Yankees Sweep The Indians
I told you so. If you listened, and put your money behind the bat of Alex Rodriguez and the New York Yankees, then you would’ve cashed in. I told you so.
The New York Yankees spent the weekend in Jacobs Field, home of the Cleveland Indians, for a three-game series versus the tribe. If Round 1 was an embarassment with the Indians crushed 6-1 by a hard-hitting Yankee squad, Round 2 was a demolition job. The Indians improved their runs to 2, but that wasn’t even close to the 11 that New York dished out.
Alex Rodriguez hit 2 homers (6 HRs in 5 games), giving him his 39th of the season and 503rd of his career. A couple hundred more, and Barry Bonds’ new record will be in jeopardy. Of course, A-Rod had a lot of help from his teammates. Jason Giambi had a pinch-hit homer, Jose Molina hit a career-high four hits, and the Yankees totalled 19 hits all in all. 
New York Yankees pitcher Mike Mussina won his 100th game for the Yankees, allowing 2 runs and 8 hits. Mussina is only the ninth pitcher in history who has brought 100 wins to two teams. He had 147 wins for the Baltimore Orioles.
“There are not a lot of guys that have pitched for this team and pitched long enough to win that many games,” Mussina said. “It’s exciting. I’m glad I’ve had the chance to come here and pitch well enough and pitch long enough to accomplish it.”
The same couldn’t be said though about Cleveland’s starting pitcher Paul Byrd, who gave up 7 runs in the second inning, and looked like he was about to cry in front of the fourth capacity crowd at Jacobs Field this season. Poor Baby Byrd.
“When I made a bad pitch, they hit it in the bleachers or crushed it over the shortstop’s head,” Byrd said. “They’re hot right now. They’re not the same team that took the field in April and May.”
Game three of the series saw the Cleveland pile up 3 runs, another improvement from the previous games, but not enough to match New York’s 5 runs. The Yankees were confident with Andy Petitte’s pitching, and his arm was in such excellent form that he even managed to pick-off Cleveland shortstop Jhonny Peralta at first base with a perfect throw to Yankees first baseman Andy Philipps. Picked off at first! You sure you ready to play in the majors?
“We had kind of been waiting for the right time to try it,” Pettitte said. “It was nice that it worked.”
Jason Giambi connected a two-run homer, giving him his 2nd straight homer in 2 games, and Melky Cabrera added a solo shot for the yankees. Mariano Rivera was called in on the 8th inning to close things out, but the Indians managed to find three hits and a run, giving a small glimpse of hope. But then, that’s Mo Rivera! He struck out Asdrubal Cabrera and Grady Sizemore, and a routine fly-out to rightfield gave Rivera his 19th straight save. The Cleveland Indians — swept.
The New York Yankees will be returning home to Yankee Stadium to host a series with the Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees have lost only one series since the All-Star break, and that was with The Orioles. I’d still put my money with New York though. They’re hot right now.
Baltimore Orioles = +1.5
New York Yankees = -1.5
Click here for the latest in Major League Baseball odds.
