Russell Martin hits two homers, leading the Yankees to a sweep of the Mets

Russell likes hitting against the Mets.

Through six innings it looked like the Yankees were going to get shut out in this one. The Bombers couldn’t manage anything with the bats against . The Yankees would frequently get their lead off hitter on base, only to see their inadequacy with runners on base  continue. Just when it looked like the Yankees were grasping at their final outs and heading towards a loss, the later innings happened.

started the excitement with a two-run, Yankee Stadium special, wall scraper to right that was just out of the arms of a leaping . The ball hit on the edge of the wall, jumped straight in the air and landed in the arms of a fan. YES replayed the hit several times. It was never clear if the ball was truly a homer or if the fan interfered, but that didn’t matter because the Mets never challenged the call. Odds are the challenge wouldn’t have stood, but the hit plated two runs for the Yankees and put the Pinstripes right back into the action.

The Mets turned to their bullpen heading into the eighth inning, a bullpen that ranks near the bottom in most relief pitching categories. started things off with an infield single, his second infield single of the game. The ball got under ‘s glove and rolled into the outfield allowing Jeter to take second. then hit a single, moving Jeter to third. followed up with a game tying RBI single, moving Granderson to third. came up and hit a blooper into shallow right field. Normally that ball is an easy pop up, but the Mets were playing with the infield in. A-Rod had an RBI single and the Yankees had the lead.

They gave the lead right back in the top of the ninth. was not sharp. He gave up back to back doubles to and , blowing his first save of the season and allowing the Mets to tie the game. Girardi didn’t let Soriano finish the inning. He pulled Soriano for after Rafael gave up a single to . Logan navigated his way through the rest of the inning without allowing further damage.

led off the bottom of the ninth with a game winning, walk off homer off . It was Martin’s third RBI and second homer of the game, topping the Yankee come back. The Yankees are now a half game behind Tampa Bay for first place and have won eight of their last ten.

Finally, got roughed up a bit in the second inning, but was otherwise solid, pitching six innings of five hit, three run (two earned runs) baseball. The Yankees had a bit of a scare when Andy bare handed a hard hit grounder in the top of the sixth. Pettitte was visibly shaken up, but he stayed in the game and said he was fine in the post game press conference.