Phillies ace lefthander Cliff Lee continued his domination of NL hitters on Monday and 1st baseman Ryan Howard slammed a 1 out, 3 run homer to left centerfield off of Mets starter Bobby Parnell to stake Lee to a 3-0 lead.  But leadoff hitter centerfielder Angel Pagan opened the first inning by again circling the bases, this time scoring as normally sure-defensive-handed 2nd baseman Chase Utley committed 2 errors on 1 play. A triple and a sacrifice fly gave the Mets their 2nd run in the first.  Howard added a third inning 1 out, 2 run homer to give Lee some breathing room.  After the raucus first inning, Lee settled down and went seven innings to win his 5th game in 5 outings for the Phils. Chan Ho Park took over in the eighth making short work of the Mets and closer Brad Lidge did likewise in the ninth as Lee and Howard led the Phillies past the Mets by a 6-2 score in the series final to win 3 of the 4 games.

With the win, the Phils stayed 7 games up on 2nd place Atlanta and 8 up on 3rd place Florida in the NL East division race.  The Mets dropped 16 1/2 games back in 4th place as their season seems over.

Centerfielder Shane Victorino reached to open the game as Mets’ starter Parnell hit him with a pitch on a 2-2 count.  Victorino was in the leadoff spot as normal leadoff hitter shortstop Jimmy Rollins got the day off, replaced by Sunday’s triple-play hero utility infielder Eric Bruntlett.  After rightfielder  Jayson Werth fouled out, the “flyin’ Hawaiian” took 3rd base on catcher  Omir Santos’ throwing error on an attempted steal of 2nd.  Parnell then walked Utley.  Howard responded with the first of his two homers in the game, an opposite-field bomb to left centerfield, to give the Phils an early 3-0 lead.  Parnell then struck out Leftfielder Raul Ibanez and coaxed 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz into a groundout to end the inning.

AP baseball writer Mike Fitzpatrick reports regarding Howard’s homer for Yahoo sports:

The home run… pushed Howard past 100 RBIs, giving him four straight seasons with at least 30 homers and 100 RBIs. The only other Phillies player to accomplish that was Hall of Famer Chuck Klein from 1929-32.

Although the Mets were the first NL club to score 2 runs against Lee since his arrival with the Phillies, the 1st one was of no fault of his.  2nd baseman Utley first dropping Pagan’s leadoff pop up and then threw wildly to 2nd as the speedy centerfielder continued circling the bases.  Then Lee made what may have been his only mistake of the game.  Leftfielder Gary Sheffield nailed a 2-2 pitch to rightfield for a triple and scored on a sacrifice fly to rightfield by 3rd baseman Fernando Tatis.  The Mets would score no further runs as they could only manage a single base runner in any one inning off of either winning pitcher Lee or the Phils bullpen after the first inning.

Parnell walked Werth to open the third inning and Howard gave Lee some wiggle-room by pounding a full-count pitch to rightfield for his 34th homer of the season and 103rd and 104th RBIs.  It was Howard’s 4th multi-homer game of the season, his 2nd within 8 games.

The Phils scored their 6th run in the ninth inning off of reliever Pedro Feliciano on Ibanez’s RBI double. 

AP’s Fitzpatrick writes regarding Cliff Lee:

Lee, last year’s AL Cy Young Award winner, yielded six hits and no walks against a light-hitting lineup that featured Fernando Tatis (six homers) in the cleanup spot. The left-hander struck out five.

“Whenever he’s on the bump, you feel pretty confident,” Howard said.

The Phillies said Lee became the first pitcher to win his first five starts with the team since Marty Bystrom in September 1980, according to research by the Elias Sports Bureau.

“It was already an unbelievable team before I got here. That’s made it easy for me,” Lee said. “It’s been a pretty smooth transition.”

Elias carries some additional trivia on both Howard and Lee:

Ryan Howard’s first-inning home run at Citi Field on Monday produced his 600th career RBI. He reached that milestone in his 693rd game, the fastest for any major-league player since 1946, when Ted Williams collected his 600th RBI in his 675th game.

Cliff Lee allowed only two unearned runs in seven innings at Citi Field on Monday, improving to 5-0 with a 0.68 ERA since joining the Phillies. Lee and Fernando Valenzuela are the only major-league pitchers in the past 60 years to win each of their first five career starts for a team, with an ERA below 1.00 over those five games. Valenzuela made 10 appearances in relief for the Dodgers in 1980 and then made his first career start on Opening Day of the 1981 season. Through five starts in 1981, Valenzuela’s ERA was 0.20.

