Lousy Clemens, Lousy Lineup, Lousy Loss

Not much went right for the Yankees tonight in a 6-4 loss to the Devil Rays. This is the Rays squad that had lost 14 of 15 coming in. Joe Torre decided to go with a right handed heavy lineup against the Rays' lefty starter, Scott Kazmir. Did Torre honestly think that adding Miguel Cairo and Kevin Thompson to a lineup that already had the light hitting Andy Phillips in it, would do well? Better than a lineup with Bobby Abreu, who had 14 hits in his last 26 at-bats?

Roger Clemens didn't make the night any easier though as he looked awful. The Rocket gave up a lead off single to Carlos Pena in the 2nd, and Delmon Young followed with a double. B.J. Upton, in his 1st at-bat since June 8, brought home Pena with a sacrifice fly for a 1-0 lead. Clemens walked Greg Norton, and rookie Josh Wilson, who came into the game hitting .217, followed with a triple to center for a 3-0 lead.

The Yankees got a run back in the 3rd when Young's throw, on a Melky Cabrera single, allowed Johnny Damon to score. But Clemens ran into trouble again in the 4th.

Young singled and moved to 2nd on a wild pitch. Upton drew a walk and both runners moved up on a ground by Norton. Dionner Navarro's RBI ground out gave the Rays a 4-1 lead and some cushion for winning pitcher Scott Kazmir.

The Yankees tried to rally in the 6th off of the lefty, putting 2 men on with 1 out. But Kazmir struck out Hideki Matsui and Phillips to escape trouble.

Clemens gave up 2 hits and walk in the 6th before Torre finally pulled him in favor of Brian Bruney. Navarro drove a ball to deep right off of Bruney for a sac fly, and his 2nd RBI of the night, to give the Rays a 5-1 lead.

The Yankees tried to mount a threat again in the 7th against former Yankees' reliever Jay Witasick. Anyone who watching Witasick's time in the Bronx knows you can definitely rally against him. Apparently Rays' manager Joe Maddon knows that too. Abreu lead off with a pinch-hit single, and after Witasick fell behind pinch-hitter Robinson Cano 1-0, Maddon gave him a quick hook. Lefty Casey Fossum came on and allowed a single to Cano, with Abreu moving to 3rd on the play. Damon just got under a pitch, driving it to deep right for a sac fly, cutting the lead to 5-2.

The Rays got the run right back off of Mike Myers and Scott Proctor in the bottom of the inning. Myers allowed a 1-out double to Carl Crawford, who promptly stole 3rd base after Proctor came into the game. After walking Brendan Harris, Proctor came back to retire Pena on a pop-up, but Young single to right for a 6-2 lead.

The Yankees finally hurrah came in the 8th when Jorge Posada and Matsui hit consecutive Fossum offerings for back-to-back home runs. Gary Glover picked up the save as he retired the Yankees in order in the 9th.

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In addition to his 10th home run, Posada also had his 27th double to match his '06 total.

Matsui's home run, his 12th, was his 4th in the last 7 games.

Cabrera's single extended his hitting streak to 10 games.