The Yankees failed in a situation in which they’ve thrived this season, and it cost them the game. New York scored a run without the aid of a hit in the first, then loaded the bases with none out in the bottom of the third. The Yankees came into the game with a .424 BA with the bases loaded, 39/92 with three doubles and seven home runs. The also walked 12 times while striking out just 13 times. Toronto’s Brett Cecil had just walked two batters in a row to fill the bases, and was behind 2-0 on Alex Rodriguez. He came back to strike out A-Rod, strike out Robinson Cano, and get Posada to ground out. The Yankees had the chance to blow the game open, and didn’t score the rest of the contest, losing to Toronto in eleven innings 6-1. The Blue Jays got a run off Joba Chamberlain to tie the game, then pounded David Robertson for the win. Toronto really needs a sweep to get back in the race, and this was a good start.
On the bright side for the Yankees, A.J. Burnett pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings. It seems having Dave Eiland back worked for him.
Weak game for the Yankee bats, indeed.
But on having Dave Eiland back, well, that might just be a coincidence. Eiland himself says:
“For me to sit here and say the reason that A.J. pitched the way he pitched was I wasn’t here is not fair,” Eiland said. “A.J. has been pitching a long time. He knows what he needs to do.”
http://www.lohud.com/article/20100630/SPORTS01/6300358
The Yankees have some real issues in the bullpen and offensively. Good thing for them the Red Sox are banged up as I am pretty sure a healthier Red Sox team would overtake them before the ASB. They may still do so, but I ma not as sure.
I would not read too much into AJ Burnetts start. The Blue Jays have been swinging the bat as poorly as any team in baseball recently. Should give him some confidence though, and confidence is very important to a pitcher and may help in his next start.
Well, (1) almost every team has bullpen issues, certainly including the Red Sox — fans always overreact to good and bad periods for their bullpen. And (2) Burnett is like this every year, some really good games and some really bad games, so it’s just about par for the course. Oh, and I guess (3) the Yankees have not been hitting well, but it would be a fairly stupid bet to lay money that they won’t hit well after the AS break.
The much more interesting question, I think, is how the Rays will do. Again I think many fans overreacted to their excellent start, and many then overreacted to their longish bad stretch. (I don’t mean Rays fans — are there any?)