If it Smells Like Sh*t...

That stench you smelled earlier today was either your aunt's overcooked broccoli or the Yankees continued poor starting pitching. My money is on the latter. For the 5th straight game, the Yankee starter didn't go past the 5th inning as the Orioles held on for a 6-4 victory and a series win.

Handed a 3-0 lead in the first, 2/3 of it on another Alex Rodriguez home run, Darrell Rasner managed to last just 4 1-3 innings. Before exiting, he allowed 5 runs on 8 hits. The bullpen was the savior once again, allowing 1 unearned run in 4 2-3 innings. But home runs by Kevin Millar (1 aboard) and Paul Bako (2 men on) was too much for the offense to try to overcome again. After Saturday's amazing comeback, the Yankees had another shot at it again in the 8th.

Johnny Damon lead off with a triple and came home on Melky Cabrera's ground out. After Derek Jeter was retired, the Yankees loaded the bases on a single by Bobby Abreu and walks to A-Rod and Jason Giambi. John Parrish finally retired Josh Phelps on a fly to center to end the threat. Damon gave the Yankees one last chance in the 9th against Chris Ray when he stroked a 2-run single, but Cabrera grounded out to end the game.

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To make matters worse, the Yankees decided they had to DL Hideki Matsui. Kevin Thompson was recalled from Scranton to take his place. He'll fill Melky's role as the 4th outfielder, but could see some playing time if Melky (2-17) continues to struggle.

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To err is human, to keep erring is really really bad
Robinson Cano dropped a pop up in the 7th that led to an unearned run charged to Scott Proctor. It was the Yankees 8th error in 5 games.

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Maybe they should switch jobs
The ERA for the starting rotation is 9.97; the bullpen's ERA is 1.16 and has already thrown 22 1-3 innings (that includes 1 inning from Andy Pettitte today).

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Down on the Farm

Scranton (AAA) was postponed due to bad weather.

Trenton (AA) and Tampa (A) had the day off.

Charleston (A) topped Greenville 8-1; Michael Dunn allowed just 4 hits over 6 IP and struck out 8.