Bad Pitching, Umps Help Jays Avoid Sweep

(AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
TOR	0	1	3	0	0	0	3	0	0		7	8	0
NYY	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	1	2		6	12	0

Winning pitcher - Ricky Romero (7-3)
Losing pitcher - Andy Pettitte (8-4)
SV - Jason Frasor (3)

It was a frustrating day in the Bronx for the Yankees and their fans as they Jays salvaged the final game of the series 7-to-6.

The Yanks had a chance to take an early lead, but thanks to some bad base running, and worse umpiring that didn't happen. Derek Jeter led off with a walk, and then was balked over to second. He got greedy and tried to steal third, something you never do with nobody out unless you can make it easily. Jeter could not make it easily. The throw beat Jeter by a pretty decent margin, but Jeter avoided Scott Rolen's tag. Umpire Marty Foster didn't care, and called Jeter out. And no I'm not kidding when I say that, he actually didn't care that Jeter avoided the tag. According to Jeter, Foster told him it he didn't have to be tagged to be out because the throw beat him. Apparently Mr. Foster forgot the rules of the game. There's no denying it was a stupid decision by Jeter to try and take third in the spot, but that doesn't give the umpires an excuse to make an equally bad call.

The Yanks would eventually get two men on in the inning before being retired. Had the ump made the right call it's likely the Yanks take an early lead.

After retiring the first five batters he faced Andy Pettitte allowed a run in the top of the second on a walk to Kevin Millar, a single by Jose Bautista, and a double by Rod Barajas, all with two outs.

Pettitte then got into some more trouble in the top of the third, once again the umpires made their presence felt. He walked Marco Scutaro to lead off the inning, then Aaron Hill grounded into a force for the first out. Then Vernon Wells grounds a ball in the hole between short and third, Jeter backhands the ball and does his usual jump throw to second, clearly beating Hill to second. But once again, that's not how the umpires saw it. This time it was second base umpire Wally Bell with the call. So instead of two out with a runner on first the Jays have first and second with just one out.

Pettitte then struck out Scott Rolen for the second out of the inning - should have been the third out. Then Alex Rios, who should have been leading off the top of the fourth, but instead was hitting with two on and two out, took an Andy Pettitte fastball just over the wall in left for a three-run homer. I blame Pettitte for the terrible pitch that missed Posada's target by two feet, but he once again, if an umpire had done his job Pettitte never would have needed to throw that pitch in the first place.

With the Jays up 4-0, left-hander Ricky Romero started to get into a grove. He allowed just one run over the first six inning, a solo homer by Eric Hinske in the fifth - his first hit as a Yankee.

Pettitte also settled down, and held the Jays scoreless through the sixth as well. He had walked two in the sixth and was at 96 pitches so I figured that was going to be it for him, but the Yanks decided to stick with him for the 7th. It was a move that bothered me from the start. Pettitte looked done after the sixth, the way the pen has been throwing, get Phil Hughes in there and put up a couple zeros. Instead they stuck with Pettitte and John McDonald hit his first homer in a year to extend the Jays lead to 5-1. Pettitte then walked Scutaro before being replace by the struggling Brian Bruney. Bruney's struggles continued as he allowed two more runs to score and the Jays now led 7-1.

Joe Girardi had been ejected from the game earlier for arguing the Jeter play at third base, but you have to believe he's the guy making the call from the clubhouse. There was no reason to send Pettitte back out there. Why not bring Hughes in for two innings?

Even though they came up short today the Yanks once again showed that they're fighters. They cut the lead to four with two runs in the seventh on a Nick Swisher two-run single. The single came after the third blown call of the day for the umps. The Yanks got the first two men on in the inning, then Brett Gardner grounded a ball that was set up to be a routine force at second, but McDonald's throw pulled Scutaro off the bag, and Hinske should have been safe. Once again the ump made the wrong call and the Yanks had runners on the corners with one out instead of the bases loaded with nobody out.

Still, the Yanks would bring the lead runs to the plate in the 8th, and then once again in the ninth but came up just short, falling by a score of 7-to-6. The Yanks had the bases loaded in the 8th with two out for Swisher, but he popped out to end the inning. Then, after scoring two on a single by Hideki Matsui, the Yanks had two on and two out for Hinske, but he struck out on a 3-2 pitch to end the game.

It may sound like I'm bitter about the blown calls, and I am, I truly believe if the umpires had done their job the Yanks would have won yesterday. That said, I also think that if Andy Pettitte or Brian Bruney did their jobs the Yankees would have won too. Like I said, it was a frustrating day in The Bronx.

Still, it was a successful homestand that saw the Yanks go 5-2. Boston got shutout by Brett Anderson and the A's so the Yanks remain just one game back. The Yanks head to Minnesota to start a three-game series starting tomorrow night. Check in tomorrow for my series preview.

	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Jeter, SS	2	0	0	1	3	0	1	.314
Swisher, 1B	4	0	3	2	1	0	3	.242
Teixeira, DH	5	0	0	0	0	2	6	.273
Rodriguez, A, 3B	4	0	1	0	0	1	2	.244
Posada, C	5	1	1	0	0	2	3	.282
Cano, 2B	5	2	2	0	0	2	1	.303
Cabrera, Me, LF-CF	4	1	1	0	0	0	1	.280
b-Matsui, H, PH	1	0	1	2	0	0	0	.267
1-Ransom, PR	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.180
Hinske, RF	4	1	2	1	0	1	1	.264
Gardner, CF	3	1	1	0	0	0	2	.278
a-Damon, PH-LF	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.284
Totals	37	6	12	6	4	8	20
a-Hit by pitch for Gardner in the 8th. b-Singled for Cabrera, Me in the 9th. 1-Ran for Matsui, H in the 9th.
BATTING 2B: Swisher (18, Romero, R), Cano 2 (21, Accardo, Frasor). HR: Hinske (2, 5th inning off Romero, R, 0 on, 1 out). TB: Swisher 4; Rodriguez, A; Posada; Cano 4; Cabrera, Me; Matsui, H; Hinske 5; Gardner. RBI: Hinske (12), Swisher 2 (43), Jeter (35), Matsui, H 2 (38). 2-out RBI: Jeter; Matsui, H 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Posada; Teixeira 2; Rodriguez, A; Swisher 2. Team RISP: 2-for-11. Team LOB: 11. BASERUNNING CS: Jeter (3, 3rd base by Romero, R/Barajas).

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Pettitte (L, 8-4)	6.0	5	6	6	5	3	2	4.53
Bruney	0.2	2	1	1	1	1	0	4.11
Robertson, D	1.1	0	0	0	0	2	0	2.66
Albaladejo	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	5.40

JAYS STATS

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Vernon Wells (3-for-5, 2B, 2 R)

HONORABLE MENTION: Alex Rios (1-for-5 HR, 3 RBI)

GOATS OF THE GAME: The umpires. ... You could also throw Andy Pettitte in there too.

Tomorrow's Game

Yankees @ Twins
Game Time: 8:10 p.m. | TV/Radio: MY9, WCBS

LHP CC Sabathia (7-5, 3.85) vs. RHP Scott Baker (6-6, 4.99)