Pettitte (3-0) allowed six hits, struck out eight and walked none. The two-time All-Star gave up his only run on Torii Hunter‘s sacrifice fly in the sixth, after getting staked to a 6-0 lead. It was the left-hander’s 30th regular-season start against the Angels, the team he beat in the Yankees’ home opener with six scoreless innings on April 13 .Joel Pineiro (2-2) worked six innings and allowed six runs, two more than he gave up in 20 1/3 innings over his first three starts. The Yankees got 11 of their 14 hits against the right-handerYankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez was in the DH spot for the first time this season, while Nick Johnson got the day off because of some slight back stiffness. A-Rod went 1 for 5 and twice struck out looking.Ramiro Pena made his first start at third this season for New York and made his presence felt defensively by robbing former Yankee Juan Rivera of a hit in the second inning with a diving catch of his line drive in the hole. One inning later, Pena made a nice play to short-hop a throw from left fielder Brett Gardner and slap the tag on Mike Napoli as he tried to advance from first base on Brandon Wood‘s single.The Yankees got on the board first with an RBI double by Swisher in the second inning and added three more in the fourth. Cervelli, who made his fourth start behind the plate in place of Jorge Posada with the Yankees playing a day game after a night game, hit a two-run single with the bases loaded and Derek Jeter followed with an RBI single.The defending World Series champions tacked on two more in the fifth. Gardner led off the fifth with a triple, his third hit of the game, and scored on a single by Cano — who came around on a wild pitch, a passed ball and a single by Swisher to make is 6-0. Pettitte then struck out the side in the bottom of the inning.Mark Teixeira drove in the Yankees’ final run with an RBI single in the seventh against Scot Shields. It was the right-hander’s first appearance since last Tuesday, when he walked three batters in the seventh inning and was charged with three runs. The Angels will continue to Shields in non-critital situations until he straightens himself out. His ERA in six outings this season is 14.55.

–Associated Press

A-Rod Going Deep Off Of Hammels-AP Eric Gay

The Yankees bats have awakened as they have taken a 2-1 series lead over the Philadelphia Phillies.

The New York Yankees hit 3 home runs against the Phillies to take a one game lead in the World Series.

The Halloween game, which was delayed by rain for about 80 minutes, started off as a horror show.

Pettite was having problems, walking batters and he and Jorge Posada didn’t seem to be on the same page. A Jayson Werth blast — the first of two off Andy — and a misplayed Cole Hamels bunt led to three runs in the second inning.

But the Yankees and Andy Pettitte did not give up.

Alex Rodriguez hit a controversial two run blast off Cole Hamels in the fourth which got them back in the game.

Yes, the umps initially signaled a double and had to go to the review television under the bleachers before declaring the blast a home run. But it WAS a home run. The ball bounced off a FOX camera perched in right field and came back on the field. ESPN’s John Kruk was ranting about how embarrassing it was for Major League Baseball.

What the chunky ex-ball player didn’t know, was that the umpires had discussed the camera before the game and they had come to an agrrement: Any ball that hit the camera in the air would be ruled a home run.

That play was the turning point of the game. Cole Hammels couldn’t get an out and the Yankees went on a tear and couldn’t be denied their second victory of the series.

The big players of the game were Andy Pettite, A-Rod, Matsui, and Damon, who all came up clutch with some big hits and some nice RBIs. Yes, I included Pettite in that group because he did knock in his 18th career RBI.

I guess Cole Hammels enjoyed his Halloween as he got booed by the Philly faithful.

After Jeter and Damon both reached safely, thanks to two nice base hits, Alex Rodriguez was able to score Jeter on a sacrafice fly to deep center. The next hitter, Hideki Matsui was able to score Damon thanks to a communication error by Angel’s third baseman Chone Figgins and shortstop Erick Aybar. Matsui hit a soaring fly ball in the direction of the two Angel infielders. To put it simply, they both thought the other was going to catch the routine flyball. Either way, it led to a Yankees 2-0 lead.

