3


Turning Point: With two outs and Robinson Cano on third, Johnny Damon doubled to left field to score the go ahead run, and that put the Yankees on their way to victory.


Analysis: Left handed hitters killed Paul Byrd today. All five runs Byrd gave up were driven in by left handed hitters. Also the three home runs given up by Byrd were to left handed hitters. When he got into jams, the left handed bats made Paul Byrd pay. Offensively the Indians had a piece meal lineup that faced Mike Mussina today. After stalling though out the first four innings, the Tribe bats finally got it going against Mussina in the fifth, tagging him for three runs and tying the game. But Byrd couldn’t hold the lead, and the Yankees were able to tag him for two more runs. Masa Kobayashi gave up a solo shot to Wilson Betemit for the sixth Yankee run. Jorge Julio pitched a scoreless inning in the eighth.


MVP: Casey Blake
Had it not been for Casey, the Indians would probably have been shut out in this game. Blake doubled off the right field wall to score the first two runs of the game for Cleveland. Blake, who is struggling to hit at home, continued his good road hitting and hitting with runners in scoring position. Overall, Blake was 1-3 with the two RBIs.


Extras:

- Eric Wedge elected to sit both Victor Martinez and Travis Hafner today. Martinez is still ailing from a sore neck. With poor numbers historically against Mussina, Wedge gave Victor an extra day to rest the ailing neck. Hafner was given what Wedge likes to call a “mental health” day. Hafner continues to remain ice cold at the plate. Travis has sat out the last three out of seven games.

- Ben Francisco has now hit in every game since his call up on Tuesday. Francisco finished the Yankee series 4-11 with a double.

- The Indians, who were 0-6 against New York last season, finish their season series with a record of 4-3. This was only the Indians fourth series victory out of twelve series played on the season. It was also the Indians last game in the current version of Yankee Stadium.

- Jason Giambi now has six home runs on the season. Three of those home runs have now come off of Paul Byrd.


Next Up: The Tribe returns home tomorrow night to take on the Toronto Blue Jays. Another pitcher’s duel could be in store tomorrow night when these two teams meet for a four game series. The Indians hand the ball to the resurgent, C.C. Sabathia. C.C. had a mediocre outing against Kansas City last time out. Sabathia is 1-5 with a 7.51 ERA. Toronto will start their ace, Roy Halladay. Halladay has been victim a slumping offense in his starts, much like Sabathia. He is 3-4 with a 3.00 ERA. The game’s first toss will be at 7:05 PM tomorrow evening from beautiful Progressive Field.