Jorge Posada Pied: Yankees Walk Off Against Blue Jays

The Yankees made it a happy Fourth of July in the bottom of the 12^th inning Saturday evening.

With the game knotted at five, Jorge Posada delivered a walk-off single to score Alex Rodriguez from second base giving the Yanks a 6-5 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

It was the eighth walk-off win for the Bronx Bombers at Yankee Stadium this year and the second off the bat of Posada.

“I was looking for something up,” he told the YES Network after the game.

“It was a changeup and I got it. Our bullpen is doing a hell of a job and we don’t die, especially here at home.”

After his comments to the media, yesterday’s winning pitcher A.J. Burnett and tomorrow’s starter Joba Chamberlain whip-creamed pied Posada in the face, continuing the ritual after a walk-off win.

Along with from the game-winning single, Posada smacked a solo homer into the right field bleachers in the bottom of the fourth inning, keeping the Yanks in the game.  

Hideki Matsui and Johnny Damon also took the Blue Jays deep today, and Rodriguez helped out with an RBI single to cap off the Yankee offense in the game.

The Blue Jays came up with five runs in the game, receiving a two-run single from Alex Rios in the top of the second, a two-run homer from Adam Lind in the top of the sixth, and Rios finished the run production for the Jays with an RBI single in the top of the sixth.

Chien-Ming Wang took the hill for the Yankees today. He was moving along nicely, and finished the day with 5.1 innings pitched, four earned runs on six hits, one walk and one strikeout.

After the home run to Lind, he tossed one pitch to Scott Rolen and was quickly taken out of the game due to an injury. Wang was later diagnosed with a right shoulder strain.

“He had an MRI,” Yankee manager Joe Girardi said of Wang to the press after the win.

“He’s got a shoulder strain and some bursitis. He’ll be re-evaluated tomorrow and he needs some rest.”

Girardi is unsure of Wang’s status of his next start, but has indicated that he will most likely miss his next scheduled appearance on Thursday in Minnesota.

The bullpen picked Wang right up, tossing a combined 6.2 innings and only allowing one run without blowing the game.

“They gave up the one run, but were great,” Girardi said of the ‘pen.

“Hughes, Cokey, everyone was great.”

Brett Tomko picked up the win in relief and now has a season record of 1-2.

Shawn Camp, who gave up the game-winner to Posada, takes the loss. His season record now stands at 0-4.

The Yankees have now won nine of their last 10 games, and are a season-high 14 games above .500 with a record of 47-33.  

Tomorrow afternoon the Yankees will look to win the series against Toronto.

Chamberlain (4-2, 3.89 ERA) will look to keep the Yankees moving, and he will take on Brett Cecil (2-1, 5.09 ERA).

Cecil is starting in place of original probable pitcher Scott Richmond, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list following the Blue Jays' loss on Saturday.