YANKEES FAIL TO PAYBACK FRANCISCO, FALL TO METS

“I can’t wait to face those chickens, I want to strike out the side against them. I’ve done it before.” – Frank Francisco to the New York Post

Those bold comments made by Mets’ closer Frank Francisco created a monster, really. Twitter exploded with silly chicken jokes throughout the day, mocking Francisco. It was a surprise to me that someone like Francisco (who came into Friday pitching to a 5.14 ERA) made those statements. But, to his credit, he backed up what he said, (sort of), and nailed down the save in a 6-4 Yankees loss on Friday night in Queens.

I wouldn’t argue if you told me the Yankees lost this game in the bottom of the first inning. Andy Pettitte, making his eighth start of the season, was very, very rusty in the beginning. He first allowed a two-out, two-run single to Justin Turner before allowing a three-run homer to Ike Davis, of all people, to give the Mets a 5-0 lead. That homer to Davis stung in two ways. One: he came into the game hitting .190, two: the baseball bounced out of Nick Swisher’s glove and fell over the fence. If Swish had fully secured the baseball, it would have been 2-0 after one and not 5-0. It was a total back-breaker.

The Yankees tried their darndest to climb out of the 5-0 hole they made themselves, but they couldn’t pull through in the end. Like a couple weeks ago, the Yankees had trouble hitting Jon Niese. In the sixth, Alex Rodriguez hit a solo shot into the Apple in center field before Andruw Jones hit a solo shot of his own in the seventh. It was 6-2 when Miguel Batista came into the game in the eighth, and Robinson Cano worked a great at-bat before destroying a two-run homer to make it 6-4. And, as you know, Frank Francisco came on in the ninth and pitched a scoreless frame to end the game, though he didn’t strike out the side like he wanted to.

After winning 10-in-a-row the Yankees have now lost three straight. They’ll be looking to end the skid when Ivan Nova (9-2, 4.32 ERA) opposes Chris Young (1-1, 3.06 ERA) in the middle game of the Subway Series.



--Jesse Schindler, BYB Lead Staff Writer
Follow me on Twitter @SchindlerJesse

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