Lee went seven innings throwing 114 pitches giving up 2 runs, neither earned, on 6 hits while striking out 5.  He now has a string of 16 innings over 2 games without issuing a walk.  Relievers Park and Lidge went clean on the Mets in the eighth and ninth inning respectively.

Losing pitcher Bobby Parnell went five innings throwing 103 pitches giving up 5 runs on Howard’s 2 homers, 4 hits while walking 3 and striking out 3.  Ex-closer Billy Wagner made his 2nd appearance for the Mets since returning from Tommy John surgery.  Wagner walked 1, struck out 2 and allowed no hits.

For the scores of all of Monday’s games, click here.

The Phils next head for Pittsburgh for a 3 game series on Tuesday through Thursday before returning home for a 3 game weekend series against  Atlanta to end the month of August.

In Tuesday’s opener, Joe Blanton takes the mound opposed by Ross Ohlendorf for the Pirates.

For all of Tuesday’s games, click here.

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Phillies 1st baseman Ryan Howard and rightfielder Jayson Werth, both on homer binges, as well as catcher Carlos Ruiz each hammered off of lefthander Doug Davis and 2 Arizona relievers on Thursday.  Joe Blanton survived fourth inning trouble and was again solid through eight innings.  Reliever Chad Durbin came on to make short work of the D-backs in the ninth as Blanton and 3 homers led the Phillies to a 12-3 pounding and sweep of Arizona.

With the win, the Phils picked up a full game and now lead both Florida and Atlanta, now tied for 2nd place, by 6 1/2 games in the NL East division race.  The Braves edged the Mets and Florida lost to Houston. The Mets dropped to 14 1/2 games back in 4th place with their loss to the Astros.

The big story ought to be another fine outing by Blanton who has pitched well consistently since late May going seven innings or more in 11 of his last 15 games, 8 of his last 10.   But Blanton’s eight inning, 97 pitch effort has been supplanted by the homer binges of Howard and Werth.  The big 1st baseman has gone yard 6 times in his past 7 games with Thursday’s 3 run clout to centerfield in the sixth inning off of reliever Leo Rosales capping a 5 run outburst which blew a 6-3 game wide open.  And Howard was on base in the fifth when Werth went yard to centerfield in the fifth for his 4th homer in 4 games.   Ruiz added a solo shot, for his career-high 7th homer of the season, to lead off the 5 run sixth inning. 

NOTE: For those souvenir buffs watching Ryan Howard heat up his homer production, either click on the picture of the bat above, or click on the link and then click again on the picture of the bat to order your Ryan Howard MLB authorized autographed bat.

The Phillies extended their latest winning streak to 4 games and have won 8 of their last 10.  The AP recap of Thursday’s game for Yahoo sports tells the story of just how hot the Phillies are:

Philadelphia, which leads the National League with 171 home runs, have hit at least one in 10 straight games, and 28 in its previous 15. The 2006 team hit a franchise-best 216 in 2006, led by Howard’s 58…

Every Phillies starter had at least one hit, except third baseman Pedro Feliz. Blanton had two singles, the first multihit game of his career, to become the third straight Phillies pitcher to record two hits in a game.  Jamie Moyer and Cliff Lee did it Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.

“I don’t know,” Blanton said with a shrug. “Hitting is contagious, I guess. Even for pitchers.”

Blanton (8-6) picked up his second career RBI with a fourth-inning groundout. For once, he benefited from the offensive barrage. Despite heading into Wednesday with a 2.17 ERA in his previous nine starts, the right-hander had only three runs to show for it. He allowed a season-high 10 hits, but limited Arizona to three runs.

Philadelphia pitchers have an ERA of 1.94 in the last eight games.

After Chad Tracy’s fourth-inning single tied it, Blanton retired 15 of his final 17 batters. Blanton said his game plan started working.

“I just stuck with it,” he said. “And the balls started finding people. It’s not an easy game, but when you get runs, you can attack the zone and make them beat you. It can be a lot easier.”

Philadelphia scored three first-inning runs off Davis (7-11), highlighted by Ben Francisco’s two-out single. The Diamondbacks scored a run in the second, and two runs in the fourth.

With Blanton working efficiently even while getting hit, he kept the Phillies in the game long enough for the offense to do the rest.

