Yanks' Impressive Win

The Yankees' new home has earned a reputation for big flies and crooked numbers. The cozy confines in the Bronx produce grins from hitters and grimaces from pitchers. Saturday, CC Sabathia and Justin Verlander forgot all that and went old-school.

The Yankees' big man struggled with his mechanics early while navigating a steady stream of Tiger base runners. CC's pitch count clicked to fifty after two, trouble brewed. Sabathia did what aces do. He shut-down Detroit, anyway. The board flashed a goose-egg after seven.

Detroit's All-Star, Justin Verlander, dominated the Bombers' bats with 98 MPH heat and wicked breaking stuff through six quiet innings. Then, fate intervened. A-Rod bloops a modest fly ball that eeks over the right field wall. Yanks 1 Tigers 0. Seventh inning, two outs, two on, Melky at the plate, looking for another miracle. A meek ground ball to short results in a bang-bang play, safe at first. Yanks 2 Tigers 0. Luck looks good in pinstripes.

Girardi's revamped bullpen provides relief as the Yankees snatch a 2-1 victory. Some wins are more significant than others. Saturday, the Yankees beat a quality team, overcame an All-Star quality pitching performance and made two runs stand up. Encouraging signs for a team with pennant expectations.

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