Pfen Pfail

Just about everyone has had it happen to them at least once. Dress shirt on, pen in the pocket. The next thing you know you've got a giant ink stain on your shirt. Thursday afternoon's performance by the Yankees bullpen was the baseball equivalent of said scenario.

The Yankees had a legitimate shot to pull off an unthinkable four game series sweep of the Texas Rangers, but the Yankees relievers couldn't get it done. The Yankees had rallied from a 4-0 deficit to put five on the board in the bottom of the 6th against Rangers' starter Derek Holland, but Texas quickly wrested control back in the top of the 7th.

Yankees starter Ivan Nova had departed after 5.2 innings and four earned runs allowed, unable to build off of his 10 strikeout win against the Toronto Blue Jays five days ago. Boone Logan took his first loss in five decisions after he allowed an inherited runner to score and gave up the lead on an RBI double by David Murphy.

Joba Chamberlain continued to struggle since his return from the disabled list on August 1. He came on after Logan and struck out Geovany Soto for the second out of the inning, but then allowed a back breaking 2-run single to Chris Gentry for a 7-5 Texas lead. The Yankees got one back in the  bottom of the inning, but Texas put the game away with three more runs charged to Chamberlain and Clay Rapada for a 10-6 final.

While it would have been nice to pull off a four game sweep against one of the toughest lineups in all of baseball, the Yankees have to be happy having taken three out of four. Especially with David Phelps and Freddy Garcia having started two of the four games.

Notes

The Yankees five run 6th was highlighted by Andruw Jones' game tying 2-run home run. The Yankees then took the lead when Casey McGehee reached on error and came home on Russell Martin's RBI single.