6/14 - Yankees 7, Diamondbacks 1 (Nine in a row!)

[browntown653]

NEW YORK -- Andy Pettitte has filled different roles all year for the Yankees, serving as a veteran presence, leader, clubhouse confidant, even an emergency relief pitcher on two occasions.
On Thursday, all the Yankees asked was to make sure the line kept moving. Pettitte obliged, hurling eight strong innings as the Yankees wrapped up a 7-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

"When you're playing like this, you just want to keep it going," Pettitte said. "That's all there is to it. It's fun right now to come to the ballpark and do this."

The Yankees' nine-game winning streak is the longest by any Major League team this season; the Yankees have not lost since June 4 at Chicago, and Pettitte said he felt a little extra pressure to keep the good vibes rolling.

"You don't want to be the one to stop it, you know what I'm saying?" Pettitte said. "Everybody's been playing so great. I'm thinking, 'You'd better get it going today. You don't want to be the one to blow this.'"

The victim of so much hard luck in the Yankees' sub-.500 beginning, Pettitte joked he'd lost a year of his life in the first month alone.

In actuality, Pettitte celebrates his 35th birthday Friday and already owns more than his share of speckled gray hairs, but the Yankees made sure Pettitte wouldn't have much to fret about with ample run support.

Alex Rodriguez and Hideki Matsui combined for half of the Yankees' 12 hits and five RBIs, with Matsui driving in three and Rodriguez -- having a half day as the club's designated hitter, with Johnny Damon on the bench and Miguel Cairo at third base -- sending home two runs.

"It's really nothing new," said Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter. "If we scored runs for [Pettitte], he'd probably have about 10 wins. But he's been pretty much doing it every time out there this year."

Pettitte (4-4) picked up his first victory in three starts, while limiting the D-backs to one run and four hits. He walked one and struck out four in the effort, which mostly translated to a cruise-control performance.

Aside from a second-inning blip -- a Mark Reynolds double and Scott Hairston's RBI groundout -- and a third-inning scare when a batted ball grazed the left-hander's index finger, Pettitte said the day was fairly uneventful.

Finally, he could stand at his clubhouse locker -- his sons chattering nearby, vying for their father's attention -- and enjoy the fruits of a hard day's work at the office.

"It's nice, there's no doubt," said Pettitte, who leads all American League lefties with a 2.93 ERA. "At certain points, you want to get a little 'personality win.' The team has been winning the last couple of starts even though I haven't been winning, so that makes you feel a lot better."

The Yankees jumped on the board immediately against soft-tossing left-hander Doug Davis, who allowed three hits to open his start before walking Rodriguez to force in a run. Matsui added an RBI groundout later in the first inning.

Davis (4-8) was touched for two more runs in the third, part of a five-inning effort in which he walked five and struck out five.

Bobby Abreu walked to open the frame before Rodriguez ripped a double that the left fielder Hairston couldn't cleanly pick up for an error, kicking it around the warning track -- one of three Arizona miscues Thursday afternoon.

"That doesn't happen very often," Rodriguez said. "I was happy to see that. But again, you just try to do the little things. I was just as proud of my walk in the first than any other at-bat. Take what they give you."

Matsui drilled a one-out double to right that brought home Rodriguez, who has 21 RBIs in his last nine games and appears about as locked in as he did during his red-hot month of April.

"That's the best thing I see about Alex right now, is that he's having some fun," Torre said. "He just looks very comfortable right now."

New York added three runs in the seventh inning off relievers Juan Cruz, Doug Slaten and Tony Pena. Matsui logged his third RBI on a single that scored Rodriguez, and Posada came home when center fielder Chris Young threw the ball into the field-level seats behind third base.

Josh Phelps added an RBI single to greet Pena and complete the Yankees' scoring output in a series that saw them outscore Arizona 18-4 over the three-game sweep.

"What we've done here is not a mistake," Torre said. "It's based on hard work. That's mentally and physically."

The Yankees were denied an additional run in the sixth inning, as Cairo was thrown out at the plate attempting to tag up on an Abreu fly ball to left.

Cairo and Torre both argued the call by home-plate umpire Laz Diaz, but even that minor issue couldn't dampen the spirits of a Yankees club playing its best baseball of the year.

Round 2 of the Subway Series awaits, and while the Yankees continue to spout a business-first mind-set about the Mets being just like any other team coming in, even Torre can admit that's not the case.

If it were, Torre reminisced, Mets chairman M. Donald Grant wouldn't have suggested pitching Tom Seaver against the Yankees in Mayor's Trophy action back when Torre called Queens home back in the late 1970s.

But that was three decades ago and a lesson long ago learned. The new importance, Torre said, would be for his current players to savor the winning streak.

A carryover into the Mets series would be fine, but most of all, Torre stressed that the Yankees must find a way to store it -- remember the combination and lock it away in case of emergency.

"The most important thing about this streak we're going through now is not to forget what it feels like," Torre said. "There's going to be a time later in the year that you're going to have to call upon this."

IMO the best series this team has played all year. We are firing on all cylinders after a couple of great starting pitching performances in a row and the bats are out in full force. Bring out the brooms, and bring on the Mets!

[Hammer]

im watching the replay now, but i woke up this afternoon just in time to see proctor throw the final strike by somebody. ill sleep through every game if need be.

[bwitty24]

BOSTON IS DOWN 6-0!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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