Pitching a Fit, Fielding for Sh......

Still basking in the glow of Melky Cabrera's catch last Tuesday night, I sat down Wednesday to write about the game and other things. Only blogger had other things in mind. For the next several days it wouldn't save anything I was doing, except for when I inadvertently erased an end font that turned everything green.

So here I am back - and pissed off. After that beautiful 2-1 win, the Yankees got rained out and then proceeded to lose 4 in a row. Really 4 games can be summed up with poor starting pitching, poor relief pitching, and porous defense.

The Yankees looked like they were headed to a three game sweep of the Red Sox on Thursday night. Johnny Damon, Bernie Williams, and Robinson Cano all took Curt Schilling deep to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead after 5. Then Jaret Wright reverted to the Jaret Wright we have witnessed too many times over the past two seasons. With some help from a meek attempt at third by Alex Rodriguez (it was scored an error and later changed to a hit), the Sox went ahead 4-3 in the 6th. Scott Proctor, who has also reverted back to normal, then gave up a 3-run bomb to Jason Varitek to put the game out of reach. Just for the heck though, Scott Erickson gave up two more for a 9-3 final. Thankfully, Erickson got his walking papers yesterday.

Oakland came into town on Friday to start a three game set. Obviously Randy Johnson was not buoyed by his recent starts as he went out and threw like garbage. He yelled at the umpire, he yelled at himself...if only he would yell at his agent to convince him to retire. It's getting to the point where I don't even want to turn the game on when this huge jerk is on the mound. Antonio Perez was still only hitting .056 after the game, but belted a 2-run homer off of him. A 1 1/2 hour rain delay apparently woke up the Yankee hitters as they got the A's bullpen after managing 1 run against Danny Haren. Jason Giambi belted a 3-run homer and Robinson Cano tripled in a run to cut the lead to 6-5 in the 7th, but Cano was stranded. Kiko Calero and Huston Street dominated the Yankees over the final two innings and dominated the rest of the series. Aaron Small was the bright spot with his first effective outing all year - 3 scoreless innings to keep the Yanks in the game.

Mike Mussina looked to put an end to the skids on Saturday, but wasn't at his best and Cano and Giambi made costly errors. The hitters wasted opportunities against Kirk Saarloos and the A's won 5-2. The Yankees went down meekly to Street in the 9th again.

Sunday was no better, especially since my wife and I were there. Giambi sat out with a bruised finger, the result of being hit by a pitch on Saturday. Jeter was still stuck at DH because of his finger problems. And the Yankees played sloppy. Melky Cabrera nearly took Johnny Damon's head off in a collision that turned into a Nick Swisher inside-the-park-home-run. Scott Proctor's poor throw on a potential inning ending double play allowed the tying run to score, and Alex Rodriguez made yet another throwing error. His 11 errors are 1 shy of his entire total last year. A-Rod also stunk at the plate. He was very good at being boo'ed though. If you haven't read it already, read Joel Sherman's piece in the NY Post on A-Rod. Sums him up pretty well, and it's not a pretty picture.

Back to Sunday's game, Shawn Chacon was not very sharp in his 1st start back from the DL. The Yankees need this guy to pitch like he did last year. Him and Wang both, or they will deader than they already look. Kyle Farnsworth spit the bit again as well. I don't give a rat's ass how many times this guy can hit 99 mph on the radar gun. Between the walks and home runs, he's stunk out the joint. Dan Johnson took him the opposite way for the game winner on Sunday. Calero and Street made easy work in the late innings again to close it out.

It's not going to get any easier after today's much needed off-day. The Indians are coming to town and they are a lot hungrier team than this sad bunch.

We need a starting pitcher, bullpen help, and a corner outfielder. It's nice having the kids in the lineup, but their cooling off. Hey, Brian Cashman, get on the phone - NOW!