8/23/07
10:00 p.m.

Lineups:

New York
Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Betemit 1B
Cabrera CF
Pettitte 10-7 3.80

Anaheim
Willits LF
Cabrera SS
Guerrero RF
Anderson DH
Kendrick 2B
Matthews CF
Izturis 3B
Quinlan 1B
Mathis C
Lackey SP 15-7 3.32

Figgins is out of the lineup for Anaheim. He strained his wrist during last night's game and is day-to-day.



2:44 A.M.


Pettitte gave the Yankees just what they needed tonight, seven solid innings to keep the team in the game and the bullpen from being overworked going into Detroit on Friday.

The offense did more than enough to back him, scoring eight runs on 16 hits. Matsui, Posada, Cano, Cabrera and Damon combined for 13 of those hits and six runs driven in.

But in the eighth, Joba Chamberlain stole the show.

In my previous post I noted that the kid will need to run into a little trouble before the Yankees can judge the full balance of his character. He ran into that trouble last night. After getting ninth hitter Jeff Mathis to wave at a slider, leadoff man Reggie Willits grounded a single through the middle.

Granted, it was only a single, and the Yankees did have a six-run lead at the time, but it put the very speedy Willits on first for Cabrera and Guerrero.

This is where it gets impressive.

Chamberlain got both hitters to wave at sliders out of the zone. He had bridged the gap to Mariano Rivera, further proving his case as the setup man for the stretch run.

After surrendering a run on a few Baltimore Chop singles over the corner infielders, Rivera closed the door on an 8-2 win.

Because both Boston and Seattle had lost earlier in the day the Yankees moved up in the respective division and wild card races. New York now sits at 5 back in the East and 1.5 out the WC.

That's all for now, back tomorrow with a preview of the upcoming tryst in Motown.