Too Much Manny as Yanks Fall to the Sox 7-5

The Yankees fell to 9-8 on the year with a 7 -5 loss to the Red Sox tonight at Yankee Stadium. With the loss the Yanks fall to one game behind Boston for first place in the AL East.

FINAL	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Boston	0	1	4	0	2	0	0	0	0		7	13	0
N.Y. Yankees	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	2		5	8	1

Mike Mussina got the start and was pretty freakin' awful. His bad night started with a solo HR from Manny Ramirez in the 2nd. His night went from bad to worse in the 3rd when following a RBI single from Dustin Pedroia, Ramirez mashed his second homer of the night, this time a 2-run shot that went about 450 ft. The Sox added another run in the inning on a Jason Varitek RBI single. Mussina's final line on the night was 3 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 1 K.

A couple stats for you: In his last 26 at-bats Manny Ramirez is 13-26 with 4 HR and 11 RBI against Mike Mussina.

And taking another look at last Saturday's decision to pitch to Manny with first base open; there have been 7 times prior to Saturday where Manny (as a Red Sock) has come to bat with the tying and lead runs on with first base open against the Yankees, and he's been intentionally walked six times. The only time he didn't walk he tied the game. Next time he better be walked.

Jonathan Albaladejo pitched 3 innings as well and was OK; he allowed 2 runs on 4 hits and a walk, while striking out 3. Kyle Farnsworth pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 7th that was highlighted by a 99 MPH fastball behind Manny Ramirez. The pitch may have been a little too close to Manny's head, but he certainly did not look comfortable the rest of the AB. Billy Traber was very good tonight pitching a scoreless 8th and 9th.

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Mussina (L, 1-3)	3.0	7	5	5	0	1	2	5.75
Albaladejo	3.0	4	2	2	1	3	0	3.18
Farnsworth	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	4.32
Traber	2.0	2	0	0	0	0	0	3.00

RED SOX PITCHING

Josh Beckett was very good tonight for the Sox as the Yankees were only able to score three runs off him in 8 innings of work. The runs came in the bottom of the 5th on a 2-run single by Derek Jeter scoring Johnny Damon and Melky Cabrera, and an RBI double by Bobby Abreu that scored Jeter. The Yankees added two in the 9th on an RBI ground out by Robinson Cano and a solo HR by Melky Cabrera, but it was too little too late.

Jason Giambi continues to be an absolute disgrace at the plate, tonight he was 0-for-4 with 2 strikeouts dropping his batting average to .125. I think it's about time Girardi considers giving Morgan Ensberg some serious playing time.

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, LF	4	1	1	0	0	2	1	.204
Jeter, SS	4	1	1	2	0	0	0	.317
Abreu, RF	4	0	2	1	0	1	0	.302
Rodriguez, 3B	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	.309
Giambi, 1B	4	0	0	0	0	2	2	.125
Posada, DH	4	1	1	0	0	1	2	.268
Cano, 2B	4	0	0	1	0	0	0	.167
Cabrera, CF	3	2	2	1	1	0	0	.319
Moeller, C	3	0	0	0	0	0	2	.308
a-Matsui, PH	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.321
Totals	35	5	8	5	1	7	8
a-Struck out for Moeller in the 9th.
BATTING 2B: Damon (4, Beckett), Abreu (3, Beckett), Posada (3, Papelbon). HR: Cabrera (3, 9th inning off Papelbon, 0 on, 2 out). TB: Damon 2; Jeter; Abreu 3; Rodriguez; Posada 2; Cabrera 5. RBI: Jeter 2 (8), Abreu (10), Cano (5), Cabrera (7). 2-out RBI: Jeter 2; Abreu; Cabrera. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Damon; Posada; Rodriguez. Team LOB: 4.

RED SOX HITTING

The Yankees will now travel to Baltimore to take on the Orioles in a three game series at Camden Yards. Phil Hughes gets the start in game one for the Yanks, and he will go up against Daniel Cabrera. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m., and the game can be seen on MY9 and heard on WCBS 880.

Make sure to check out my Yanks-O's series preview tomorrow afternoon.