Yankee Fail to Weather the White Sox

Things were going swimmingly for the Yankees last night. They held a 3-0 lead and Phil Hughes had allowed just 1 hit in 2 innings of work. Then the rains came and washed away the Yankees hopes of winning a fourth straight game.

Joe Crede singled home Carlos Quentin with the winning run with one out in the 9th against Joba Chamberlain. The Yankees had overcome a 6-3 deficit on Melky Cabrera's 2-run home run in the 6th and an RBI single by Morgan Ensberg in the 7th. But after breezing through the 8th inning with a pair of strike outs, Chamberlain ran into trouble in the 9th.

First A.J. Pierzynski narrowly missed hitting one out of the ball park when he flied to the warning track in center. Then Quentin drilled one to left that hit the base of the left field wall for a double. When Chamberlain left a pitch up in the zone to Crede, the White Sox 3rd Baseman lined it to center to easily score Quentin ahead of Cabrera's throw.

The loss was Chamberlain's first in 27 major league appearances. He might not have been used for 2 innings or even in the 8th inning, had the Yankees bullpen not been shorted. Brian Bruney twisted his foot when he stumbled en route to covering 1st Base on Tuesday night. He was in a walking boot yesterday, which had everyone wondering why he wasn't placed on the DL and another reliever called up. That scenario is likely to take place before tonight's game in Cleveland.

The Yankees took advantage of White Sox starter Gavin Floyd's control problems in the 3rd inning. Jason Giambi lead off with a single, the first of his two hits on the night, and moved to 2nd on a wild pitch. Floyd then walked Cabera and Johnny Damon, retiring Jose Molina in between, to load the bases with one out. Derek Jeter's sac fly to right brought home Giambi with the game's first run and the hot hitting Bobby Abreu plated two more with a double up the gap in left-center field. But by the time Enbserg grounded out to end the inning, the rain was coming down in buckets and the umpires stopped play.

hen play resumed some 50 minutes later, Hughes was shut down for the night and Joe Girardi brought in Ross Ohlendorf, who has become the unofficial long man out of the pen. Ohlendorf retired the White Sox in order in the 3rd, but ran into big trouble one inning later.

With one out the White Sox put two men aboard on a single by Orlando Cabrera and a walk to Jim Thome. Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye followed with consecutive singles to cut the lead to 3-2, and then Pierzynski doubled to right-center to tie the game. Dye moved to 3rd on the play and scored ahead of Ensberg's throw on a Quentin grounder. Alexi Ramirez drove in the 5th run of the inning with an RBI double.

LaTroy Hawkins proved that no matter what no matter what number he wears, he was an ill advised signing. Thome took him deep in the 5th for his 6th home run of the year and the 513th of his career, moving him past Ernie Banks and Eddie Matthews on the all-time list.

The Yankees had a chance to take the lead in the top of the 9th on singles by Derek Jeter and Hideki Matsui with one out. Ozzie Guillen immediately sent for his closer Bobby Jenks (we're not sure which is stranger, how out of shape he looks or that blonde goatee) to face pinch-hitter Jorge Posada. The move worked as Posada bounced into an inning ending double play.

-On a side note, we get a good laugh every time Posada hits a potential double play ball. Why? Because Michael Kay says, "They'll try to get two." Have you ever seen Posada beat the throw to first? We didn't think so.
News and Notes

Bobby Abreu's two RBI gave him 1,000 for his career.

Joba Chamberlain took the loss somewhat in stride. “I’m not perfect every night,” said Chamberlain, who was the subject of much attention this week when team co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner said he should be starting instead of relieving. “I give up hits and that’s the way it’s going to be. I let my team down.”

In addition to Bruney, Kyle Farnsworth was felled by the wet grounds. Farnsworth slipped down to one knee on his final pitch of the night and felt a twinge in his elbow afterwards. He'll be re-evaluated today.

Jermaine Dye left the game for the White Sox after the 6th inning with a strained groin. He'll sit in tonight's with the Orioles.

