WHY I'M NOT UPSET WITH THIS YANKEES LOSS

(Photo: Getty)
Yankee fans, let's admit, this game for the Yankees meant absolutely nothing to us. The Yanks have already clinched the American League East and home field advantage in both rounds of the American League playoffs. So with that in mind, it was OK that the Yankees lost this game to the Tampa Bay Rays. There's very few of these games a year, if any at all, that mean absolutely nothing whether it's a win or loss. So let's recap...Hector Noesi squared off against James Shields for the Rays in this one. Noesi was on a pitch count as he was starting just his second game of the season. He went 2 innings while allowing five hits and three runs on 59 pitches. He allowed all three of his runs in the third inning, so it seemed like he ran out of gas. We very well may have seen Noesi for the final time this season as he finishes the year with a 2-2 record with a 4.47 ERA in 30 games while pitching in quite a variety of roles. It's his rookie season, and we give him kudos for pitching in a number of important games for the Yanks this season. Phil Hughes also made an appearance in relief. He went an 1.2 while allowing two walks on a hit and a strikeout. Andrew Brackman made his second career appearance as he recorded the final two outs in the 8th.

This was a huge game for the Rays. Pretty much a must win for them since they were one game back of the Boston Red Sox in the AL Wild Card race entering play on Monday. He went 8.2 innings for them while allowing six hits on two walks and three K's. Former Yankee Kyle Farnsworth finished off his former team by recording the final out in the 9th.The offense for the Yankees pretty much came from one source, and that was Robinson Cano. Cano went 2 for 4 with a solo homer and and RBI single in the first and third innings, respectively. The rest of the team combined to go 4 for 27 (.148 AVG), which includes Jorge Posada's 0 for 4 in what may have been his last start at first base this season. Although he went 0-for he made a couple of nice plays at first.

Final Score: Rays 5 - Yankees 2
I'm not upset with this loss whatsoever. The Red Sox lost, again, so they're now 6-19 during the month of September, which means the Rays and Red Sox are tied in the Wild Card race with identical 89-71 records. Boston's collapse has been very fun to watch all month long and it'd be awesome if they can complete it. Bartolo Colon (8-9, 4.02 ERA) goes for the Yanks against Jeremy Hellickson (13-10, 2.90 ERA) for the Rays on Tuesday.




--Jesse Schindler, BYB Staff Writer




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