Week Three for the New York Yankees was a roller coaster ride, which started off with the Yankees ripping off three wins in a row...A two game sweep of the Tampa Rays and a royal beating of the Boston Red Sox in the Bronx...Those three wins were followed by three losses, as the Red Sox took a split in New York and the Baltimore Orioles taking the first two from the Bombers in Baltimore...The Yankees finished the week at 4-3 as the pitching game completely shut the O's bats down!!
Speaking of bats, it seemed like the Yankees bats finally woke up by scoring 33 runs in the first 4 games of the week, but than Baltimore's pitching did a number on them this weekend..If it weren't for a garbage time bases loaded clearing double in the 9th of Sunday's game the Yankees would have been held to 6 runs in 3 games...
Week three was a week that saw us get Derek Jeter back from a quad injury, but could also be a week that we lose Alex Rodriguez to the same injury...This week the Yanks had to play with their third catcher of the year, Chad Moeller, due to the injuries of Jorge Posada and Jose Molina...Posada was back DH'ing or playing first, but has not been able to play a complete week!! Better the injuries now rather than later..
My Week Three Player of the Week was a tough one this week, since two players deserved it...I went with "The Captain" Derek Jeter, as he batted .387 (31 at-bats and 12 hits), while pounding two doubles, 1 triple, driving in 10 runs, while scoring four of his own runs...He played a major part in all four Yankee wins...My Runner-up this week is Andy Pettitte!! He pitched 14 innings, gave up only 9 hits and 3 earned runs, while striking out 10 and winning both his games...
Joba Chamberlain also returned from his brief stint on the bereavement list and pitched in the final two games of the O's series...His season totals are 6 1/3 innings pitched, 1-0, with 3 holds, and an ERA of 1.42...He has 8 strikeout's while only allowing 7 baserunners!!!
Week Three also continued the struggles of the other two Yankees young guns, Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes!!!
So the first 20 games of the Joe Girardi era is a split...10-10!!!
