The Yankees’ weekend series in Tampa Bay couldn’t have gone much better for New York. The Yankees won a tight 5-4 game on Friday night behind two home runs from Alex Rodriguez, including a 477-foot blast that is the longest home run anyone has hit this season, and a good showing from the bullpen. On Saturday, Masahiro Tanaka outlasted Rays starter Jake Odorizzi, who was cruising until the middle innings and got in trouble when he had to face Brian McCann with men on base. McCann’s triple gave the Yankees a 2-0 advantage and they broke it open from there going on to win 9-0. On Sunday, the Yankees nearly received a quality start from Michael Pineda as he went 5 and 2/3 innings while allowing three earned runs and striking out five batters.
Top Player: Chase Headley had two big run scoring hits, a single in the third and a double in the fifth. The great thing about a player like Headley, though, is that he can impact the game on both offense and defense. Sunday was a good example of this as Headley also made a couple nice defensive plays that helped the Yankees to victory.
On this play in the first inning, Headley dives to his right to take possibly an extra-base hit away from Evan Longoria and he gets up in time to still get the force out at second. This is a very nice play by Headley and it might get lost in the grand scheme of this game because it happened early in the game, but looking back it was a key play to help stop a potential big inning for the opposition.
As you can see by this Stephen Drew play from the third inning, Headley wasn’t the only one diving on the carpet to make plays for the Yankees. Here, Drew also went to his right and recovered in time to get the force out at second. Despite the Yankees offensive outburst this weekend, everyone knows that the defense is going to have to improve from last year for the team to accomplish their goals. These plays by Headley and Drew are certainly a step in the right direction after the defense on the whole got off to a rocky start this season.
Up Next: The Yankees are in Detroit to face the 10-2 Tigers in a four game series at Comerica Park. CC Sabathia could use some good defensive plays behind him tonight as he looks to get his ERA on track tonight against an imposing Tigers lineup and starter Alfredo Simon.