NYY: Game 2: Yankees def. White Sox

A-Rod's fellow Yankees really didn't give him an invitation to this homer party, did they? With 13 total homeruns in two consecutive games, these Yankees have tied a team record set in 1939. Pretty impressive. Even more amazing that the offensive outburst happened during an Andy Pettitte start. Then again, they scored him 21 runs in Tampa Bay too. Maybe things are turning around with Pettitte's luck?

Final Score: Yankees 8, White Sox 1
WP: Pettitte (7-7, 3.97 ERA)
LP: Danks (6-8, 5.06 ERA)

There's a welcome sight: Andy Pettitte with a sub-4.00 ERA. He pitched a great game too. Got through some rough innings early before settling late. One earned run on six hits with two walks and six strikeouts. That's a lot of strikeouts for him this season. It's nice to see Pettitte at .500 again. Hopefully this will be the corner that helps him get his stats to where they should be.

But the real story here? How 'bout them bats? After Tuesday night's eight HR performance, the Yankee line-up followed with a meager five homers. Posada had a multi-homer game, followed by homeruns from Cano, Jeter, and Shelley Duncan - who has been unbelievable since being called up from AAA. Five homeruns in eight games. Or, more impressive, five homeruns in 24 at-bats.

Not to be a pessimist while things are going so well for the team, but again, the Yankees have a dilemma on their hands with Jason Giambi possibly able to return as soon as next week. I guess, until Phil Hughes is ready, the answer could be to send down Sean Henn when Giambi is ready. But the logical choice, with Basak sent down for Betemit Wednesday evening, would be to move Duncan back to AAA. Cashman picked up Betemit. He's a switch-hitting power bat who can play all the in-field positions (despite no major league experience at first base). Phillips, despite a somewhat cooling bat (he did have a hit robbed from him late in the game), has saved the Yankees countless errors at first base. Cairo brings experience off the bench and has performed admirably whenever he has been called upon to contribute.

But as hot as Duncan is, and as popular as he's become with the fans, will he actually get the boot when Giambi is ready to return? While I'm sure Wilson Betemit is a great guy, the Dodger trade is making less and less sense by the day. It's as if the front office was trying to plug a hole that didn't exist. Unless they really wanted to get what they could for Proctor while he had any trade value...

The obvious answer is that Andy Phillips will no longer be the everyday first baseman for the Yankees when Giambi returns, unless Giambi really isn't stable enough physically to play the field. Phillips will probably still get to start a game or two a week, but his spot is the least secure in this line-up. And as nice as it sounds that Giambi will sacrifice his ego for the sake of the team and be a power lefty option off the bench, can we really see Torre penciling in Andy Phillips ahead of Jason Giambi in a line-up?

But back to the good stuff: Danks didn't have his best stuff today. He was much better in his first outing against the Yankees. On Wednesday, he was hanging a lot of his breaking pitches, and the Yankees made him pay. But the Yankees also weren't intimidated by facing a young left-hander like they've been for much of the season. The lefties in the line-up (Damon was given the night off) looked good against Danks. A sign of things to come? We'll see.

With a day game following this night game on Thursday, I'd expect to see Jorge given the start of the game off in favor of Jose Molina. As for the match-up...

RHP Roger Clemens (3-5, 3.92 ERA) vs. RHP Jon Garland (8-7, 4.12 ERA)

Clemens was so-so but not good in Baltimore on the 28th. He took the loss, giving up four earned runs over 6.1 innings. The length was good for Clemens, but not so much the results. He struck out six, his highest total since his six strikeouts in Colorado on June 21st (ironically, also not a great start for him). But he walked three and gave up eight hits (none of them homeruns). The way the Yankee offense has been going lately, that would have been enough to get Clemens the win, but it wasn't that time. We'll see if the offense returns the favor and gives Clemens something to work with. This will be his first start against the White Sox this season.

Garland is coming off a win on July 27th against Toronto. He went 7.1 innings and allowed three runs with only one walk. It was a good bounce-back outing for him, after taking the loss and giving up six runs (with two homers) in 4.2 innings at Fenway. Garland has pitched twice against the Yankees this season and has won both times. On May 17th, he went seven innings and allowed only one earned run. On June 4th, he went 8.1 innings and again allowed only one earned run. After facing some struggling pitchers over the last three games, we'll have to see how the Yankees handle a good pitcher who has shown he is capable of shutting them down in the past.

Odds n' Ends: For those curious, Scott Proctor made his Dodgers debut on Wendesday night against the Giants. It was, to put it mildly, an unremarkable debut. Proctor was brought into the top of the 7th inning with two outs and a runner on first. He made one pitch, and the runner was caught attempting to steal second base by Dodger catcher Russell Martin. Proctor was then pinch-hit for in the bottom half of the inning. The Dodgers came back from a 4-2 deficit in the bottom of the 8th to score four and eventually win 6-4.

And yes, Barry Bonds - you may have heard of him - is still one away from tying Hank Aaron's homerun record.

Down on the Farm: Not a good night for the Baby Bombers, as they went down 5-1 to Ottawa on Wednesday night. Kei Igawa, making his first start since returning to AAA, has some adjusting to do. He went five innings and allowed three earned runs on nine hits, including a homerun to Brennan King of the Lynx. Reliever Jose Veras, making his third appearance since coming off the DL for S/WB, struggled as well. He allowed two earned runs of four hits in two innings. Jim Brower pitched a scoreless bottom of the 8th. The one Scranton run scored on a homerun by DH Erubiel Durazo. 3B Andy Cannizaro (I still remember the huge grin on his face when he hit his first major league homerun in 2006) had a good night at the plate, going 3-of-4. But he had no RBI or runs scored to show for his efforts.