Apparently the Yankees were unaware that their bats would be kept in the humidor as well as the baseballs for last night's game with the Rockies. That could be the only explanation for their pathetic performance against journeyman garbageman Josh Fogg. The Yankees hit one fly ball after another in a listless 3-1 loss to Colorado.
Mike Mussina was adequate, allowing 3 runs over 6 innings, but he made a big mistake in the 6th that gave the Rockies some insurance. With 2 out and none on, and the pitcher on deck, Mussina threw one right into Yorvit Torrealba's wheelhouse and the catcher deposited it into the left field seats for his 3rd home run of the season, and a 3-1 Rockies lead.
The Yankees chances were few and far between. Alex Rodriguez lined a single to start off the 2nd and center fielder Willy Tavares turned the wrong way on a Jorge Posada fly ball, turning into a double. The Yankees were set up for a big inning, but all one run came across. Hideki Matsui's ground out scored A-Rod and moved Posada to 3rd. But with the infield playing in, Robinson Cano, again showing no patience at the plate, hit a grounder right to Troy Tulowitzki at short, freezing Posada at 3rd. Wil Nieves struck out swinging to end the inning.
Just as the opponent's running game hurt the Yankees in the Mets series, it did again last night. Tavares bunted his way on in the 3rd, stole 2nd, and came home with the tying run on a Garrett Atkins single. The Rockies went ahead in the 5th when Kaz Matsui followed up his base hit with a stolen base, and scored on Matt Holliday's single to right.
The Yankees only managed 4 hits off of Fogg in 7 innings, so they were glad to see him go in the 8th. Melky Cabrera and Bobby Abreu both singled off of Manny Corpas to put two on, with two out, and A-Rod up. But Corpas was careful not to put anything over the plate and walked A-Rod to load the bases. Clint Hurdle called on LaTroy Hawkins to face Posada and Hawkins won the battle, getting Posada to ground out for the final out of the inning.
Matsui gave the Yankees one final chance in the 9th with a lead off double against closer Brian Fuentes. But again Cano didn't come through- his ground out moving Matsui to 3rd. Miguel Cairo and Johnny Damon both went down on strikes and the Yankees dropped a game back in both the AL East and wild card races.
As expected Andy Phillips made his return to the team, with Josh Phelps designated for assignment. Phillips got into last night's game- very briefly. He pinch-hit for Nieves in the 7th and lined out. But with the Yankees needing a double switch in the bottom of the inning, Phillips never even got the chance to complete an inning in the field.
Johnny Damon entered the game at 1st Base in the 8th inning as part of the aforementioned double switch. Jorge Posada played a very solid game and even saved his buddy Derek Jeter from getting an error.
Jeter double in the 3rd inning to extend his hitting streak to 13 games.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment