Early in the game it wasn’t looking good for the Yankees.   Mitre gave up 4 two out singles giving up two runs before getting Edwin Encarnocion to ground into a fielders choice.  But he seemed to settle down as the game went on.  The only other trouble he got himself into was a slight jam with runners on first and second and two outs but he was able to work out of it with no damage done.   Then it was all just fine and dandy until Toronto DH Adamn Lind crushed a change up into the second deck out in right field then after giving up a single the skipper decided to pull the starter for Alfredo Aceves known around the clubhouse as Ace for a reason tonight he got two of Toronto’s best hitters out first with a Vernon Wells pop out then with a strikeout of Alex Rios on a nasty curveball for a called strike three.  Aceves was as nasty as his curveball today striking out 3 of the first 5 men he faced in the game. 

In the top of the third the evil empire struck back to tie the ball game up at two runs each with an RBI single by Johnny Damon and then an  RBI fielder’s choice by Teixeira beating out the throw to first which seemed to be important at the time.  Then in the bottom of the frame Yankees backstop Jose Molina picked off the fleet-footed Vernon Wells at first with a very nice tag by Teix. 

But the most important inning for the Yankees was the seventh when Nick Swisher hit a very, very high fly ball that made its way over the outfield wall and sent the pitchers scattering away from the bomb.  Then Robby Cano hit a standup double before being moved over to third by Melky which set the table for Hideki Matsui’s pinch-hit go ahead RBI single making the score 4-3.   Then the Yankees really took their brooms out and started hitting the Jays hard scoring 2 more runs adding a nice cushion to their once slim lead.  Until Marco Scutaro hit a huge homer vs. the earlier unhittable Aceves.  The Yanks then came back and got that run back on a sac fly by PH Eric Hinske.  Hughes came in and was lights out and Damon hit a homer in his second straight game. These games are really starting to feel repetetive aren’t they? Well if you feel that way i’m sure it’s all gonna change when the Red Sox come to town!

So final score=8- 4 in Yankees favor

Yankees divisional lead= 2.5 games

But this game made me (and probably some of you) ask a few questions.

1.  How much of a risk are we taking by putting Johnny Damon out in left every game? ( He missed a foul pop that would have even been a can of corn for Nick Swisher) In my mind a huge risk but one the Yankees have to take because they can’t give up his bat or put him as DH because that would deprive our line up of another key bat in Matsui.  No matter how bad Damon’s arm or glove is we need him in our lineup

2.  Who will be the fifth starter after tonight because I am almost positve Mitre won’t be in the starting rotation again this year unless absolutely neccessary.  My answer for this is either Phil Hughes, Alfredo Aceves, or Kei Igawa (yes it pains me to say that Kei Igawa is an option) 

3.  Will this momentum carry over into the Sox series? Hopefully and in my mind probably because with the Yankees winning 3 straight and the Red Sox losing 2 of their last 3 the momentum has swung in the Yankees favor.

4.  How long did it take the poor Blue Jays starting pitcher Rzepczynski to learn how to write his last name???  All i can say is Thank God he has an easy first name like Marc. 

5.  My last question is a simple one what was up with those umps in the front row? Calling every strike for the blue jays pitching, throwing back imaginary baseballs to the pitchers aren’t those symptoms of insanity or something?  Well all i know is that they’ll be entered into the Baseball Tonight Umpire fantasy league!