Thursday, September 02, 2004

September 1, 2004: Yankees 5, Indians 3

How unsurprising is it that Orlando Hernandez is the guy to set things right after the Big Humiliation of Which We Shall Never Speak Again?

At a time when the Yanks really, really needed to win, El Duque twirls seven strong innings en route to a 5-3 victory at the stadium. Posada, Miguel Cairo, and John Olerud had homers, and Jeter had three hits.

Mariano Rivera again had to bail out Tom Gordon in the 8th inning, going four outs for his 46th save. If the Yanks keep messing about like they have, Rivera has a shot at the season saves record of 57, set by Bobby Thigpen in 1990. Rivera's already had two months with 11 save opportunities, and he actually converted all 11 opportunities in July. With just over a month's worth of games left (the Yanks play 3 in October against the Blue Jays), Joe Torre might have to make some choices -- let Mo go for the record, or rest the Sandman for the playoffs?

Hopefully, the Yanks will start winning some games by more than three runs, and make that choice moot.

In other news, the Red Sox chewed up the Angels to stay 3 1/2 games back. More on this later.

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