Oh wait, that’s Yogi Berra –  wrong catcher. My oh my, the Yankee offense, ESPECIALLY Jorge Posada, has been mighty fine lately. Today, the Yankees closed out their series against the Astros in winning fashion, completing the sweep. The Yanks beat the Astros 9-5.

Pitching Analysis: Phil Hughes toed the rubber today in search of his 9th victory of the season. He was Philthy through the first 5 innings, but he hit a bump in the 6th that he was unable to escape from. Hughes allowed just 1 run in the 1st, on a sac fly by Carlos Lee, but surrendered 4 in the 6th. The big blow was a 2-run homer by former Yankee Kevin Cash. After that, Girardi pulled Hughes for Marte – not willing to take any chances. Aside from that 6th, Hughes was good at limiting the damage. But it was clear that he did not have his best stuff today.

    

He still is in line for an All-Star spot.

The bullpen did its job today. Damaso Marte got out of the 6th just fine. Chan Ho-in Park pitched a scoreless 7th, Joba threw a scoreless 8th, and the Great Mariano closed it out with a scoreless 9th.

Defensive Analysis: Despite the wet weather, which usually makes things messy on the field, the Yankees played solid defense today, with individuals making sparkling plays. In te 3rd, Ramiro Pena made a gorgeous diving play on a liner to rob Michael Bourn of a potential extra-base hit. Ramiro seems to do something big, even if it is small, in every game he plays. Brett Gardner made a nice leaping play in the 7th on a deep fly ball by Carlos Lee. Glad to hear that his thumb is stable enough for him to play.

Offensive Analysis: It took the Yankees a little while to get on the board, but when they did, they did it loudly. In the 4th, Robbie Cano tied up the game at 1 with a solo home run, his 13th of the season. Then Posada, Gardner, and rookie Chad Huffman (cutie!) walked to load the bases for Ramiro Pena. Ramiro once again delivered, knocking in 2 runs with a single and giving the Yankees their first lead of the day – a lead they held on to.

The Yankees were extremely patient at the plate today. In the 5th, Granderson, Cano, and Swisher walked to load the bases for who: Jorge Posada. Facing the same situation as yesterday, Jorge had the same mindset: get a good pitch, and put a good swing on it. Lucky for him, the results were the same. On a 2-0 count, Posada got a pitch to hit, and launched it into the right field seats – the same spot as yesterday – for his second grand slam in as many days! I knew he was going to hit that. I said it:

“Wouldn’t it be something if Jorge went deep again? Oh my…haha then I guess I can’t be saying how I want Cervelli in his place anymore. OH MY…HOLY JESUS….he DID do it! AW! JORGE!!!! GRAND SLAM!”

   

Hip hip, JORGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was the first time a Yankee hit a grand slam in consecutive days since Bill Dickey, another catcher great, did it in 1937. But more importantly, it gave the Yankees a 7-1 lead. If yesterday didn’t give Jorge confidence, today definitely did.

The Yanks scored their final 2 runs in te 6th inning on RBI singled by Swisher and Gardner, giving the team a 9-5 lead. And that was how it ended.

Congrats Yankees on sweeping the Astros! The heroes for today’s finale win are Ramiro Pena, for his glove and clutch bat, Brett Gardner, for the same reasons as Ramiro, and Jorge Posada for his astonishing feat of pure beastness at the plate today. Jorge, although it seems sometimes that I don’t like you, it’s not true. I really DO like you. It’s just that I LOVE Francisco Cervelli….you know…..love…as in, like….looooove ♥ I love you too, though. But I don’t have these fantasies about you that involve…..things…

Trust me, it’s probably better this way 😉

GO YANKEES!