Joba Chamberlain

After jumping out to an early 4-0 lead over the Texas Rangers, the NewYork Yankees and Joba Chamberlain fell apart and couldn’t hold on to the lead. Joba was well rested and has no excuses for the rallys that the Rangers had in both the second and fourth inning with two outs. The Yankees better get their act together and figure out how to beat the Rangers at Yankee Stadium, because they could very well be their first round opponent in this years playoffs.

With eight days rest, Joba needed 96 pitches to get him through only four innings. He gave up seen runs on nine hits nd three walks. His worst inning of all was his last, in which it took him 44 pitches to get ot of it. Rough night for Joba, dropping his second straight decision. I am just starting to wonder if he is going to turn this around soemtime soon. The playoffs are lurking right around the corner. Maybe Joe Girardi should should have him throw on two or three days rest. Maybe that will get him into gear. Who knows?

The Yanks put together a  couple  of base hits in the bottom of the ninth, and were looking to win the game, when Melky Cabrera lined into an inning ending double play.

The Yanks could have sealed the deal with a lot more style but they gave up a couple of deep balls and base hits to let the Red Sox get in double digits.

But no sweat, it is always a good night when you walk into Fenway and slap the Red Sox around in front of their own fans. Teixeira and A-Rod combined for a total of 7 hits and 4 RBIs in the victory. Hideki Matsui had 2 hits with 7 RBIs, you do the math. What a freakin stud and he really showed up to play. I am sure glad that he is healthy and back in the lineup. Melky Cabrera also had 4 hits for the Yankees. I could go on and on but I won’t, I will just put it simply, the Yankees hit the hide off of the ball all night long.

Andy Pettitte threw like a stud on the mound and gave up 7 hits and 5 runs in logging the victory. It has got to feel good to be him. He was due for a big game and a big win and this one was huge. Pettitte threw 5 innings and looked like the Andy of old. I am pretty sure he is back and ready to take the Yanks all the way.

Mike Lowell was the only Red Sock with 3 hits. The rest were left to walk off the field in shame as the Yanks stretched their lead in the AL east to 7 1/2 games.

Cabrera hit a three-run homer in the second inning to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead, he double in the fourth, had an RBI single in the fifth, and then finished up in the ninth with a triple off of Scott Linebrink. The crowd that recently roared for a Buehrle perfect game, was now on their feet cheering for Cabrera’s performance.

The performance today by Cabrera was much needed, seeing that the Yankees only hold a half game lead over the Boston Redsox in the AL East.

What was expected to be a pitchers duel between Yankee starter CC Sabathia and White Sox starter Mark Buehrle, never really amounted to much. After the quick lead by the Yankees, thanks to Cabrera’s three run shot, the White Sox responded with a pair of homeruns from Jermaine Dye and  Jim Thome. The Yankees then responded with four runs in the next two innings, and with that, Sabathia had enough to settle down. Mo baby got the save as usual.

The Yankees have a tough week ahead of them, facing one of the best starters in the game in Roy Halliday and the Toronto Blue Jays for two games, and then a four game home series with the hated Bo Sox.

Looks like  AJ Burnett’s evil twin decided to show up to the game today, again. Man, I am really g etting sick of this guy showing up and then throwing the way that he does. There is no excuse to be walking runners in. This is profesional baseball and you are  a Yankee.

Looks like we need to have an exorcism of AJ Burnett and get all of these demons out of him. Then maybe he just might show up and win a game. Hopefully he gets his act ready for the Red Sox series next week.

As I was watching the game today, I started to get excited when the bases were loaded with no outs and the score was 7-2. I was thinking, alright, here we go. But nope. We had a solid hit that was a line out to left field by Cabrera. A blooper to left that scored a run, yet Jorge Posada forgot how to run bases and got thrown out at third on a force. (Drop the piano Jorge) Then, a bad strike out. Inning over. And for the most part, game over.

Better luck tomorrow right? Go get em CC!