“He’s a bulldog who comes right after you,” manager Charlie Manuel said. “Tonight, he was very good.”

Howard’s shot reached the visitor’s bullpen in center field for his sixth homer and 16th RBI in seven games. Werth continued what has been a career season with 28 homers and 76 RBIs.

“They come in bunches,” Werth said. “Sometimes you feel good and your swing is good. But sometimes the opposite side of the coin is true, too. You take while you can get it and hold onto it as long as you can.”

The Diamondbacks, who have lost five straight, didn’t walk in the series and scored five runs.

But the Phillies hot streak extends to pitching as well.  In the 3 games series with the D-backs, twenty-four innings — no walks issued, no homers given up. 

Losing pitcher Doug Davis gave 6 runs on 5 hits in five innings of work while issuing 4 walks, striking out 6 and giving up Werth’s fifth inning 2 run blast.

For the scores of all of Thursday’s games, click here.

The Phils now head to New York for a 4 game series on Friday through Monday with the Mets who could wash away their season totally by falling further behind the Phillies.

In Friday’s opener, lefthander Cole Hamels is opposed by Mike Pelfrey for the Mets.  On Saturday, lefthander J.A. Happ faces Tim Redding.

For all of Friday’s and Saturday’s games, click here and here.

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Phillies starter Joe Blanton and Chicago’s Rich Harden engaged in a titanic seven inning pitching duel on Tuesday, each giving up a run and a few hits. Cub reliever Jeff Samardzija retired the first 2 Phillies in the thirteenth inning before walking 1st baseman Ryan Howard and leftfielder Raul Ibanez.  Rightfielder Jayson Werth then nailed a 1-1 pitch as the Phillies beat the Cubs in the 13th inning by a 4-1 score on Werth’s walk-off homer for their 10th straight win. 

With the win, the Phils maintain a 6 1/2 game lead over 2nd place Atlanta in the NL East division race.  The Florida Marlins are close behind the Braves in 3rd place at 7 games out after edging San Diego.  The Mets dropped to 10 games off the pace in 4th place after being shut out by  Washington.

Shortstop Jimmy Rollins got the Phils on the board first with a lead-off third inning homer to rightfield off of Harden after getting ahead 3-0 in the count.  The Cubs tied the game in the fourth on a 2 out, RBI double to left centerfield by rightfielder Kosuke Fukudome, only 1 of 5 hits given up by Blanton who walked none and struck out 5 through seven innings.  Blanton threw 102 pitches in another brilliant outing, 3 days after throwing 22 pitches in a Saturday rainout in Miami against the Marlins.

Blanton’s former Oakland A’s teammate Harden was nearly as good going seven innings giving up only Rollins’ homer, on 4 hits.  He threw 117 pitches while walking 2 and striking out 6.

Ryan Madson and closer Brad Lidge had easy eighth and ninth innings respectively with Madson going clean in the eighth and Lidge hitting a batsman with 1 out in the ninth before inducing a grounder which bounced off his leg to shortstop Rollins who turned a doubleplay.

Only the 1 Cub reached from the eighth inning on as the Phils bullpen was close to perfect.  Chan Ho Park pitched three clean innings and Clay Condrey threw a clean thirteenth inning on 8 pitches to earn his 6th win of the season.

Reliever Jeff Samardzija got centerfielder Shane Victorino to fly out to leftfield on a 1-1 pitch before going to a full count on 2nd baseman Chase Utley who flied out to centerfield.   Samardzija then walked Howard on 4 pitches and Ibanez followed drawing a walk. 

AP Sports Writer Rob Maaddi’s game recap for Yahoo sports described the scene as the Phils winning streak reached 10 games, “their longest winning streak in 18 years. They won 13 in a row from July 30 to Aug. 12, 1991″:

Werth then connected on a 1-1 pitch, launching his 21st homer into the seats in left. Werth circled the bases and stomped on home plate before getting mobbed by his teammates.

The winning dinger was Werth’s first career walk-off homer.

In other related Phillies news;

Pedro Martinez has taken a “really big step” forward after throwing 64 pitches over four innings in a simulated game.

He will throw off a bullpen mound Thursday, and if that goes well, will have another simulated game or pitch in a minor league game Sunday.

For the scores of all of Tuesday’s games, click here.

In Wednesday’s series final, veteran lefthander Jamie Moyer battles it out with Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano.

