Yanks Fall To .500 With Fifth Straight Loss To Sox

(AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
BOS	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1		7	8	1
NYY	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0		3	10	1

Joba Chamberlain started for the Yankees tonight and got off to a very rocky start. After he allowing three straight singles to Jacoby Ellsbury, Dustin Pedroia, and David Ortiz to start the game the Sox had runners on first and second, a run in, and the the red hot Jason Bay at the plate. He took a 2-1 fastball a blasted it over the wall in left for a three-run homer and the Red Sox were leading 4-0 and Joba hadn't even recorded an out yet. He gave up another single to Mike Lowell to make it five straight hits to start the game, but was able to get out of the first without giving up another run.

From that point on Joba was about as dominating as I've seen him. Over the next 4.2 innings Chamberlain allowed no runs on one hit, walked two, hit a batter, and struck out 12. He had all four pitches working, and he used his changeup more than I have ever seen, and it looked nasty. His slider and curveball also had great movement, and he was locating his fastball very well. The final eight outs he recorded were all on strike outs before being taken out of the game with two outs in the sixth because he had reached his pitch limit. He threw 108 pitches, 72 for strikes.

Like I said about the game CC Sabathia pitched the other day, it doesn't matter how good you are for most of the game if you're terrible for one inning. The final results are what matter, and tonight's result was a loss for Joba and the Yankees.

The Yankees did cut the lead down to one in the third when Johnny Damon hit a three-run homer off Sox starter Josh Beckett, but that was as close as they'd get.

They had their chances throughout the night to tie the game, but once again couldn't come up with that big hit against Boston. Their best chance came in the sixth. With one out Nick Swisher walked and then Melky Cabrera lined a ground-rule double into the left field corner. Swisher probably would have scored if the ball hadn't gone over the wall, but still, the Yankees had runners on second and third with just one out. Ramiro Pena was up and got ahead of the count 2-0, but swung at ball three, then got robbed of ball three on a terrible call from the home plate ump, and finally struck out swinging on a fastball that was two feet outside. Jose Molina then grounded out weakly to end the threat.

Overall it was another rocky day for the bullpen, but things didn't start off so badly. Jose Veras retired the only two batters he faced. Phil Coke then came in and also threw two-thirds scoreless. Jonathan Albaladejo then came in for the eighth and this is where things started to get messy. Jason Bay hit a grounder to third that should have been the first out, but Pena booted and Bay reached on an E5. He then stole second and moved to third on a Mike Lowell ground out. Albaladejo then intentionally walked J.D. Drew, and hit Jeff Bailey to load the bases. Jason Varitek then hit a sac fly and the Sox were up 5-3. They made it 6-3 when Nick Green lined an RBI single into right. Edwar Ramirez then came in to and struck out James Van Every to end the inning, but as they say, the damage had already been done.

Mark Melancon came in for the ninth and had a miserable outing. He walked the bases loaded and then fell behind 2-0 on Lowell before being taken out of the game. He threw 22 pitches, only eight of them for strikes. He was terrible, but I still think he's the real deal and the best thing the Yankees can do is run him right back out there and show him they still have confidence in him.

David Robertson then came in. He struck out Lowell, got Drew to fly out to shallow left and was one out away from getting out of the bases loaded with nobody out jam. But he just missed on a 3-2 pitch to Bailey and walked in the Red Sox seventh run. He then got Varitek to ground out to end the inning. It was a pretty impressive outing.

So the Yankees have started off the season 0-5 against their biggest rival, and while it pisses me off, it really doesn't mean anything in the long run as far as the season goes. The Sox are clearly the better team right now and they're in the Yankees heads. All the Yankees seem to play tight when against the Sox, and all the evidence you need is in their 8-for-54 with RISP. But the Yankees are 13-13, 4.5 out of first, and there are 136 games to go, nothing has been decided yet. With that said, the injuries and the lack of production from the bullpen concern me a lot. It's time for the starting pitchers to step up their game and give this team some innings.

The Yankees now have another short two-game series, this time against the Rays which starts tomorrow night at the new stadium.

	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Jeter, SS	5	1	2	0	0	0	0	.279
Damon, LF	4	1	2	3	0	0	1	.281
Teixeira, 1B	4	0	1	0	0	2	2	.198
Matsui, DH	4	0	1	0	0	0	2	.282
Cano, 2B	4	0	0	0	0	0	2	.336
Swisher, RF	3	0	0	0	1	2	0	.289
Cabrera, M, CF	4	0	3	0	0	1	0	.344
Pena, 3B	4	0	0	0	0	1	3	.278
Molina, J, C	3	1	1	0	0	1	3	.263
a-Gardner, PH	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.231
Totals	36	3	10	3	1	8	13
a-Struck out for Molina, J in the 9th.
BATTING 2B: Cabrera, M 2 (2, Beckett, Beckett). HR: Damon (6, 3rd inning off Beckett, 2 on, 0 out). TB: Jeter 2; Damon 5; Teixeira; Matsui; Cabrera, M 5; Molina, J. RBI: Damon 3 (15). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Cano; Molina, J 3. GIDP: Pena. Team RISP: 1-for-5. Team LOB: 7. FIELDING E: Pena (1, fielding). DP: (Chamberlain-Cano-Teixeira). RED SOX OFFENSE IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Chamberlain (L, 1-1) 5.2 6 4 4 2 12 1 3.77 Veras 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 7.62 Coke 0.2 1 0 0 0 0 0 3.38 Albaladejo 0.2 1 2 0 1 0 0 6.92 Ramirez, E 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 0 5.06 Melancon 0.0 0 1 1 3 0 0 5.40 Robertson 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 0 4.15 RED SOX PITCHING

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Jason Bay (1-for-3, HR, 3 RBI, SB, BB, 2 R)

HONORABLE MENTION: Dustin Pedroia (3-for-4, 2B, BB, 2 R)

Yankees vs. Rays @ New Yankee Stadium
Game Time: 7:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS 880
A.J. Burnett RHP (2-0, 5.40 ERA) vs. Andy Sonnanstine RHP (1-3, 6.75 ERA)