Chacon Bounces Back

Big victory for the Yanks today.  For a while I didn't think they'd get the game in because of the weather reports and how it looked there during the BP show on YES.  Judging by the empty seats, I'd say most people thought it'd be a rain out.  They were saying yesterday on the radio broadcast that the entire series was sold out.  It certainly didn't look like it today.  Why those people weren't there is beyond me?  So what if it's cold and rainy?  It's late April in New York, odds are high that the weather will be bad.  It's Yankee baseball for crying out loud.  If you have a ticket, you get yourself to the stadium and cheer those guys on.  And you call yourselves Yankee fans?  Anyway, it's their loss because they missed a great Yankee victory.

Shawn Chacon was definitely the star of the game.  After getting hit around in his 2 relief stints, he bounced back and pitched like the Shawn Chacon we saw last year when he joined the Yankees.  He pitched a phenomenal game.  He saved the bullpen by pitching 7 strong innings.  He only gave up 4 hits and 1 ER.  Whenever he got into a jam, he pitched his way out of it.  He got Tejada to ground out on a comebacker with runners on 2nd and 3rd and 1 out, then followed it up by getting Jay Gibbons to pop out.  That's no small task.  For all intents and purposes he did the same thing two innings later when he got Tejada to hit a sac fly with the bases juiced, then got Gibbons on another comebacker.  Tejada is always a threat.  He will come through if you give him enough opportunities.  He had them today, but was denied each time.  It was good to see a great pitching performance from the back end of the rotation.  It's something the Yankees needed and Chacon delivered.

Speaking of delivering, Matsui came through in the 6th with his bases loaded double.  Why couldn't he have done that the night before, right?  It was the first Yankee base hit with the bases loaded since the first game of the season.  16 at-bats met without success.  That's a horrible stat considering the Yankee lineup.  It's kind of shocking, especially when the team batting average is about .300.  Let's hope Matsui's double breaks the Yankees out of that slump and the team average with RISP goes up as well.  Timely hitting, we need more of it. 

Jeter continues to show us why he's the Captain.  Another 2 RBIs.  And Robinson Cano extended his hitting streak to 11 games with an 8th inning single.  So much for the sophomore slump!  Knock on wood.  It is early and anything is possible but I just don't see that happening to Robinson.  He's legit.  And knock on wood, he's only made 1 error.  Last year, he averaged about 1 every 7-8 games.  This year we've seen much better play in the field from Cano.  Let's hope it continues and he doesn't turn into another Alfonso Soriano in the field.

Boston got their butts handed to them again in Toronto.  The race just got a little closer.  I know it's only April and we're not even 20 games into the season, but every team in the East is playing pretty well.  The Jays got another setback by placing Burnett back on the DL, again!  He's turning out to be worth the money, isn't he?  Insert sarcastic tone here.  $11 million for a .500 pitcher who has only started more than 20 games 3 times in his career, and has already landed on the DL twice this year.  Can you say overpaid?  Don't get me wrong, I like what the Jays did in the off-season.  The Burnett signing was nice, but not $11 million nice.  Time will tell on that one.

The Unit gets the ball tomorrow.  It'd be nice to get on a little winning streak and take 2 from a team within our division.  Hopefully, Randy is up to the task this time and we don't get an outing from him like we did in Toronto.

Go Yanks!

J