(AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | ||
| TB | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 13 | 0 | |
| NYY | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 0 |
Winning pitcher - Dan Wheeler (1-0)
Losing pitcher - Mariano Rivera (0-1)
SV - Joe Nelson (1)
How many times are the Yankees going to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory in one week? It's one thing to just lose a game, but the Yankees seem to make every loss as excruciating as possible. Tonight they fought back from being down 4-0, and 6-4 in the eighth, only to have the night ruined by a horrible outing by Mariano Rivera in the ninth. But more on that later, for now let's start with the starter, Andy Pettitte.
It was another sub par outing for a Yankees starter as Pettitte allowed five runs on nine hits, including four home runs, walked one and struck out five in six innings of work. The four home runs were a career high for homers allowed in a game for Pettitte. He threw 115 pitches on the night, 72 for strikes. The first two runs he allowed came in the top half of the first on solo homers by Jason Bartlett and Carlos Pena, so once again the Yanks were behind the eight ball before they even had an at-bat. The Rays made it four zip with a two-run blast off the bat of Evan Longoria in the third.
As I said before the Yankees were able to fight back and tie the game. With one out in the bottom of the fourth Melky Cabrera walked and Ramiro Pena followed with a single. Jose Molina then stepped up and lined an RBI double and the Yanks were on the board. --- It would prove to be a costly double because Molina would strain his quad on the play and eventually have to leave the game. He's likely headed to the DL, which would probably mean we'll be seeing Kevin Cash get called up tomorrow. --- After Derek Jeter lined out to second for out number two Johnny Damon stepped up and lined a two-run double into the seats in right and the Rays lead was cut to one.
With the score still 4-3 Rays, Hideki Matsui led off the bottom half of the fifth and lined a solo homer just over the wall in the right field corner and the game was tied. But, like every time the Yankees gather a bit of momentum the pitcher on the mound for the Yanks gives it right back. This time it was when Pettitte gave the Rays the lead right back in the top of the sixth on a Ben Zobrist solo homer. The worst part was that there were two out and a scoreless inning there would have been great for the Yankees' psyche.
The Rays would extend their lead to 6-4 with a run off Jose Veras in the seventh. Like Pettitte in the prior inning he also had retired the first two batters before giving up the run.
Again the Yankees would battle back, and again it was Damon who stepped up with the big hit. With two out in the eighth Jeter lined a single to bring up Damon as the tying run. He was sitting dead red and smacked the first pitch he saw deep into the second deck in the right for a two-run game tying homer. At this point I was starting to think, 'Hey, this could be the game that turns things around.' But of course that's not how things worked out.
Mariano Rivera came in for the top of the ninth and struck out Bartlett for the first out. That brought up Carl Crawford. Crawford fell behind 1-2 in the count, but battled his way back to 3-2 and on the ninth pitch of the at-bat he finally got his pitch and lined it into the seats in right and the Rays led 7-6. It was Crawford's first homer in 258 at-bats. If that wasn't shocking and demoralizing enough for you, Longoria then stepped up and launched a homer deep into the left field seats, 8-6 Rays. It was the first time that Rivera has ever given up back-to-back home runs. The first time in his career and of course it comes when the Yankees were is desperate need of a win. Mo would get one more out before being taken out of the game, and yes he did receive a few boos from the crowd that was left at the stadium. David Robertson got the final out of the ninth.
The Yankees went down very quietly in the bottom half of the ninth, two ground outs to the pitcher by Matsui and Robinson Cano, and Nick Swisher struck out to end the game.
Seriously, losses like this can take years off your life. All season this team has had a way of building up your hopes and then crushing them.
Besides the terrible loss, it looks like they've lost Jose Molina to a strained quad, and we learned from Girardi in the post game that Mariano has not been 100% so far this year. Apparently his shoulder hasn't completely healed yet, and the Yankees are a little concerned with his velocity.
Yesterday I spoke about how Alex Rodriguez's return would be a big step in the right direction for this team. Well, his return comes tomorrow in Baltimore. However, tomorrow's game is on CC Sabathia. It's time for him to start earning that money and be the Yankees ace. He needs to go out there and give the Yankees a good eight innings, allowing two runs or less. The Yankees have been in need of a big pitching performance since the homestand began and that performance never came. Hopefully CC can come through tomorrow.
It was another sub par outing for a Yankees starter as Pettitte allowed five runs on nine hits, including four home runs, walked one and struck out five in six innings of work. The four home runs were a career high for homers allowed in a game for Pettitte. He threw 115 pitches on the night, 72 for strikes. The first two runs he allowed came in the top half of the first on solo homers by Jason Bartlett and Carlos Pena, so once again the Yanks were behind the eight ball before they even had an at-bat. The Rays made it four zip with a two-run blast off the bat of Evan Longoria in the third.
As I said before the Yankees were able to fight back and tie the game. With one out in the bottom of the fourth Melky Cabrera walked and Ramiro Pena followed with a single. Jose Molina then stepped up and lined an RBI double and the Yanks were on the board. --- It would prove to be a costly double because Molina would strain his quad on the play and eventually have to leave the game. He's likely headed to the DL, which would probably mean we'll be seeing Kevin Cash get called up tomorrow. --- After Derek Jeter lined out to second for out number two Johnny Damon stepped up and lined a two-run double into the seats in right and the Rays lead was cut to one.
With the score still 4-3 Rays, Hideki Matsui led off the bottom half of the fifth and lined a solo homer just over the wall in the right field corner and the game was tied. But, like every time the Yankees gather a bit of momentum the pitcher on the mound for the Yanks gives it right back. This time it was when Pettitte gave the Rays the lead right back in the top of the sixth on a Ben Zobrist solo homer. The worst part was that there were two out and a scoreless inning there would have been great for the Yankees' psyche.
