This weekend, the Yankees played a 3-game home series with the Oakland Athletics, a team which always seems to give them trouble, no matter how good either team is.
On Friday night, the Yankees sent out their ace, CC Sabathia, who grew up in California's East Bay section and was thus an A's fan. That didn't seem to stop him from pitching well, and he pitched well enough to win, going 6 innings, allowing only 2 runs. Adam Warren then pitched 3 shutout innings. Given that kind of moundwork, the Yankees should have won.
But this was the kind of performance that people feared the Yankees would put up when so many great hitters got hurt. A.J. Griffin, Sean Doolittle and Grant Balfour combined on a 6-hit shutout. Brett Gardner singled in the 1st and 8th innings, Chris Stewart walked and Robinson Cano hit a ground-rule double in the 3rd, Ichiro Suzuki singled in the 4th, Jayson Nix singled in the 5th and doubled in the 7th,
The Yankee stranded Gardner on 2nd with 1 out in the 1st, Stewart on 3rd and Cano on 2nd in the 3rd, Ichiro with 1 out in the 4th, Nix on 2nd with 1 out in the 5th and Nix again on 2nd in the 7th, while Gardner's leadoff bunt single in the 8th was erased with a double play.
A's 2, Yankees 0. WP: Griffin (3-2). SV: Balfour (4). LP: Sabathia (4-3).
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On Saturday, it was Phil Hughes against former Yankee Bartolo Colon. Colon didn't pitch all that badly (3-1), but the Yankees didn't need him, because Hughes was fantastic, throwing 8 shutout innings (1-2). Chris Stewart (his 2nd) and Lyle Overbay (his 5th) hit home runs off Colon.
Shawn Kelley almost blew it in the 9th, and Mariano Rivera had to come in and put out the fire (not a save situation). Yankees 4, A's 2.
WP: Hughes (1-2). No save. LP: Colon (3-1).
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Then yesterday's game, in which Boone Logan once again proved that he is a bum.
Andy Pettitte started for the Yankees, and did not have good stuff. He only went 5 innings, allowing 4 runs. Still, the Yankees kept coming back. They were down 1-0 in the 3rd, and 4-1 in the 6th, and on each occasion tied it up. The Yankees got 2 perfect innings, the 6th and the 7th, from Preston Claiborne, a 25-year-old kid from Dallas making his major league debut, wearing Number 38.
Now, those of us who use our eyes would say, "This kid's doing very well. Let's leave him in there."
Joe Girardi uses his Binder, which obviously said, "It's the 8th inning, and it's a tie game, so you need to bring in Boone Logan. But don't blame me if it goes wrong. Again."
Logan got Yoenis Cespedes to fly to left. Then he served up a meatball to Josh Donaldson, who hit it out to left field. 5-4 A's. Then he allowed a single to Nate Freiman.
Did Girardi say to himself, "Oh my God, this bum screwed us again. I have to get him out of there"? No, he sent pitching coach Larry Rothschild out to calm Logan down.
Did it work? For the moment: Logan struck out Luke Montz and got Seth Smith to ground out. But Girardi sent Logan back out for the top of the 9th, and Josh Reddick hit a line drive to right field for a double. Only then did Girardi come to his senses and yank the bum. He brought in Kelley, who got the last 3 outs.
But the damage was done. In the bottom of the 9th, Chris Nelson lined to left, Brennan Boesch struck out, Gardner singled to center, a wild pitch sent that tying run to 2nd, Cano was intentionally walked -- always risky, putting the winning run on base -- and Vernon Wells struck out.
WP: Doolittle (2-0). SV: Balfour (5). LP: Logan (2-2).
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Did I mention that Boone Logan is a bum?
The Yankees head out for a roadtrip, 3 games in Denver against the Colorado Rockies, 3 in Kansas City against the Royals, then on Monday they play a separate-admission doubleheader in Cleveland to make up the 2 snowouts against the Indians last month.
And if Logan pitches in any of those games, expect the Yankees to lose.
Because Boone Logan is a bum.
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