While it took far too long to call the game, a win's a win.
After a 14-inning marathon that saw brand new Yankee Chase Headley hit a walk-off single, the baseball gods apparently decided they'd give the Yankees and Rangers a bit of tonight off. In the bottom of the fifth inning, a monstrous deluge quickly cut the game short, scattering the players and wreaking havoc on the field, as the wind and rain combined to make the tarp a dangerous monster that might've eaten a member of the grounds crew. We were then treated to an hour and a half of everyone not making decisions, so a game that should've been called around 9:00 PM didn't officially end until 10:30.
Before this, though, we actually witnessed a pretty good baseball game. David Phelps matched Rangers ace Yu Darvish pitch for pitch, continuing his stretch of excellent starts over the past month. After giving up six earned runs against Toronto on June 24th, Phelps has not allowed more than two earned runs in his subsequent five starts, giving the Yankees a serious boost as they continue to try to overcome the injuries that have decimated their rotation. Darvish certainly pitched well himself, but he and catcher Chris Gimenez seemed to be struggling to stay on the same page for much of the night, and some of this miscommunication perhaps resulted in the Yankees scratching out a couple of runs.
The scoring didn't begin until the third inning, and the Rangers got on the board first. Rangers centerfielder Leonys Martin singled to lead off the top of the frame, and with the hit and run on, moved to third on a single by Gimenez. The next batter, second baseman Rougned Odor, grounded into a double play, allowing Martin to score and giving the Rangers a slim lead.
The Yankees immediately responded - Francisco Cervelli doubled to left (extending his hitting streak to five games) and then moved to third on a Brendan Ryan groundout. Then, the Yankees got a great break: with Brett Gardner at the plate, Darvish balked, allowing Cervelli to score from third and tying the game. Gardner then made it even worse for Darvish, rocking a 3-1 fastball and taking it out to right. The Yankees had the lead, and it would prove to be all they would need on this night.
While the Rangers would threaten again in the fifth (Martin hit a triple, but Phelps dominated the bottom of the order to get out of the jam), that would be the last chance they got as the skies opened up in the bottom of the inning. We were then treated to incredible indecision, as someone decided they should try to resume the game at 10:05 (even going so far as to have Davish warm up) even after the infield had been flooded. While the grounds crew did a great job, it appeared pretty treacherous, and everyone just stood around while the umpires deliberated (hey, at least the Rangers looked like they had fun). Eventually it started raining again, making everyone's decision easier, and that was all she wrote: the Yankees won 2-1.
The Yankees will take it, I'm sure. Tomorrow the Yankees and Rangers will wrap up their series with a day game, as Brandon McCarthy will take on Colby Lewis at 1:05 in the Bronx.