The Phils entertain the San Diego Padres on Thursday for a single game.

For all of Wednesday’s games, click here.

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Phillies ace lefthander Cole Hamels got more than he bargained for on Monday; his own 2 hits and 2 RBIs, a 7 inning, 1 run, 3 hit gem as well as being beneficiary of a 10 run first inning pounding of Cincinnati starter  Johnny Cueto who lasted 2/3rds of an inning giving 9 of the runs.  Hamels was treated 4 Phillies homers including an eighth inning grand slam by rightfielder Jayson Werth to cap the Phils massive scoring.  When the scoring onslaught mercifully subsided in the eighth inning with 1st baseman Greg Dobbs and 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz going down to end the inning, the Phillies had crushed the Reds by a whopping 22-1 score. 

With the one-sided win, and the Florida Marlins’ loss to the San Francisco Giants, the Phillies NL East division lead jumped to 2 games over the Marlins.  The Mets, who had Monday off, dropped to 4 1/2 games back and Atlanta who lost to the Chicago Cubs dropped to 5 games off of the pace.

One has to wonder though about what the next games will bring after the Phils pumped this many runs into one game.    AP sports writer Rob Maaddi, who’s recap for Yahoo sports read like a lengthy dissertation rather than a recap, notes what happened last season after the Phils lumped this many runs into one game:

They hadn’t scored more than 15 runs since a 20-2 victory at  St. Louis last June 13. After that game, the Phillies went 3-11 and scored a total of 38 runs.

The previous worst defeat for the Reds, baseball’s first professional franchise, was 26-6 on July 26, 1892. That also was against the Phillies.

That 20-2 win over the Cardinals came but 19 days after the Phils pummeled the Colorado Rockies by a a 20-5 score on May 26th.  After that game, the Phils went on a winning run so, I suppose, things could go either way after this one, although the Phils offense coming into the Cincinnati opener has not exactly been in high-gear.  But three 20 run games in 2 seasons — Wow! Keep in mind that between 1957 and 2007, the Phils had scored 20 runs or more in exactly 3 games, one of them being that wild-and-wooly 23-22 ten inning slugfest at Wrigley Field with the Chicago Cubs which the Phils won on Mike Schmidt’s tenth inning solo shot off of Cubs closer Bruce Sutter.

The Phils scored 22 runs on 21 hits and sending 13 hitters to the plate while scoring 10 runs in the first inning alone.  Phillies Nation’s Amanda Orr brings some historical stats in recapping the game:

It was the first time since 1900 that the Phillies beat an opponent by at least twenty runs.

The Phillies scored ten runs in the first inning, nine off Johnny Cueto, who lasted two-thirds of an inning, raising his earned run average from 2.69 to 3.45. The inning marked the fourth time in franchise history that the Phillies scored ten runs in the first inning. The last time the Phillies scored ten runs in the first inning was in July of 2002 against the  Montreal Expos.

Shane Victorino made his best “vote for me” campaign with a 4-for-5 night. He homered, drove in four runs, and walked. Greg Dobbs (4-for-6, 2 RBI) and Chase Utley (2-for-3, 4 RBI) also homered. Jayson Werth (2-for-5, 5 RBI) hit a grand slam in the eighth inning off Paul Janish, a shortstop, as the Reds were desperate to save their bullpen.

Every starter in the Phillies lineup had at least one hit, including Cole Hamels (2-for-4).  Jimmy Rollins (3-for-4) continued his hitting ways.  The only batter who did not get a hit was John Mayberry Jr. (0-for-1, BB), who came in as a substitute.  Matt Stairs had one plate appearance and walked. Other than that, six Phillies had a multi-hit night. Two Phillies (Victorino and Dobbs) had four hits. Every batter reached base at least once.

The last time the Phillies pounded 22 runs was in 1985 against the New York Mets. It is also the third most runs the Phillies scored in one game. Not only did the win make Phillies history, but Reds history, marking their largest margin of defeat, 21 runs.

The rout was sooo complete sooo early that manager Manuel gave both 2nd baseman Chase Utley and 1st baseman Ryan Howard some in-game rest in the fourth inning pinch-running Eric Bruntlett after Utley’s RBI single and pinch-running John Mayberry Jr. for Howard after his RBI single.

