Yankees look to avoid sweep

The New York Yankees will look to avoid the sweep at the hands of the Texas Rangers Wednesday evening. The 7:05 start will feature Texas right-hander Luis Mendoza, and the Yankees Sidney Ponson.

Mendoza is 1-2, with a 5.40 era on the season. He has only made five starts this season, being used out of the bullpen most of the time. His last appearance was June 28th against Philadelphia. In that outing, he went 1 inning, allowing 1 hit and striking out one. On June 25th he picked up a win against Houston after pitching three scoreless innings. His outing before that, he picked up a 3 inning save against Washington. So, Luis has been used in every situation possible this season! Mendoza is a 6’3, 210lbs right-hander from Veracruz. He turns 25 in October. He has never faced the Yankees in his career.

Sidney Ponson will look for another good start in his second appearance with the Yanks this year. His start on June 27th against the Mets was his first in three weeks. He went 6 innings, allowing just 5 hits, in a 9-0 shut out. Before that, Sidney was 4-1 on the season. In his career Ponson is 8-2 in 15 career starts against the Rangers. Let’s hope that he can continue that success against his former team in the upcoming game.

It is time for Yankees bats to bust out! Big win time for the Yankees!

Rangers slow down Yankees bats

Texas Rangers pitcher Scott Feldman threw one of his best outings of the season, and his career Monday night. He got added help from 3.1 innings from his bullpen, allowing no hits to hold on to a 2-1 lead, and win.

Feldman improved to 2-3 on the season allowing just four hits and one run, walking three and striking out three. The only Yankees run came on an Alex Rodriguez solo blast in the bottom of the 4^th, his 16^th of the season. Mike Mussina was the tough luck loser, dropping him to 10-6 on the season. Mussina threw 6 innings, allowing 5 hits, and 2 runs, striking out 8 Rangers hitters, and only allowing 2 walks. Mussina has now dropped two straight tough starts.

Besides Rodriguez- Giambi, Posada, and Molina were the only other Yankee hitters to garner a base hit on the night. The loss dropped the Yankees to 44-39 on the season, falling another game back of first place Tampa, who was a 5-4 winner over Boston.

Mets silence Yankee bats

The Mets avoided a third straight loss at home this afternoon with a 3-1 win over the Yankees. The Mets got single tallies in the second, third and sixth inning, and held the Yankees to just one run in the 7^th, for the win. The win for the Mets moved them one game closer to .500, at 38-39, while the Yankees fell to 44-38.

Luis Castillo got the Mets on the board in the second inning with a RBI single, driving home Endy Chavez. Then, in the third Carlos Delgado hit his 14^th home run of the season to make the game 2-0. David Wright added a sacrifice fly in the 6^th, for the Mets third and final run. The Yankees’ only run was scored in the bottom of the 7^th when Wilson Betemit sent one over the left field wall.

The Mets starter, Oliver Perez went 7 innings, allowing just 3 hits and 1 run, while striking out 8 Yankee batters. Perez is now 6-5 on the season. For the Yankees, Darrell Rasner pitched well, going 6 complete innings, and only allowing 2 runs on 8 hits, but was the tough luck loser. Rasner is now 4-6 on the season.

Billy Wagner picked up the save for the Mets, his 18^th of the season. Derek Jeter picked up half of the Yankee hits for the game, going 2-4 to raise his average to .284 on the year.

The Yankees will host the Texas Rangers for a three-game series starting Monday at the stadium before entertaining Boston over the weekend, for four games.

Pettitte bests Santana, Yankees win

Andy Pettitte won for the 9th time this season, pitching 6 innings, allowing 5 hits, 2 runs, and in turn getting the best of Mets ace Johan Santana, who dropped to 7-7 on the season. Santana went 6 innings, allowing 4 hits, and 3 runs, while walking 4 and striking out 8.

The Mets took the lead first on a solo homerun by Ramon Castro in the second. The Yankees then took a 2-1 lead in the fourth on a Jason Giambi RBI, followed by a Jorge Posada RBI.

The game stayed 2-1 until the 6th inning when Robinson Cano drove home A-Rod and gave the Yankees a 3-1 lead. Cano would go on to be the only player to have more than one hit today (he had two). The Mets scored one more run in the bottom half of the sixth off a David Wright solo bomb, but that was it.

Mariano Rivera came in and slammed the door for his 22nd save of the season. The win moved the Yankees to 44-37, while the Mets fell to 39-41.

Ponson brilliant, Yankees split

The Mets won the first game in lopsided fashion at Yankee Stadium, and the Yankees returned the favor in the night game in Flushing.

Sidney Ponson was brilliant, going 6 scoreless innings, and allowing just five hits. The bullpen then went three strong innings to complete the 9-0 shut out of the Mets.

The Yankees scored all of their runs in the middle innings, scoring 2 per inning in the 4th, 5th, and 6th, and adding 3 more in the 7th. Bobby Abreu went 4 for 4 and drove in three runs, while Derek Jeter drove in 2 runs as well.

For the Mets, Pedro Martinez dropped his second straight start, and is now 2-2 on the season.

Mets win first of two

The New York Mets pounded out 15 runs on 14 hits to win the first of a doubleheader against the Yankees. Dan Giese fell to 1-3 on the season, by going only 4 innings, allowing 5 hits and 6 runs, all earned. The three bullpen pitchers for the Yankees also did not fare well, as all four pitchers on the night gave up atleast a run.

The Mets got the scoring started early with a David Wright RBI in the first, which was countered by Jason Giambi’s RBI single. The Mets then scored twice in the third on a Carlos Beltran two-run bomb. The Yankees bounced back with three and took a 4-3 third inning lead. Rodriguez, Cano, and Betemit all drove in runs in that inning.

The Mets then added 3 in the fifth, 5 in the sixth, and 4 in the eighth, for the 15 run outburst. Carlos Delgado went deep twice, and drove in a record 9 RBIs for the Mets. David Wright and Carlos Beltran each drove in three runs, making up the Mets total of fifteen.

For the Yankees Alex Rodriguez went 3 for 4, raising his average to .332 on the season.

Mike Pelfrey picked up the win for the Mets.