In New York, the Yankees took a first-inning mistake and used it to build a lead they would never give up in a 4-2 win over the Mets. Derek Jeter doubled to start the game and the momentum of the game shifted in one small play. Nick Swisher grounded to first baseman Daniel Murphy in the next at bat, but he chose to try to nail Jeter at third, rather than take the first out of the game. The play backfired, and all runners were safe. The Yankees went on to score three runs in the first inning and used a terrific start by Chien-Ming Wang standards to pick up the sweep. Wang went 5 1/3 but only gave up two runs to a weak Mets offense.

Bonehead play by Murphy in the 1st

To close out the game, the Yankees brought in closer Mariano Rivera, who picked up his 500th career save. Rivera came into the game in the eighth inning with two men on and two outs. He cool and calm, as usual, and struck out Omir Santos on a called third strike. He then finished up the game in the ninth on a groundout to second. Rivera is simply the greatest closer of all-time. It is no shock that he has been able to reach the 500 save plateau, and it doesn’t matter to me that he is second all-time behind Trevor Hoffman. If I had to take a closer in his prime for a team of mine, I would take Rivera, bar-none. Congrats to Rivera, who despite being a Yankee, is hard to hate.

Best Closer Ever

In Toronto, a close game came down to a test for newly activated Phillies closer Brad Lidge. He passed the test. Lidge didn’t make it easy in earning his 14th save; he gave a hit and a walk in the ninth inning, but helped the Phillies win the game 5-4. The Phillies have to be ecstatic to have Lidge back after some rough games for their bullpen in the last two weeks. Ryan Madson did an okay job in Lidge’s absence – not that Lidge was lights-out when he was ‘healthy’. Either way, the club is happy to have him back, and I’m sure he’s happy to be back to help the club. The Phillies leave Canada for Atlanta in an intradivision battle, then head to NY to play the Mets, who they lead by 2 ½ games in the NL East.

Brad Lidge secures the win