Another Late Comeback Leads The Yanks Past The O's

Remembering the tragic events at the World Trade Center exactly 12 years ago today, the New York Yankees were in Baltimore for the third of a four-game set with the Baltimore Orioles.

On the day the Yankees decided to shut down Derek Jeter for the rest of the season, the team needed a good win to take their minds off of the Jeter news.

Andy Pettitte was pretty good once again, and Alex Rodriguez went deep for the 6th time this season, as the Yankees beat the Orioles 5-4 Wednesday night at Camden Yards, thanks to a go-ahead homerun in the 9th inning by Robinson Cano.

"We don't want to take anything for granted," said Cano. "We just want to go game by game and give it all we've got."

Just like they did in the first two games of this season, the Yankees jumped out to an early 1-0 in the first inning after Brett Gardner walked to open the game, and after stealing second base, he moved to third on a slow ground out by A-Rod, then came home to score on a groundout by Cano.

Then, of course, as the Orioles have done in every game of this series, they jumped back into the game to take the lead in the bottom of the 4th inning on a two-run down near the line in right field, scoring Brian Robertson and Manny Machado to give the O's a 2-1 lead.

JJ Hardy added on another run in the 5th inning when he sent a double to deep right center field to score Danny Valencia, who doubled to lead off the inning against the Yankees' starter Andy Pettitte.

Pettitte pitched pretty well for the Yankees, giving them 6.1 innings, permitting three runs on nine hits, while walking just one and striking out three on 109 pitches. There were points in the game where Pettitte could have made some better pitches, but overall, I thought he was pretty good.

"Obviously we've seen them a lot," Pettitte said. "They know what I'm trying to do to them. You've got to be sharp. I was thankful I was able to give us a decent outing tonight."x

Curtis Granderson made it a one-run game in the 5th inning when he absolutely clobbered a solo homerun to right field, sending it 428 ft, well beyond the right field wall. It was his first homerun since August 21st, spanning 61 at-bats.

"Grandy is one of those guys that's a game-changer with his bat," Girardi said. "He can do that."

Granderson's homerun with the Yankees' first hit of the game against O's starter Scott Feldman, who was just as good as Pettitte, if not better, giving up just three runs on three hits,including two homeruns, while walking two and striking out six over 7.2 inning.

The second homerun he gave up was another solo shot to right field, this time by A-Rod to tie the game. A-Rod now needs just six more homeruns in order to get to 660 and tie the great Willie Mays on the all-time list, also giving him a $6 million bonus.

"He's driving the ball both ways; he's driving it to right and he's driving it to left," Girardi said. "That's encouraging, because when Alex is going good, that's who he is."

David Robertson pitched for the first time in over a week, tossing scoreless 8th inning, and the go-ahead homerun by Cano to open the inning off Tommy Hunter and an infield single by Lyle Overbay gave the Yankees a 5-3 lead to setup a save situation for Mariano Rivera.

Only needing to get through one inning tonight, Mariano retired Hardy and Nick Markakis, before giving up a two-out double to Nate McLouth and an RBI single to Brian Roberts to pull the O's within a run. But Rivera stopped the rally by striking out Machado to end the game, capturing his 43rd save of the season.

"It's just battle; figure out a way," Pettitte said. "We've been doing it all year. We're going to continue to do it. We're going to continue to push through this and no matter how you lose a game here or there, it's not over until we're eliminated, as far as I'm concerned."

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