So I’m back and procrastinating from school stuff. Hey, so goes the life of a college student. It’s natural. The Yanks are once again seeking length from Andy Pettitte, who has delivered well so far this season. The Tigers counter with Jeremy Bonderman. Play ball!
Top 1: Pudge Rodriguez is leading off for the Tigers. Interesting. Anyway, he grounds out to Gonzalez, who is playing third.
Polanco grounds out to third as well.
Good ol’ Gary Sheffield steps in for the Tigers. He gets the usual Bronx Cheer. Well, he grounds out to AG as well. 3 assists for AG in the inning. Not bad.
Bottom 1: Damon is leading off and playing left today. He faces Bonderman, a guy he has quite a bit of success against. On a 3-1 pitch, Damon saws off his bat on a foul ball and goes to get a new bat. The new bat was a good one. Damon doubles into left as the ball kicks off the stands.
Jeter’s up and shows bunt. His first attempt spins foul. Then he turns around and slices a single into left. Damon had to hold up to see if the ball would get through and goes to third.
Abreu has a chance to drive in a run with runners on first and third and no out. Bonderman is having trouble finding the zone. He’s 3-0 on Abreu…and it’s a 4-pitch walk.
Bases loaded and no out for Matsui. Leyland is out for a chat. Matsui pops it up to former Yankee Thames in left and Damon can’t score.
So maybe Giambi will get a runner across…bases loaded and one out. Giambi drives one out to deep left centre and Damon does score this time. 1-0 Yanks.
Giambi did his job. Runners on first and second for Melky. Melky lines a single into left field. Jeter scores and it’s 2-0 Yanks. It was a good throw by Thames.
Cano has runners on first and second. He pops out to left field to end the inning.
End of 1st: 2-0 Yanks
Top 2: Ordonez is up to bat for the Tigers. Pettitte walks him.
Cabrera, who has switched from third to first recently, is at the plate. He hits one off the third base bag and it is skied into the air. AG has to wait for it to come down and has no chance at even getting a throw.
Guillen bunts his first pitch back to Pettitte, who makes the only play over at first. The runners advance to second and third.
One out and two runners in scoring position for Renteria. He grounds one to Cano at second. A run scores and Renteria is out at first. 2-1 Yanks.
Thames is up with a runner on third. He hits a sharp one to Jeter, who throws over to Giambi for the out.
Bottom 2: Bonderman’s back out for a second chance at the Yankee line-up. Leading off the inning is Molina, who grounds out softly to second.
AG’s playing third tonight for A-Rod, who is now on the DL. He grounds out to third.
Back to the top of the order with Damon. He flies out to centre.
End of 2nd: 2-1 Yanks
Top 3: Inge hits a check swing grounder to Giambi, who takes the ball himself and gets the out at first.
Pudge is back up for his second turn and hits a fly ball to centre. Melky takes it for the second out.
Polanco grounds out to Jeter for a nice and quick innning by Pettitte.
Bottom 3: Jeter hits a sharp grounder to third. Guillen gloves it and barely beats Jeter to first.
One out and Abreu is up. He walked to load the bases last time. He grounds one up the first base line. Just before it goes foul, Bonderman takes it and tags Abreu passing by.
Matsui hits a sharp single into centre.
Giambi grounds out to first to end the inning.
End of 3rd: 2-1 Yanks
Top 4: Sheffield gets a nice and warm reception from the crowd in the form of boos. He strikes out swinging.
Ordonez hits a grounder that AG gloves and makes a nice throw over to first for the out.
The other M. Cabrera is up and goes down looking at strike three. Another easy inning for Andy.
Bottom 4: With the other M. Cabrera going down, the Yanks’ Melky is up. He picks up his second hit of the evening on a single to right.
Cano grounds one to second. The ball is thrown to second for the force, but Cano is safe at first.
Tonight’s catcher, Molina, has a runner on first with one down. Cano takes off running and is gunned down at second. Molina grounds to third and is thrown out at first.
End of 4th: 2-1 Yanks
Top 5: Guillen leads off the inning para los Tigres after making a nice play to end the last inning. He goes down looking for the K.
The second hit of the night for the Tigers is a single up the middle by Renteria.
Thames lifts a homer to left field to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead.
Inge grounds out to third.
Pudge grounds back to Pettitte, who throws over to first to get the out.
Bottom 5: AG hits one over to third. Guillen knocks it down and makes the throw over to first.
Damon quickly pops out to short.
Well, sorry about that. My Internet connection copped out on me, so I have no idea what happened over the last couple of innings. However, I return only to find word that Phil Hughes is now headed to the DL. Not this again. Memo to Yankees: call up Rasner. Now. Oh, and now back to your regularly scheduled live blogging.
Top 8: The score is now 5-2 and Farnsworth is on to pitch for the Yanks. Polanco greets him by taking him for a ride to left field for a homer. Turns out that he hit a homer his last time up as well. It’s 6-2 Tigers.
Sheffield squirts one past a diving Jeter into centre for a single.
Maggs comes up and Sheffield takes off and successfully steals second. Still no out. Ordonez strikes out swinging for the first out.
Cabrera flies out to Abreu in right for the second out. Sheffield holds at second.
Two outs and a man on second for Guillen. He is putting up a good battle on an 0-2 count. He finally strikes out.
Bottom 8: AG is at the plate against Bonderman, who is still in for the Tigers. He strikes out swinging.
Damon works a one-out walk. Maybe the offense could ignite…
Jeter drives a ball out to right field. Granderson cut all the way over to right to make the catch on the lip of the warning track.
Bonderman is coming out of the game. Rapata is the new pitcher and he faces Abreu with Damon on first. He gets Abreu to ground out to second to end it.
End of 8th: 6-2 Tigers
Top 9: My net connection cut away again, so I’m sorry about that. Must try to get the new modem fully functional…anyway, there are two on and one out in the top of the 9th with Pudge at the plate. Edwar is on the mound. Pudge strikes out on a check swing.
Polanco’s up now. He has hit homers in his last two ABs. Ramirez finally gets to him and Polanco flies out to right.
Bottom 9: Rapada is staying in the game and now faces Godzilla. And I’ll be back later…have a call to take.
