Burnett curves his way to this great win. A little help from Yankee Damon

Toronto v New York Tuesday August 19, 2008

Yet another big series for several reasons, Yankees are in third spot above Jays and a sweep here this week can put Jays above. Secondly they are on great roll after Fenway wins. Third Alex Rios appears to be very hot in Boston, can he continue? and can Jays bats continue to hoit the way they did in Fenway? Lastly Burnett himself on a great winning streak, maybe playing for next year’s big contract but as long as the Jays get the wins this season that is all they will worry about here.

Lineups: Yankees: Damon, Jeter, Abreu, Rodriguez, Giambi, Nady, Matsui, Cano, Rodriguez and Rasner pitching.
Jays: Inglett, Scutaro, Rios, Wells, Lind, Stairs, Barajas, Overbay, McDonald and Burnett pitching.

Result: Jays win this one 2-1 with brilliant pitching, a couple of hits and very good defence but definitely helped here by Damon error and A. Rodigruez running error.

The excellent: Burnett with season high thirteen strikeouts including A-Rod three times, Giambi three times, Damon and Jeter, up and down the order.
The very good: Lind another home run. Overbay defensive gem to throw out A-Rod top of the ninth in crucial situation. Scutaro another defensive gem mid-air catch on full length dive.

The bad: Two more double plays tonight by the Jays. Also this was a big crowd tonight and very large lineup by 5.00pm obviously bloated by Yankee fans but gates did not open until 5.30. Surely better to have a couple of thousand inside (and spending money than lined up outside?) And a continual moan about the lack of video on the screen until 20 minutes ? before the game and then not much baseball content. Compare that with the spring experience at Bright House field and every game the highlights of the previous division winning season an hour of baseball memories and highlights. Surely Rogers Centre can do something similar.
The game itself, with my area surrounded by very loud Yankees fans but it could have been worse if the Red Sox Nation were in town.

Top 1st: Damon walks, not a good start here for AJ. This guy can steal. Jeter at bat one on , strikes out. Great curve ball. Abreu at bat doubles hard down the third base line into the LF corner, Damon scores easily. 1-0 Yankees. A.Rodriguez at bat with runner at 2B and mixed cheers and boos, lots of boos. Strikes out. Great cheers from crowd. Giambi at bat strikes out. Burnett strikes out the side but is down 1-0. His curve ball is really wicked tonight.
Bottom 1st: Inglett grounds to Giambi at 1B throw to Rasner for the out. Scutaro walks. Rios lines out to Damon in CF DROPS the ball….. and is safe at 2B on the error, Scutaro moves to 3B could have come home if he had been running on the hit but had to hold for possible out . Most would. Wells strikes out. Two down. Lind grounds to Cano 2B throw to Giambi for third out. Jays maybe ? could/should have ? scored in that inning.

Top 2nd: Nady at bat, first time as a Yankee at Rogers Centre, strikes out. Four for AJ. Matsui back off disabled list,fly ball out to Lind. Cano with two down, hammers this one to left, WHOA! An amazing catch by Scutaro, diving full length to save at least two bases and end the inning. That was highlight reel catch and I don’t think Rolen could have done any better.

Bottom 2nd: Overbay singles to RF. One on for Stairs, pops it up to catcher Rodriguez. Strage to see him in Yankees uniform. Barajas fly ball out to Abreu in RF. McDonald grounds to shortstop Jeter throw to Cano, Overbay out at 2B..

Top 3rd: Pudge Rodriguez grounds to Inglett throw to Overbay, one down. Damon at bat,one down strikes out. Jeter at bat two down strikes out. Burnett is mowing them down Six strike outs in first three innings.

Bottom 3rd: Inglett hit by pitch. One on for Scutaro strikes out. Rios grounds to Jeter flip to Cano on to Giambi, double play ends that Jays threat.

Top 4th: Abreu doubles to CF. A. Rodriguez strikes out for second time, and also second time with runner in scoring position at 2B. Giambi one out also strikes out. And ditto second time for him and with runner in scoring position. Eight strikes outs for Burnett. He is definitely on his game tonight and I can see from here he is extremely focused. Nady grounds to McDonald throw to Overbay. Three down. Another good inning for Burnett but it would be nice if he could get some run support here.

Bottom 4th: Wells singles first pitch to LF. Where was that hit last at bat ? Lind strikes out.
Overbay grounds to Cano 2B throw to Jeter SS on to Giambi at 1B yet another double play by Jays two of them tonight already. They can’t keep giving Yankees chances like this.

