Last night, Andy Pettitte couldn't find the answer in the opener of a 4-game series with those annoying Tampa Bay Rays. (Am I going to have to start calling them The Annoying Rays, the way I call the Toronto team The Pesky Blue Jays?) Andy got into the 7th, but allowed 5 runs (5-5).
In contrast, Matt Moore also got into the 7th, but allowed just 3 runs on 4 hits and 7 walks (9-3). Even the entry of Kerosene Kyle Farnsworth in the 9th inning couldn't help the Yankees. (Well, even Not a Darn's Worth couldn't blow a 5-run lead. For them.)
1st: Brett Gardner led off the game with a single. Robinson Cano grounded into a force play. Stranded.
3rd: Chris Stewart led off with a walk. Reid Brignac (who really does not belong in the major leagues) erased him with a double play.
5th: Ichiro Suzuki drew a one-out walk. Stranded.
6th: Brignac led off with a single. Gardner and Jayson Nix walked to lead the bases. A wild pitch moved the runners up, scoring Brignac. Cano hit a sacrifice fly, moving up the runners, scoring Gardner. Travis Hafner grounded out to score Nix. Vernon Wells grounded out to end the inning. And that was all the runs the Yankees got.
7th: Lyle Overbay doubled with 1 out. A fielder's choice by Stewart got him out at 3rd, and Stewart was stranded at 1st.
8th: Gardner led off with a single. Stranded.
9th: Rookie Zoilo Almonte (no relation to 2001 Little League fraud Danny) led off with a single. Ichiro erased him with a fielder's choice. Ichiro got to 2nd and then 3rd on defensive indifference. Overbay walked. Stewart grounded into a double play.
Rays 8, Yankees 3. As my father would say (if he were a Yankee Fan, which he isn't), "Yitch."
The series continues tonight. David Phelps starts against Roberto Hernandez (once a pretty good reliever), and we need a win. Badly.
Not in terms of the standings: We're still only 3 1/2 games behind the Boston Red Sox, just 2 in the loss column. But we need momentum. Just to get us back in gear as Summer begins.
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