
An oustanding pitching performance by Andy Pettitte was lost in the shuffle. The big lefty had left the game in the 7th inning with a 1-0 lead, 2 on, and 2 out. Joe Torre turned to his rookie phenom, Joba Chamberlain, who quickly dispatched Franklin Guitierrez and Casey Blake to preserve the lead. But that's when the science non-fiction stuff showed up.
A swarm of "midges", annoying gnat-like creatures, swarmed the field in the 8th inning. It was difficult to watch the game so you can imagine what it must have been like to try to hit or pitch or field under those conditions. And for the 1st time in his Yankees career, something rattled the kid. Players and umpires broke out the cans of Off to try to combat the pests that were apparently drawn by the water temps and high humidity (not to mention sweaty ball players).

Clearly shaken up by the situation, Chamberlain hit Victor Martinez and walked Ryan Garko. Only then, inexplicably, did Torre finally get Luis Vizcaino up in the pen. But the rookie bounced back to strike out Jhonny Peralta looking to end the inning.

That brought up Travis Hafner who had failed in 3 previous attempts with runners in scoring position. Hafner worked the count full before lacing a game winning single into right-center and set off a wild celebration in the Jake by the buggy Lake.
More pesky than the bugs was the hard off-speed pitches thrown by Indians starter Fausto Carmona. Carmona, making his 1st playoff appearance, dominated the Yankees for 9 innings. He allowed just 3 hits, making only one mistake, a pitch left up in the zone that Melky Cabrera hit out for a solo home run. It would be about the only ball the Yankees would lift off Carmona all night.

Left-hander Rafael Perez gave the Yankees no breaks either, retiring all 6 men he faced to pick up the victory.
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In addition to his home run, Melky Cabrera had the defensive play of the game. He threw a strike to home plate to nail Peralta trying to score from 2nd on a single by Lofton.
The Yankees are hitting .121 as a team. That's all that needs to be said.
photos courtesy of AP
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