Yanks prepare for Sox in ugly 8-7 win of the O's.

The Yankees won a very long, ugly game in fashion as Robinson Cano's monster shot provided the diffrence in the ball game to complete the three game sweep of the Orioles. Darrell Rasner was terrible again but the Yanks offense bailed him out from getting another lost to his credit. Daniel Cabrera who usally shuts the Yanks down was all but great he had no control of his pitches as he hit Alex Rodriguez in his elbow with a heater.

The Orioles struck first in the second inning when Melvin Mora and Aubrey Huff went back to back off of Darrell Rasner it looked to be another ugly game but the Yanks offesne woke up. Down 2-0 the Yanks struck early and often against Cabrera. Xavier Nady singled then Hideki Matsui worked a walk. Cano hammered a Cabrera offering off the top of wall in right to drive in Nady with the Yanks first run. Johnny Damon put the finishing touches on the inning when he blasted a 3 run homer into the right field seats to put the bombers up 4-2.

With the O's trying to build up the rally, Darrell Rasner snuffed it out to keep the score at a 4-2 Yankee lead. The Yanks would continue to pound Cabrera who came in 3-0 vs the Yankees. Johnny Damon and Bobby Abreu got Cabrera into a quick jam then he splatted Alex Rodriguez elbow with a 97 MPH fastball to load the bases. Jason Giambi hit one to deep right as he just miss the grand-slam but settled for a RBI on an sac fly. Xavier Nady slammed a pitch to left field for a 2run double to put Yanks up 7-2. That is where the game would get ugly as Rasner was beginning to let it slip.

The O's come up big against Rasner and Robertson . Derek Jeter booted a Brian Roberts grounder to start the rally. Roberts scored when Markakis got a hit to left then Nady misplayed it. This would only get worst when Raz walked Melvin Mora he was pulled from the game in only 2.1 innings. Dave Robertson was not better. His first batter faced Huff ripped a double to right to drive in Markakis to cut the lead to 7-4. They would add another on a Kevin Millar sac fly to cut the lead down to 7-5.

The changeup master Edwar Ramirez came in relief his only mistake was a 2 run game tying homer to Brian Roberts to tie the game at 7. He hit it to deep right field. Robinson Cano countered with a huge homer of his own to deep right center field seats to give the Yanks a 8-7 lead that would be the final score. In the bottom half of the 7th the O's tried to take the lead or tie things up. Ramon Hernandez who continued his hit streak to 14 then Brian Roberts grounded a single to set them up. Veras pitched in all 3 games then he changed things over to Demaso Marte who struck out Nick Markakis and Melvin Mora to secure a 8-7 lead.

Mariano Rivera saved the game for the third straight day as he would get his 4 out save for the second time in the series. With the Orioles best hitter in Nick Markakis up with 2 outs and the tying run at second, winning run at the plate struckout looking at a pitch down the heart of the plate to end the ball game as the Yanks complete a 3 game sweep of the birds. What a job the pen did they allowed 2 runs in 12.2 innings pitched this weekend. Mariano Rivera is now 31 for 32 in saves

WP: Ramirez 4-1 LP: Walker 1-2 Save: Rivera 31st