The Rays would extend their lead to 6-4 with a run off Jose Veras in the seventh. Like Pettitte in the prior inning he also had retired the first two batters before giving up the run.
Again the Yankees would battle back, and again it was Damon who stepped up with the big hit. With two out in the eighth Jeter lined a single to bring up Damon as the tying run. He was sitting dead red and smacked the first pitch he saw deep into the second deck in the right for a two-run game tying homer. At this point I was starting to think, 'Hey, this could be the game that turns things around.' But of course that's not how things worked out.
Mariano Rivera came in for the top of the ninth and struck out Bartlett for the first out. That brought up Carl Crawford. Crawford fell behind 1-2 in the count, but battled his way back to 3-2 and on the ninth pitch of the at-bat he finally got his pitch and lined it into the seats in right and the Rays led 7-6. It was Crawford's first homer in 258 at-bats. If that wasn't shocking and demoralizing enough for you, Longoria then stepped up and launched a homer deep into the left field seats, 8-6 Rays. It was the first time that Rivera has ever given up back-to-back home runs. The first time in his career and of course it comes when the Yankees were is desperate need of a win. Mo would get one more out before being taken out of the game, and yes he did receive a few boos from the crowd that was left at the stadium. David Robertson got the final out of the ninth.
The Yankees went down very quietly in the bottom half of the ninth, two ground outs to the pitcher by Matsui and Robinson Cano, and Nick Swisher struck out to end the game.
Seriously, losses like this can take years off your life. All season this team has had a way of building up your hopes and then crushing them.
Besides the terrible loss, it looks like they've lost Jose Molina to a strained quad, and we learned from Girardi in the post game that Mariano has not been 100% so far this year. Apparently his shoulder hasn't completely healed yet, and the Yankees are a little concerned with his velocity.
Yesterday I spoke about how Alex Rodriguez's return would be a big step in the right direction for this team. Well, his return comes tomorrow in Baltimore. However, tomorrow's game is on CC Sabathia. It's time for him to start earning that money and be the Yankees ace. He needs to go out there and give the Yankees a good eight innings, allowing two runs or less. The Yankees have been in need of a big pitching performance since the homestand began and that performance never came. Hopefully CC can come through tomorrow.
| AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | LOB | AVG | |
| Jeter, SS | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .275 |
| Damon, LF | 5 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .314 |
| Teixeira, 1B | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | .198 |
| Matsui, DH | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .287 |
| Cano, 2B | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | .319 |
| Swisher, RF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | .267 |
| Cabrera, M, CF | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | .333 |
| Pena, 3B | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .279 |
| Molina, J, C | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .273 |
| Cervelli, C | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
| Totals | 36 | 6 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 18 | |
BATTING 2B: Jeter (6, Niemann), Molina, J (2, Cormier), Damon (5, Cormier). HR: Matsui (3, 5th inning off Cormier, 0 on, 0 out), Damon (7, 8th inning off Wheeler, 1 on, 2 out). TB: Jeter 3; Damon 8; Matsui 4; Cabrera, M; Pena; Molina, J 2. RBI: Molina, J (6), Damon 4 (19), Matsui (12). 2-out RBI: Damon 4. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Cano 3; Teixeira. GIDP: Molina, J. Team RISP: 2-for-11. Team LOB: 9. BASERUNNING SB: Cabrera, M (3, 2nd base off Niemann/Navarro). FIELDING DP: (Pettitte-Cano-Teixeira). | ||||||||
RAYS OFFENSE
| IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | |
| Pettitte | 6.0 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 4.38 |
| Veras | 2.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7.20 |
| Rivera (L, 0-1) | 0.2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3.97 |
| Robertson | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3.86 |
RAYS PITCHING
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Johnny Damon (4-for-5, 2B, HR, 4 RBI, R)
HONORABLE MENTION: Evan Longoria (3-for-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 3 R)
GOAT OF THE GAME: Mariano Rivera (L, 0.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, allowed back-to-back home runs for the first time in his career.)
Yankees @ Orioles @ Camden Yards
Game Time: 7:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS 880
CC Sabathia LHP (1-3, 4.85 ERA) vs. Jeremy Guthrie LHP (2-2, 5.05 ERA)
Game Time: 7:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS 880
CC Sabathia LHP (1-3, 4.85 ERA) vs. Jeremy Guthrie LHP (2-2, 5.05 ERA)
5 Comments:
Next time, Yankees fans, do remember to chant "Eva~~~" whenever Mr. Longoria steps in the batter's box.
Didn't you learn anything from the brilliant Phillies fans?
Time for CC to come through tonight.
Hey Greg, Damon hit a two run double in the fourth not a two run homer.
Good write up. Yanks definitely need a pick me up from CC, and he needs to establish himself as the ace of this staff. Having that confidence at least once every five days that you know you are going to win will be huge for this team, and hopefully rub off on the rest of the staff. No easy task though against a good hitting club in Camden Yards.
Let's Go Yanks!
NEWSFLASH:
FBI agents have arrested Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett for swindling the New York Yankees out of more money than a Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. Andy Pettitte, meanwhile, has been charged with impersonating a player of the same name who used to pitch for the Yanks several years ago. In other news, Hal Steinbrenner, Executive Vice President of the Yankees, has announced that they are increasing prices of Legends Suite seats with an obstructed view to $3,000. Explaining the reasons behind the move, Steinbrenner said: "We figure that the people who can't actually see the game are having a lot more fun than those who can."
Hey, we all need a laugh at the moment. Keep the faith!
lol thanks Bobby. I typed this thing up at around 3:30 last night so my brain wasn't functioning properly.
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