Game 62 – How did that happen?

What a horrible ending. It certainly leaves a bitter taste to this road trip. The trip started off so good taking 3 of the 1st 4 including back-to-back double digit offensive output. But after 2 BSv’s and 3 walk-off losses the Jays end up 4 and 5 on the trip. Had you said before the trip the Jays would go 4 and 5, I would have been ok w/it, but when you lose games the way the Jays did it becomes a disappointment.

Of course if not for Melky Cabrera dropping that line drive in the 5th, which would have been an easy DP to end the inning instead it led to 5 runs for the Jays. So really the Jays never should have had the lead. Not sure what Inglett was doing so far off second on that play but he got lucky that Cabrera dropped it. In fact Inglett may be the reason Cabrera dropped it as he was looking to 2nd and in such a rush to throw the ball he took his eye off the ball for just a second and that is all it takes.

Something definitely looked wrong w/Chien-Ming Wang in this game. Now I have never been a fan of Wang, I think as players get more looks at him he’ll become more hittable, but like Jesse Litsch has always had good control and the 4 BB’s and 1 HBP certainly should be concerning for the Yankees.

A good day for Stairs as he had 3 hits incl. a HR and 2B and drove in 5 runs. Stairs isn’t quite having the year he had last yr but he is 40 now.

Rough start for McGowan giving up 5 runs in 5.1 IP. Not the type of start you want to see as his road struggles continue. The bullpen (Carlson, Frasor, Downs) picked him up nicely until Ryan.

Some of the reasons the Phillies hated Barajas so much were on display in this game. He had a PB in the 8th and twice he dropped easily catchable balls on plays at the plate. Both were one-hops but both were waist to chest high balls a major league catcher should be able to handle. The 1st one may not have mattered as I think Jeter would have been safe anyway unless Barajas did a great job of blocking the plate. The 2nd though they had Damon nailed at the plate if only Barajas would have held on. I was really surprised to see Damon even try to score on that play, but I guess w/2 outs that is why it is sometimes worth the risk. You force the other team to make the play rather than hope for the next batter to get a hit.

Although the Yankees were just 2 for 12 w/RISP they took advantage of their opportunities. They twice had runners at 2nd and 3rd none out (the 2nd time was actually bases loaded) and both times they got RBI groundouts (also moving the runner to 3rd) and then a SF. And hitting 2 HR’s certainly didn’t hurt.

Meanwhile the Jays managed to go 4 for 16 w/RISP. However they had bases loaded 1 out in the 3rd and didn’t score. They had 1st and 2nd none out in the 7th and 8th, but didn’t score. Then in the 9th after scoring 1 they had 2nd and 3rd w/none out but couldn’t score.

The Jays certainly had a chance to put the game away in that 9th but I figured even the 1 run giving them a 2 run cushion should be enough. Although, the Yankees getting out of that 2nd and 3rd none out situation w/no more damage really had the crowd pumped. Then Ryan came in and got the 1st 2 outs and it looked like there would be no Yankee threat but, suddenly A-Rod singles. OK no problem but then Matsui singles and suddenly the tying run is on base. I don’t agree w/the move by Girardi to then PH Giambi for Molina. By doing so he would have had no catcher should the game go extra as Posada was already out of the game. Plus I wouldn’t think the lefty Giambi is a good matchup vs the lefty Ryan (2 for 14 in his career). Nonetheless the move worked out making Girardi look like a genius but it really could have backfired. All it took was an absolutely horrible 0-2 slider from Ryan. There is a reason that on 0-2 you don’t throw anything close to the strike zone, if you miss your spot then it doesn’t end up in the wheelhouse. Even if the slider wasn’t flat it still would have got too much of the plate, not too mention the pitch was up above the belt.

This outing from Ryan just adds to his bad track record against the Yankees. Ryan has now blown 6 of his 10 save opportunities vs the Yankees. Not something you want to see from your closer.

There sure was a lot to talk about from this game, I guess that is what happens when the game lasts 3 hrs 53 mins (for 9 innings!).

Before this post gets any longer, let’s check the stats:
Adv: Abreu 2
P-Adv: McGowan 2 (2)
Adv+: Stairs (2)
P-Adv+: Farnsworth
NAdv: Stairs (4), Overbay (7), Betemit
P-NAdv: McGowan (12), Veras, Farnsworth
WG: Overbay (2), Rolen (6), Wilkerson (1)
DE: Barajas (1)