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, DH	3	1	0	0	2	1	0	.244
Jeter, SS	4	0	1	1	0	0	1	.275
Abreu, RF	5	1	2	2	0	2	2	.299
Matsui, LF	3	0	1	0	2	0	1	.324
Ensberg, 3B	4	0	1	1	0	1	2	.300
a-Posada, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	.298
Gonzalez, 3B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Cano, 2B	3	0	0	0	1	1	0	.159
Giambi, 1B	4	2	2	0	0	0	3	.161
Cabrera, CF	3	2	2	2	1	0	0	.309
Molina, C	4	0	0	0	0	0	3	.300
Totals	34	6	9	6	6	5	14
a-Grounded into a double play for Ensberg in the 9th.
BATTING 2B: Abreu (4, Floyd), Giambi (3, Floyd). HR: Cabrera (4, 6th inning off Floyd, 1 on, 2 out). TB: Jeter; Abreu 3; Matsui; Ensberg; Giambi 3; Cabrera 5. RBI: Jeter (13), Abreu 2 (16), Cabrera 2 (10), Ensberg (2). 2-out RBI: Abreu 2; Cabrera 2; Ensberg. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Ensberg; Matsui; Giambi 2. SF: Jeter. GIDP: Posada. Team LOB: 8. BASERUNNING SB: Damon (4, 2nd base off Floyd/Pierzynski). FIELDING DP: (Cano-Jeter-Giambi).

Chi White Sox	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Swisher, CF-RF	4	0	1	0	0	0	2	.232
Cabrera, SS	4	1	1	0	0	1	0	.263
Thome, DH	3	2	1	1	1	1	0	.236
Konerko, 1B	4	1	2	1	0	1	0	.203
Dye, RF	3	1	1	1	0	0	1	.316
Uribe, 2B	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.164
Pierzynski, C	4	1	1	1	0	0	1	.319
Quentin, LF	4	1	1	1	0	2	1	.246
Crede, 3B	4	0	1	1	0	0	2	.293
Ramirez, 2B-CF	3	0	1	1	0	0	0	.167
Totals	34	7	10	7	1	6	7
BATTING 2B: Pierzynski (7, Ohlendorf), Ramirez (2, Ohlendorf), Quentin (2, Chamberlain). HR: Thome (6, 5th inning off Hawkins, 0 on, 1 out). TB: Swisher; Cabrera; Thome 4; Konerko 2; Dye; Pierzynski 2; Quentin 2; Crede; Ramirez 2. RBI: Konerko (16), Dye (9), Pierzynski (12), Quentin (17), Ramirez (1), Thome (18), Crede (21). 2-out RBI: Ramirez. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Swisher 2. GIDP: Pierzynski. Team LOB: 3. BASERUNNING CS: Swisher (2, 2nd base by Farnsworth/Molina). FIELDING DP: (Uribe-Cabrera-Konerko).

NY Yankees	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Hughes	2.0	1	0	0	0	1	0	7.85
Ohlendorf	2.0	5	5	5	1	1	0	6.06
Hawkins	2.0	1	1	1	0	1	1	10.03
Farnsworth	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	0	4.35
Chamberlain (L, 1-1)	1.1	2	1	1	0	2	0	1.93

Chi White Sox	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Floyd	6.0	5	5	5	4	4	1	2.84
Thornton (H, 2)	0.2	1	1	1	1	1	0	5.87
Linebrink (BS, 1)	0.1	1	0	0	1	0	0	2.45
Logan	1.1	2	0	0	0	0	0	3.12
Jenks (W, 1-0)	0.2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.86

WP: Floyd.
IBB: Matsui (by Floyd).
Pitches-strikes: Hughes 23-15, Ohlendorf 49-33, Hawkins 26-18,
Farnsworth 12-8, Chamberlain 33-23, Floyd 90-49, Thornton 14-6,
Linebrink 14-6, Logan 20-14, Jenks 4-2.
Ground outs-fly outs: Hughes 3-2, Ohlendorf 2-3, Hawkins 3-2,
Farnsworth 0-1, Chamberlain 1-1, Floyd 5-9, Thornton 0-1, Linebrink 0-1,
Logan 2-2, Jenks 2-0.
Batters faced: Hughes 6, Ohlendorf 13, Hawkins 7, Farnsworth 3,
Chamberlain 6, Floyd 27, Thornton 4, Linebrink 3, Logan 6, Jenks 1.
Inherited runners-scored: Linebrink 2-1, Jenks 2-0.
Umpires: HP: Paul Emmel. 1B: Gary Darling. 2B: Jerry Meals. 3B: Bill Miller.
Weather: 64 degrees, cloudy.
Wind: 14 mph, In from CF.
T: 3:05 (1:25 delay).
Att: 27,243.