Damon's Error, Johnson's Arm Help Marlins Past Yanks

(REUTERS/Hans Deryk)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
NYY	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0		1	5	2
FLA	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	X		2	5	0

Winning pitcher - Josh Johnson (7-1)
Losing pitcher - A.J. Burnett (5-4)
SV - Matt Lindstrom (13)
Sometimes you just have to tip your cap to your opponent, tonight, in the case of Josh Johnson, it was one of those nights. Johnson is a very good pitcher, there's a reason he's 7-1, with a 2.66 ERA this year.

Yankees' starter A.J. Burnett pitched a great game, holding the Marlins to two runs (one earned) on 5 hits over 6.1 innings pitched, he walked three and struck out 8. He threw 98 pitches on the night, 59 for strikes. The earned run coming on a Dan Uggla solo homer in the second. It was great to see how well he and Jorge Posada worked with each other, especially after all the speculation (and stats that showed) that Burnett didn't like throwing to Posada. Burnett even made it a point to mention in the postgame how well the two worked together.

The unearned run came in the bottom of the sixth. With Hanley Ramirez on first and one out Jorge Cantu lined a ball into left field for what should have been the second out of the inning, but Johnny Damon either lost it in the lights or just missed it and that ball guy by him allowing Ramirez to score the Marlins' second run. After the game Burnett said he thought Damon lost it in the lights, but Damon said he just missed the ball, either way it was a terrible play and probably cost the Yankees the game.

While Burnett pitched a great game tonight, Josh Johnson pitched a little bit better. In seven innings he allowed a run on 3 hits, walked 2 and struck out 5. The tall right-hander pounded the zone all night, throwing 67 of his 103 pitches for strikes. I haven't seen much of Johnson, so I was very surprised at how electric his stuff was. His fastball has a lot of late movement, averaged 95.67 mph on the gun tonight, and topped out at 97.9. Besides the great fastball he also had a very good slider that is faster than some pitcher's fastballs. His breaking ball averaged 88.6 and topped out at 91.3. He had no-hit stuff tonight, and actually held the Yankees to just one Burnett bloop single through the first six inning. This dude is one of the better pitchers in the game right now, and at just 25-years-old it looks like he will be for a long time.

Once the Yankees got to the pen in the eighth it looked like they were ready for another one of their comeback victories. Hideki Matsui led off with a pinch-hit single. Brett Gardner pinch-ran for him and with another pinch-hitter, Alex Rodriguez up he stole second. A-Rod then drew a walk to put the tying and lead runs on base. Derek Jeter was then up, but tonight was one of those rare occasions where he could not get the bunt down. Forced to swing with two strikes he did something that is not so rare and hit into a rally killing double play - his second GIDP of the night. Johnny Damon then struck out to end the inning.

The bullpen was once again very good. Phil Coke retired the only two batters he faced, and Phil Hughes pitched a scoreless inning, picking up two strikeouts along the way.

It sucks to lose, but I really don't feel that bad about tonight. There are a few very good things that the Yankees can take from this game. Mainly that Burnett pitched a very good game, and he and Posada worked very well together. Besides that the bullpen continues to look very solid. Offensively, they were just shut down by a very good pitcher. The important thing is going out and winning the rubber game tomorrow with CC Sabathia on the mound.

	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Jeter, SS	4	0	0	0	0	1	3	.303
Damon, LF	3	0	0	0	1	1	1	.280
Teixeira, 1B	3	0	1	0	1	1	1	.286
Posada, C	4	1	0	0	0	0	3	.281
Cano, 2B	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	.309
Swisher, RF	3	0	1	1	0	1	0	.244
Cabrera, M, CF	3	0	0	0	0	2	2	.283
Berroa, 3B	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	.136
a-Matsui, PH	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	.253
1-Gardner, PR	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.277
Hughes, P, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Burnett, P	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	.500
Coke, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
b-Rodriguez, A, PH-3B	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.212
Totals	29	1	5	1	3	6	11
a-Singled for Berroa in the 8th. b-Walked for Coke in the 8th. 1-Ran for Matsui in the 8th.
BATTING TB: Teixeira; Cano; Swisher; Matsui; Burnett. RBI: Swisher (36). 2-out RBI: Swisher. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Posada; Cabrera, M; Damon. GIDP: Jeter 2; Cano. Team RISP: 1-for-5. Team LOB: 4. BASERUNNING SB: Damon (6, 2nd base off Johnson/Baker), Gardner (15, 2nd base off Nunez/Baker). FIELDING E: Berroa (3, throw), Damon (4, fielding).

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Burnett (L, 5-4)	6.1	5	2	1	3	8	1	4.24
Coke	0.2	0	0	0	0	1	0	3.38
Hughes, P	1.0	0	0	0	0	2	0	4.78

MARLINS STATS

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Josh Johnson (W, 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K)

HONORABLE MENTION: A.J. Burnett (6.1 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K)

GOAT OF THE GAME: Johnny Damon - for

Tomorrow's Game

Yankees @ Marlins
Game Time: 5:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS
LHP CC Sabathia (6-4, 3.67 ERA) vs. RHP Chris Volstad (4-7, 4.75 ERA)