Top 5th: Matsui pops out to Inglett. One down for Cano grounds to McDonald throw to Overbay for second out. Pudge Rodriguez singles to CF. Damon at bat, Rodriguez is stealing and safe at 2B. Damon strikes out.

Bottom 5th: Stairs fly ball out to Nady in LF. Barajas pops up to Jeter. McDonald lines out to Nady. Easy inning for Rasner and no sign yet of the bats Jays hitters had in Boston at the weekend.

Top sixth. Jeter grounds to short, ad safe at 1B. Abreu lines out to Lind. A.Rod strikes out. Again, his third tonight. Giambi strikes out. His third. Burnett really has their number tonight. Eleven strikes outs and A-Rod and Giambi have six of them !
Bottom sixth. Inglett pops up to A-Rod. Some wag shouts "mine"…. Fans don’t forget do they? Although it is selective memory. Robie Alomar is here sitting in the TD seats at 1B line and he gets a great ovation when seen on the Jumbotron. Scutaro fly ball out to Abreu. Rios grounds to Jeter throw to Giambi and Jays hitters go very quietly. They are making Rasner look like Halladay

Top 7th: Nady singles to RF. Matsui strikes out. Cano grounds to Overbay throw to McDonald, Nady out, throw back to Burnett but not in time for double play. Pudge Rodriguez strikes out. Number thirteen for Burnett, season high but he is over the 100 pitch count.
Bottom 7th: Wells fly ball out to Damon, catches that one. Lind at bat, full count, and gets holf one high into RF this one has gone, HR to Adam and this game is all tied up. Crowd really starts to get into game now. 1-1 with one down. Overbay grounds out to Giambi.Two down but that is it for Rasner even though his pitch count is only 86 pitches, thanks to the first swing club here tonight in Jays dugout. Veras pitching to Stairs who has not had a good game tonight. Takes two HR cuts and misses. Now grounds out to Cano throw to Giambi for third out but Jays have tied this one up.

Top 8th: Burnett still pitching. Damon grounds to Inglett throw to Overbay. One down for Jeter grounds to Scutaro throw to Overbay.Two down. Abreu grounds to Inglett throw to the busy guy here, Overbay. Burnett does his job and this time without strikeouts.

Bottom 8th: Veras still pitching. Barajas strikes out. McDonald strikes out. Two down for Inglett singles to CF. One on two down. Scutaro lines on hard to the CF wall, Damon DROPS the ball again but this time damage, Inglett scores and Jays have the lead 2-1 Jays.Damon has had a very rough night in CF tonight. But I remember he complained about that CF wall before about how birght the background was, but that would not be the reason tonight, he had both of the balls that he dropped. Rios now another chance to add to this lead for BJ Ryan now warming up in bullpen. I think Scutaro may have reached 3B if he had hustled out of the box but thought Damon was catching that. But there are two outs and he should run hard anyway. Alex grounds weakly to Jeter throw to Giambi and leaves Scutaro in scoring position. Alex’s Boston hit streak has cooled off tonight. But Jays have a lead for BJ Ryan to close it out and give Burnett number sixteen win. Damon gets an awful reception from Yankees fans here as he comes back to dugout.

Top 9th: Mench in for Lind in LF. Ryan pitching and facing heavy part of the Yankees batting order. A-Rodriguez with three strikes outs against Burnett glad he has gone loops this one over Inglett, and now going for 2B Overbay makes a great strike to Johnny Mc to get him at 2B, that may have been very unwise as lead off guy. The crowd are on their feet giving A-Rod their appreciation, it sees to be Yankees fans are upset and Jays fans are happy but all directed at A-Rod who avoids all as he walks into the dugout below here, that must have been a long and embarrassing walk back. Giambi now on three strikes outs tonight, he is also glad that Burnett is out of there, but strikes out for the fourth time. When did that last happen to him? Nady pops up shallow RF and Rios makes the final out. Jays hitters come through at the end to win this but thanks to Damon’s error. But tonight belongs to Burnett.

Win number sixteen for AJ and save number 24 for Ryan. But more important Jays are just one game behind Yankees now for third place. Watch for big revenge by Yankees tomorrow, they will not like tonight’s performance and I don’t think A-Rod and Giambi will duplicate tonight. CF position might be a different player for the Yankees though..