Ivan Nova, rookie right hander from the Dominican Republic, gave the Yankees a quality 6-1/3 innings of relief tonight. A relief appearance because he began the resumed game that was started by CC Sabathia last night before the rains came and delayed the game until tonight. As he left the game to a hearty ovation from the Yankee Stadium crowd in the bottom of the ninth, the score was 9-1 with the bases loaded and one out. Manager Joe Girardi brought in Luis Ayala, right-handed reliever from Mexico. Ayala allowed an RBI fielder's choice grounder to Alex Avila, an RBI single to Detroit 2B Ryan Raburn and a single to SS Jhonny Peralta to reload the bases. Gerardi said enough is enough. Cue "Enter Sandman", signal the bullpen, summon the best closer in MLB history, Mariano Rivera. Pity Tiger 3B Wilson Betemit. Cut fastball at 91 mph, called strike one. Cut fastball at 90, up and in, swing and miss, strike two. Cut fastball at 91, swing and miss, game over, cue Frank Sinatra. Not a save situation, but that's called closing out a game before it gets too sticky.
The Yankees broke the game open in the sixth, when they scored 6 runs, highlighted by 2B Robinson Cano's grand slam into the second deck in right field to make the score 8-1. The Yankees take a 1-0 series lead on the fiftieth anniversary of Roger Maris' 61st home run into the right field stands at the old Yankee Stadium, a record that, to many, is still the standard for a season not adulterated by steroidal assholes who falsley claim records that were forged at the business end of a syringe.
Tomorrow's game pits Detroit right-hander Max Scherzer (15-9, 4.43 ERA) against Yankee righty Freddy Garcia (12-8, 3.62). Scherzer has faced the Yankees twice this year and is 2-0, with 8 innings of shutout baseball on May 4 in Detroit against, Freddy Garcia. He gave up 6 runs in a 5-inning stint on April 3rd in Yankee Stadium, as his mates scored 10 runs to beat the Yankees and Phil Hughes.
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