Yanks Beat Sox: What a sweep it is!

The New York Yankees ended up sweeping the defending World Series champion Chicago White Sox with a 6-4 win on a Sunday afternoon in the Bronx. Jaret Wright provided 5 1/3 innings of decent pitching, allowing 3 ERs and 8 H’s, while walking 2 and striking out 1. It certainly wasn’t a performance even remotely similar to his outing before the All-Star break against the Devil Rays, but the Red Sox are a much better team than Tampa, and Wright has always pitched well against the Devil Rays in his Yankee career. (6-1 run vs. Rays) Backed by another strong bullpen outing and solid defense, Wright put the Yankees in a shot at sweeping the White Sox and that’s exactly what they did.

Ron Villone worked 0.2 IP without giving up a run, although he allowed two hits in his limited work in the seventh. Mike Myers came in to face left-hander Jim Thome, with runners on first and second with no outs, and Myers got Thome out on Myers’ first pitch, and that was all Torre wanted from him. Then Kyle Farnsworth came in and got the job done too, getting Konero and Dye to fly, not allowing a single run to score, cleaning up the mess Villone started in the top half of the seventh inning.

Farnsworth came out for the eighth inning, but after giving up a solo homer and two singles, Torre would have to call out Mariano Rivera for a two-inning save. Juan Uribe was up and jumped at second base. Mo then proceeded to induce Scott Podsednik’s final inning double play to end the threat, leaving the score at 6-4. Rivera then returned for the top of the ninth and allowed a deep double off Iguchi’s bat, then walked Jim Thome, setting the White Sox up once again for another possible comeback. Rivera rolled Konerko for another White Sox double play and then struck out Jermaine Dye to end the game.

This was Mariano Rivera’s 400th career save, making him only the fourth player of all time to reach that level. His ERA is 2.02, but his innings are too high for my liking. He ranks at 51.0 IP for the year, and he seemed to struggle in this past series against the White Sox. He didn’t blow any saves this weekend, but I’m not sure what to attribute his incomplete starts to this weekend. He pitched in the All Star game, so I don’t think he was rusty. I think it was probably the White Sox hitters just getting the best of him early on, but then Mo buckled in, realizing that the Yankees needed these games, and they absolutely wouldn’t let the White Sox beat him in anything other than in its best things.