But while most of textual thunder has gone to the Phillies’ heavy lumber, Hamels deserves much credit as well.  After leftfielder Jonny Gomes’ second inning leadoff homer, Hamels went on to retire the last 18 of 19 Reds hitters he faced in evening his seasonal record at 5-5.  He walked no one while striking out 2.  The only other hits Hamels allowed were 2 out singles in the first and fifth innings in one of the finest outings he’s had this season.  

The bullpen  largely rested due to both the offensive explosion and Hamels’ performance.  The Big Bucks relievers; Ryan Madson, Chan Ho Park, J.C. Romero and closer Brad Lidge were all able to catch breathers as Tyler Walker and re-activated lefthander Scott Eyre, in a low-risk situation closed down the Reds in the eighth and ninth innings.

For the scores of all of Monday’s games, click here.

In Tuesday’s game 2, young, unbeaten lefthander J.A, Happ, fresh from 3 consecutive excellent outings including a complete game shutout, is opposed by Aaron Harang for the Reds.  Harang has been up and down so far this season.

For all of Tuesday’s games, click here.

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Phillies starter, former Dodger Chan Ho Park provided another quality outing going six innings allowing 2 runs. Leftfielder Raul Ibanez capped a 3 run Phillies fourth inning rally off of lefthander Clayton Kershaw by ripping a 2 run double to centerfield and rightfielder Jayson Werth put himself in the franchise record-books with 4 steals in the game, including a seventh inning steal of home to lead the Phillies past the Manny-less Dodgers by a 5-3 score on Tuesday.

With the win, the Phils remained 1 game behind the Mets who split their Monday and Tuesday games with Atlanta.

Park struggled through a first inning which saw him give up 2 doubles and a single but, thankfully only 1 run.  Then he retired the next 6 Dodgers in a row while the Phils managed a 1 out, 2nd and 3rd base pickle for Kershaw who walked the 1st 2 Phillies hitters in the third inning.  Park helped out his own cause sacrificing both runners into scoring position with 1 out.  Centerfielder Shane Victorino, batting lead-off as manager Manuel juggled his lineup, then grounded out to shortstop scoring 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz as the Phils knotted the score at 1-1.

The Dodgers took a short-lived 2-1 lead off of Park in the fourth on 3 singles, the last of which being a 2 out RBI single to left centerfield by centerfielder Matt Kemp.

But the Phils took the lead for good in their fourth inning.  Werth, batting 3rd, led off with a single to centerfield.  Kershaw then walked 1st baseman  Ryan Howard.  Werth and Howard worked a double-steal to put runners at 2nd and 3rd.  Shortstop Jimmy Rollins, demoted to the 5th spot in manager Manuel’s lineup juggling, solved Kershaw singling to rightfield scoring Werth and moving Howard to 3rd base.  Ibanez followed doubling to right-centerfield to score Howard and Rollins to put the Phils up by 4-2.  Feliz was then walked and it looked like the Phils were not done yet in the inning.  After Kershaw got catcher Carlos Ruiz on a line to centerfield and struck out Park, Victorino reached on a fielding error to load the sacks.  But Kershaw struck out 2nd baseman Chase Utley to evade further damage.

Meanwhile Kershaw singled through the 2nd base/shortstop hole to lead off the fifth.  But Park retired the next 6 Dodger hitters as the Phils led 4-2 after six innings.

Kershaw, who suffered his 3rd loss of the season, left the game after five innings having thown 98 pitches and having given up 4 runs on 4 hits while surrendering a crucial 4 walks, 3 of them leading to Phillies runs.

Winning pitcher Park evened his season record to 1-1 with his 2nd straight excellent performance throwing 101 pitches through six innings while giving up 2 runs on 7 hits walking none and striking out 3.

Relievers Chad Durbin and lefthander Scott Eyre took over for Park in the seventh making short work of the Dodgers and bringing us to Werth’s base-stealing exploits in the Phillies seventh.

AP sports writer Dan Gelston describes Werth’s seventh inning stolen bases for Yahoo sports;

Werth stole home in the seventh inning and tied a team record with four steals in one game.

He had a one-out single in the seventh, then stole second and third. He stole third base in the fourth.

Werth surprised the Dodgers when he took off on a slow toss from catcher  Russell Martin to reliever Ronald Belisario. Werth’s steal of home gave the Phillies a 5-2 lead and the crowd gave him a standing ovation.

Werth’s four steals in a game tied a club record set by Sherry Magee on July 12 and Aug. 31 in 1906, and Garry Maddox on May 29, 1978.

