I really dislike the Angels, I really do. They play on the west coast,
so their games start three hours later than normal, which sucks in
itself, win or lose. They’ve also been a thorn in the side of the
Yankees’ since the Joe Torre era, and things never seem to go right
whenever they’re in Anaheim. Tonight was just another one of those
nights as the Yanks lost 5-1.
The Yankees offense was both
non-existent and unlucky in this one. Non-existent in terms of results:
3-for-11 with RISP, 12 men left on base, one run scored. They were
unlucky in that
Mike Trout robbed Nick Swisher of a solo homer in the
second, and
Peter Bourjos robbed
Swish of another double in the seventh.
There were also a number of plays saved up the middle by shortstop
Erick Aybar and second baseman
Howie Kendrick that saved runs, too. It’s
just very, very frustrating that the Yankees couldn’t get a break on
offense at all on Tuesday night.
Though the Yankees struggled
for most of the night on offense, they did have a chance in the ninth to
do some damage. Against
Ernesto Frieri, who hadn’t allowed a hit in 11
innings since joining the Angels, the Yanks loaded the bases on walks by
Russell Martin, Derek Jeter, and a HBP for ARod to set up
Robinson Cano
with two outs. Cano then struck out on three pitches, thus continuing
the futility with the bases loaded for the Yankees. They’re now
0-for-15, as a team, with the bases loaded, and 1-for-33 overall in
their last several games. The lone run in last night’s game, if you’re
wondering, came in the fourth inning on a Nick Swisher RBI single.
Andy Pettitte started and he pitched better than his line score, I
would think. In total, he went 7+ innings, allowing nine hits on five
runs while striking out three and walking none. He did allow two homers,
though; one to
Albert Pujols, a two run blast in the second, and
another to
Mark Trumbo, a solo shot in the sixth.
Cody Eppley came on in
relief of Pettitte in the eighth and he allowed his inherited run to
score on a weak groundball single in the vacated hole at second base.
You can file that play into the series of unlucky plays for the Yankees.
Opposing Pettitte was
Dan Haren. He was pretty sharp, so it’d
be wise of us to give him at least some credit. Haren pitched 7+
innings, allowed eight hits while punching out seven and walking just
one.
The good news about this loss is that they have just one
game left to play in the series. It’ll be
Ivan Nova (5-2, 5.46 ERA)
against
Ervin Santana (2-6, 4.45 ERA) in the finale. The Yanks have an
off-day on Thursday as they travel to Detroit, so it'd be nice if they
salvaged the final game and it’ll give the team a good taste going into
the Motor City.
--Jesse Schindler, BYB Lead Staff Writer
Follow me on Twitter @SchindlerJesse
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