And You Thought Last Night Was Bad

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

What a stupid night of baseball in the Bronx. As you can see, the Yankees dropped a second straight to the Rangers, this time by the score of 3 to 2. They once again blew an opportunity to gain ground on the Red Sox who lost again tonight, and again the Rays gain a game, there lead is now up to 7.5 games.

Joba Chamberlain started for the Yankees, and was not his normal self. He battled through four innings, allowing 2 runs on 5 hits, walking 4 and striking out 6. He had no command of any of his pitches tonight, and was in trouble from beginning to end.

Dan Giese relieved Chamberlain in the 5th and pitched a scoreless inning.

Coming off a somewhat shaky outing in his MLB debut at Shea on Sunday, David Robertson was impressive in two scoreless innings tonight. He had some control issues and walked 2, but didn't allow a hit, and struck out 3.

Jose Veras pitched a scoreless 8th. He didn't have his best command, but did the job.

With the game tied in the 9th the Yankees called on Mariano Rivera, who has been perfect in save situations, but was once again imperfect in a non-save situation. For the third time this season Rivera gave up the lead in a tie game. This time on an RBI single by Michael Young.

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Chamberlain	4.0	5	2	2	4	6	0	2.22
Giese	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	0	3.15
Robertson	2.0	0	0	0	2	3	0	2.25
Veras	1.0	0	0	0	1	0	0	2.73
Rivera (L, 2-3)	1.0	3	1	1	0	0	0	0.96

RANGERS PITCHING

It was another night where the Yankees' offense did not show up. Things started off well, Johnny Damon led off the 1st with a double, and then Brett Gardner bunted him over to 3rd. But things quickly turned sour when Bobby Abreu popped out, and Alex Rodriguez grounded out leaving Damon stranded at 3rd. Their only runs came on RBI singles by Robinson Cano in the 4th, and Wilson Betemit in the 6th.

Down 3-2 in the 9th, it appeared that the Yanks would have a chance to tie the game when Wison Betemit led off the inning with a walk (Alberto Gonzalez pinch ran). Melky Cabrera, who was 0 for his last 18, was up next, of course he's going to bunt Gonzalez over to 2nd, so the Yanks can have two shots at tying the game. Right?

Wrong! Joe Girardi decides not to take that route; he wants to let Melky swing away.

Why? He said on the post game that he made the decision because "our lefties haven't had success off Wilson." Johnny Damon - who had two hits on the night - was on deck, he's 1-for-5 against Rangers' closer C.J. Wilson in his career, but this season he's hitting a respectable .290 against lefties. Melky, who he let swing away, was 0-for-3 against Wilson, and is hitting .198 against lefties this season.

Another thing I cannot understand is how he has Gardner bunt in a scoreless game in the 1st inning, with a runner on 2nd and nobody out, but doesn't bunt in the 9th with the struggling Melky Cabrera at the plate, down a run, with a runner on 1st and nobody out.

Anyway, Melky swings away, and of course ends up grounding into a double play to kill whatever hopes they had at tying the game.

Girardi has made many bad decisions this year, but this may be the worst so far. It made no sense whatsoever. On the post game, Michael Kay called it "inexplicable," I agree.

	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, DH	5	0	2	0	0	0	0	.317
Gardner, LF	3	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000
Abreu, RF	4	0	1	0	0	2	2	.283
Rodriguez, 3B	4	0	0	0	0	1	2	.316
Giambi, 1B	3	1	1	0	1	0	0	.264
Posada, C	4	1	2	0	0	2	1	.292
Cano, 2B	4	0	2	1	0	0	1	.245
Betemit, SS	3	0	1	1	1	2	3	.268
1-Gonzalez, PR	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.176
Cabrera, CF	4	0	0	0	0	0	5	.240
Totals	34	2	9	2	2	8	15
1-Ran for Betemit in the 9th.
BATTING 2B: Damon 2 (22, Millwood, Millwood). TB: Damon 4; Abreu; Giambi; Posada 2; Cano 2; Betemit. RBI: Cano (34), Betemit (13). 2-out RBI: Betemit. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Rodriguez; Betemit; Abreu; Cabrera 2. S: Gardner. GIDP: Cabrera. Team LOB: 8.

RANGERS OFFENSE

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Ian Kinsler (2-for-3, 2B, 2BB, R, 3 SB)

HONORABLE MENTION: Kevin Millwood (5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K)

GOATS OF THE GAME: Joe Girardi, the "offense," and Mariano Rivera.

Hopefully, the Yanks can salvage the series finale tomorrow night at The Stadium. The Yankees will have former Ranger Sidney Ponson on the mound. Luis Mendoza will start for the Rangers. This may be bad news for the Yankees because they've never seen Mendoza before, and recently they haven't been able to hit pitchers they haven't seen before, regardless of how mediocre they are.

First pitch: 7:05 p.m. - TV: YES - Radio: WCBS 880

And here's a lineup suggestion for Joe:

Johnny Damon LF
Derek Jeter SS
Bobby Abreu RF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Jason Giambi 1B
Jorge Posada DH (his arm is shot)
Robinson Cano 2B
Jose Molina C
Brett Gardner CF