Utley led off the seventh by flying out to center.  Werth followed singling to leftfield.  Werth stole 2nd on a 3rd strike to Ryan Howard.  Lefthanded reliever Will Ohman intentionally walked Rollins — a huge mistake as Martin and reliever Belisario later found out.  Werth and Rollins worked a double-steal as Ohman was walking Ibanez loading the bases.  When Werth spotted Russell’s slow return toss to the pitcher who was in process of walking Feliz, he broke for home and made it safely.

Inquirer staff writer Andy Martino adds more color to Werth’s steal of home;

Werth’s final steal of the evening, a seventh-inning swipe of home with Pedro Feliz batting, underscored the team’s impressive performance. Werth said that first-base coach Davey Lopes had recently spoken to him about more aggressively seeking base-stealing opportunities. Noting the suggestion, he stood on third and watched catcher Russell Martin ignore him after the first pitch of the at-bat.

“On the first pitch, he didn’t look at me,” said Werth. “So I figured if we got to two strikes and he didn’t look at me, I was going to go.”

When that situation arrived, Martin remained on his knees and threw the ball casualty back to pitcher Ronald Belisario. Werth dashed toward home, beating the throw and drawing visceral cheers from surprised teammates and fans, who cheered until he made a curtain call.

“Jayson timed him down,” said a smiling Charlie Manuel. “I was just as surprised as you were. I saw him going and I said, ‘What’s going on?’ . . . I guess he was feeling frisky and had a lot of energy, so he wanted to run.”

He became the first Phillie to swipe home since, yes, Carlos Ruiz on June 26, 2007.

Reliever Ryan Madson set the Dodgers down in the eighth allowing only a harmless 2 out single.

The game was turned over in the ninth to closer Brad Lidge who recorded his 5th save of the season, but it was quite dicey as Lidge gave up 3 singles in between recording 2 outs.  The 3rd single drove in the Dodgers’ 3rd run.  But Lidge got leadoff hitter leftfielder Juan Pierre, subbing for 50 game suspended Manny Ramirez, to fly out to center to end the game.

For all of the results of Monday’s and Tuesday’s games, click here and  here.

Wednesday’s game is a battle of lefthanders as veteran Jamie Moyer looks to regain his 2008 form.  He is opposed by former Phil Randy Wolf who has been solid in his last 3 starts.

For all of Wednesday’s games, click here.

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Taking great pleasure when the team everyone loves to hate gets their come-up’ens, this is one game which I just couldn’t pass up posting on.

The Yankees, those over-spending, over-rated Bronx boys who lately miss the playoffs habitually, got man-handled, bombed and pillaged for a 14 run marathon second inning, which included a 3 run homer, a grand slam and a solo shot enroute to a 22-4 humbling Saturday by the Cleveland Indians.

Chien-Ming Wang seemed to have little trouble putting down the Indians in the first inning as Yanks 1st baseman Mark Teixeira clubbed a 1 out, 2 run first inning homer off of Fausto Carmona to stake the Yanks to an early 2-0 lead.

But Yankee prosperity disappeared in the blink of an eye amidst the Indian’s 14 run second inning onslaught against Wang, who managed 1 out while being pummelled for 8 runs, and Anthony Claggett who got the side out in the second while being rocked for the other 6 runs plus single runs in the third and fourth innings.

Cleveland lambasted Yankees pitching for 4 more runs in the fifth and a run each in the eighth and ninth innings and a total of 6 home runs for the game including a grand slam and 2 sets of back-to-back homers.
 
AP sports writer Jay Cohen makes these points on the rout for Yahoo sports:

Cleveland’s 14-run second—the biggest inning ever against New York… set the bar for Yankee Stadium’s new record book.

The 14 runs were the most scored in the second inning of a major league game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

It was the most runs for the Indians since they beat New York 22-0 on Aug. 31, 2004, at the old Yankee Stadium. The 22 runs also tied the Yankees’ record for most allowed in a home game.

Carmona (1-2) was the beneficiary of the Indians’ big day at the plate, working six innings in his first victory of the season.

With the score at 20-2 in the Yankees fifth inning, leftfielder Melky Cabrera belted a meaningless 2 run homer off of Carmona, but the Indians onslaught was by then too much for the Yankees to overcome.

Unlike last season’s 30-3 Texas Ranger rout of Baltimore, neither Indian reliever pitched 3 innings and thus, there was no save recorded here.

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