The
Yankees are playing crappy baseball right now, folks. They have been,
really, since the Oakland series. Following an 8-5 loss, the Yanks are
now 18-21 in their last 39 games dating back to that Oakland series on
July 19. Let’s try to recap without being too negative…
CC Sabathia started, but he was not his vintage self. He went 7 innings and
allowed five runs (two earned) while letting up nine hits and striking
out eight. He also allowed a mammoth two-run home run to Yunel Escobar,
who had four hits on the afternoon, in the sixth. With the injured
offense under performing, we need CC to consistently give us good starts.
This, unfortunately, was not one of them.
The bullpen that
followed Sabathia wasn’t that great either, for the most part.
Derek Lowe came in in the eighth and immediately allowed a double to Escobar
before
Kelly Johnson reached on a bunt single, thus knocking Lowe out of
the game.
Boone Logan followed and retired the only man he faced.
Cody Eppley allowed two runs (one earned) in his inning of work, while
Clay Rapada allowed a walk to the only man he faced.
Finally, in the ninth,
Joba Chamberlain came on and allowed a bloop double to, you guessed it,
Yunel Escobar (which should have been caught after
Andruw Jones could
not read the ball correctly off the bat).
The offense was also
shaky in this one. Yes, they scored five runs, and that should be enough
to win when you have a guy like CC on the mound, but they were worse
than the total suggests. For starters, two of the runs scored on a
Curtis Granderson sun-aided double in the third that should have been
caught by
Rajai Davis. The Yanks, as a team, put up a 3-for-17 (.176 BA)
showing with RISP on the afternoon. Believe it or not, the Yankees have
been doing better with RISP since the All Star Break, so maybe this is a
blip and not a sign of things to come.
Finally, the defense
was also less than ideal. They committed three errors which equated to
four unearned runs. The first error came in the very first inning on a
Derek Jeter throwing error. Thankfully, no runs came to score. The
second error came in the third on a
Jayson Nix throwing error as he was
trying to throw out
Jeff Mathis at second. This error resulted in three
unearned runs. The final error came in the ninth on an
Eric Chavez miscue at third. He was trying to field a grounder, but the ball ate him
up, thus resulting in an additional unearned run for the Jays.
This one really seemed like more than a three run game. It’s pretty
inexplicable to lose a three game series to the Blue Jays, especially
at home, but what can you do?
Final Score:
Blue Jays 8 - Yankees 5.
The Yanks have an off day on Thursday
before they kick off a crucial three game series against the Baltimore
Orioles.
Hiroki Kuroda ( 12-9, 2.98 ERA) is scheduled to face
Miguel Gonzalez (5-3, 3.66 ERA) Friday night in the Bronx.
--Jesse Schindler, BYB Lead Staff Writer
Follow me on Twitter @SchindlerJesse
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