Lannan Dominates As Yanks Fall To Nats

(AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

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

Winning pitcher - John Lannan (4-5)
Losing pitcher - Chien-Ming Wang (0-5)
SV - Mike MacDougal (1)

It was an ugly night in the Bronx as the Yanks lost a nail-biter to the 17-win Washington Nationals by the score of 3-2.

A lot of credit should go to Nationals' starter John Lannan who pitched a very good game. In 8.1 innings 24-year-old left-hander allowed just two runs on four hits, struck out four and walked just one. He mixed his pitches very well, threw strikes all night, finding the plate with 71 of his 108 pitches, and kept the Yankees hitters off-balance all night. Lannan is having a very solid year and came into this game with a 3.51 ERA and has been especially good lately. In his last three starts he's 2-0, with a 1.16 ERA, including a complete game four-hitter agianst the Mets on the 6th.

The only two runs came on solo homers, one of the bat of Robinson Cano in the fifth, and another from Johnny Damon to lead off the bottom of the ninth. After the Damon homer the Yankees got the tying run to third base with just one out. Mark Teixeira singled and Brett Gardner pinch ran. The hit knocked Lannan out of the game and Mike MacDougal came in from the pen. With Alex Rodriguez batting Gardner stole second and third. A-Rod eventually walked when the umpire said he checked his swing on a 3-2 pitch. I think he went, but hey, A-Rod could use a break right now the way Yankees fans are treating him. Robinson Cano was up and put up a good at-bat, fouling off fastball after fastball from but on the ninth pitch of the at-bat MacDougal won the battle by getting Cano to rolling into the game-ending 6-4-3 double play.

I know A-Rod has a bad hip, but why didn't Joe Girardi try to maybe send the runner and stay out of the double play? If A-Rod couldn't run, send in Angel Berroa to pinch run. Also Josh Bard doesn't have that great of an arm, and he and MacDougal cared a lot more about Gardner at third. As SteveB points out over at the Pride of the Yankees blog, "The Nats would be concerned about a delayed double steal, so most likely they allow Rodriguez to take second base, then they would walk Cano to bring up Posada." If you don't like the straight steal, you could always go with a hit and run, Cano is swinging the bat well and had no problem making contact. Putting it in play? Yes. Contact? No. Regardless, the Yankees should have tied this game, you have to get that run in from third with less than two outs.

The biggest story coming into the game was how it was a "make or break" start for Chien-Ming Wang. Well, if Girardi's post game comments are any indication is looks like he's earned at least one more start. Girardi said it was "safe to say" that Wang would start in Atlanta on Tuesday. In five innings he allowed three runs on six hits, walked two, and struck out four. He recording ten outs via the groundball and just two in the air, and of his 91 pitches, 54 were strikes. I felt Wang had his best game so far. His stuff was pretty good, his fastball was topping out at 94 and his sinker had good movement, he had a nice slider as well, and mixed his pitches better than he has all year. It wasn't a great start, but it was certainly a sign he's moving in the right direction. He also recieved high praise from his catcher. “That was the old Wang,” Jorge Posada said after the game. “Everything I saw was positive. He gave us a chance to win that game.”

Wang was also hurt by a few bad breaks in the Nationals two-run fifth. First, Ramiro Pena dropped Jorge Posada's throw to second on Willie Harris' steal attempt. Had he held on to the ball Harris would have been out. Then, the first base umpire clearly blew the call at first base on Cristian Guzman's "single". And finally, Melky Cabrera probably cost him a run when he tried to dive for Nick Johnson's line drive that he clearly had no chance catching. The ball got past him and rolled on the way to the wall allowing a runner to score from first and Johnson to get to third. In the end, these mistakes probably cost the Yankees the game.

It was a great night for the bullpen as Phil Hughes, Phil Coke and Alfredo Aceves combined to pitch four scoreless innings. Hughes pitched two scoreless, allowing just one hit and striking out two. His fastball was sitting at 94-95, had a very good curveball, and 16 of his 24 pitches were strikes. Phil Coke was very impressive as he struck out the side in the 8th.

Tonight was a game they should have won and this was a series they should have swept, but that didn't happen. The only thing they can do now is go out and win the rubber this afternoon. Not sweeping this terrible, terrible team is bad enough, losing two of three at home would be a disaster. Joba Chamberlain needs to get his act together tomorrow. He can start with throwing strikes. He also needs to get on the same page with Jorge Posada and stop shaking him off so much. Right-hander Craig Stammen will start the rubber game for the Nats.

Did anyone else notice A-Rod during his postgame interview? Is it just me or did he look like he was about to start crying? I think the combination of hitting .220 and being booed every day is really starting to get to the guy. I understand people don't like him and probably never will, and to be honest he's not my favorite player either, but the fans need to give him a break and stop booing. It's only making the situation worse.

	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, LF	4	1	2	1	0	0	0	.286
Swisher, RF	4	0	0	0	0	1	1	.239
Teixeira, 1B	3	0	1	0	1	0	1	.284
1-Gardner, PR	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.276
Rodriguez, A, 3B	3	0	0	0	1	1	1	.219
Cano, 2B	4	1	1	1	0	0	2	.308
Posada, C	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.282
Matsui, DH	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	.249
Cabrera, M, CF	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	.286
Pena, SS	3	0	0	0	0	1	0	.253
Totals	30	2	4	2	2	4	5
1-Ran for Teixeira in the 9th.
BATTING 2B: Damon (16, Lannan). HR: Cano (12, 5th inning off Lannan, 0 on, 0 out), Damon (14, 9th inning off Lannan, 0 on, 0 out). TB: Damon 6; Teixeira; Cano 4. RBI: Cano (42), Damon (39). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Teixeira. GIDP: Cano. Team RISP: 0-for-3. Team LOB: 3. BASERUNNING SB: Gardner 2 (14, 2nd base off MacDougal/Bard, J, 3rd base off MacDougal/Bard, J). FIELDING DP: (Pena-Cano-Teixeira).

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Wang (L, 0-5)	5.0	6	3	3	2	4	1	12.65
Hughes, P	2.0	1	0	0	0	2	0	4.89
Coke	1.1	0	0	0	1	3	0	3.58
Aceves, A	0.2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2.63

PLAYER OF THE GAME: John Lannan (W, 8.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K)

HONORABLE MENTION: Nick Johnson (1-for-3, 3B, 2 RBI)

GOAT OF THE GAME: Robinson Cano (GIDP to end the game with the tying run on third) - I know this is a bit harsh since he did hit a homer and put up a pretty good at-bat against MacDougal, but I really couldn't think of anyone else.

Tomorrow's Game

Yankees vs. Nationals
Game Time: 1:05 p.m. | TV/Radio: YES, WCBS
RHP Joba Chamberlain (3-1, 3.84 ERA) vs. RHP Craig Stammen (0-2, 5.86 ERA)