Windy City Blow Job

Yanks lose tough one, 6-5

Recipe for disaster - take 1 part bad starting pitching, 1 part no clutch hitting, and 1 part rare blown save opportunity and you've the perfect mix for the loss column. The Yankees did just that last night in an 11-inning 6-5 loss to the Chicago White Sox. Yankees starter Chien-Ming Wang was far from his best, allowing 4 runs in 5 innings pitched, and the Yankees didn't take advantage of several situations to blow the game open. Then in the 9th, clinging to a 5-4 lead, Mariano Rivera got ahead of Paul Konerko with a 1-2 count, but served up a gopher ball to tie the game. In the 11th Jermaine Dye singled in the game winner off of Scott Proctor to move the White Sox into sole possession in the wildcard race. The Yankees maintained their 2 game lead over Boston in the AL East thanks to the Royals 6-4 win over the Red Sox. A loss like this is made even tougher when you have the over hyped, overrated, obnoxious Ozzie Guillen sitting in the other dugout.

Tadahito Iguchi reached on an infield single after a great stop by Robinson Cano and Jim Thome walked to put Scott Proctor in trouble. Konerko flied out, but Dye lined a single to center to bring home Iguchi who scored easily ahead of Johnny Damon's throw. Dye had popped up the prior pitch in foul territory along the 3rd base stands. Alex Rodriguez chased after it, but unfamiliar with the layout of the field, came up well short. A-Rod admittedly has trouble with pop-ups and one wonders if the ball could have been caught, tough play or not. Dye certainly took advantage of the opportunity.

The game was a seesaw battle right from the get-go as was the Yankees failure to get the big hit. Johnny Damon reached on an error to lead off the ball game, stole second, and scored on Bobby Abreu's single. Abreu stole 2nd and Alex Rodriguez reached on a walk giving Jason Giambi an RBI opportunity with just 1 out. But Giambi bounced into an inning ending 1-6-3 double play.

Craig Wilson's 1st Yankee home run gave the Bombers a 2-0 lead, but Wang struggled from the start. Konerko and Dye stroked back-to-back doubles to start the 2nd, cutting the lead in half. Four batters later Alex Cintron singled in 2 runs to give the White Sox a 3-2 lead.

White Sox starter Freddie Garcia wasn't have a much better night than Wang as he quickly surrendered the lead. With a man aboard Alex Rodriguez crushed a Garcia pitch into the seats in left for his 23rd home run and his 79 and 80th RBI. The Yankees lead lasted all of one inning until Wang gave up a game tying blast to Joe Crede.

Ron Villone took over for Wang in the 6th and the game remained tied until the 8th. Derek Jeter reached on a 1-out single against reliever Matt Thornton and Abreu reached on a walk. A-Rod lined a single to center off right-hander Mike McDougal to load the bases for Giambi. Guillen countered with left Neil Cotts, but Cotts hit Giambi on the right elbow to force in a run to give the Yankees the 5-4 lead. The Yankees failed again to break the game open when Jorge Posada bounced into an inning ending double play.

Notes

There were some bright spots in the game. Robinson Cano returned to the lineup for the first time since injuring his hamstring on June 25. He went 3-5 and looked sharp at 2nd. Although Jorge Posada looked miserable at the plate, he was outstanding behind it, throwing out 3 would-be base stealers.

Philip Hughes had another outstanding start for Double-A Trenton on Tuesday. Hughes allowed a run on 2 hits, didn't walk a batter and struck out 6 in 5 innings. He's now 7-3, 2.62 for Trenton.

As expected, Miguel Cairo was placed on the 15 day DL with an injured hamstring. He's expected to miss at least 3 weeks.