| May 26, 2010 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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It seems as if at least the starting pitching has rediscovered its groove even if the offense still has not. Andy Pettitte (W, 6-1; 8.0 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 2.62 ERA) was terrific, giving the Yanks 8.0 strong IP, and Nick Swisher’s solo HR in the top of the 9th gave Pettitte the W as Mariano Rivera pitched a perfect bottom of the frame to earn his 10 S of the season and give the Yanks their first winning streak in over a week and a half.
Swisher’s bomb in the 9th off of Twins’ closer John Rauch was very impressive, but so was the fact that the Yanks’ last three W have all been by R, which is interesting considering that they started the season 0-3 in 1-R G.
I think the main reason is that Joe Girardi seems to be trusting his pitching more than he has in the last few weeks and the trust has resonated with the pitchers as they have really come through in clutch situations. Case in point: in the bottom of the 8th, the Twins had runners at 1B and 3B and no one out, but Girardi decided to stick with Pettitte rather than call on the bullpen. And by doing so, Pettitte caught the line drive from Orlando Hudson for the first out and then got Joe Mauer to GIDP to end the threat.
(AL East -3.5, 2nd; 4-6, W2; Home 13-6, Road 15-12)
