But you win games with good pitching and good hitting. The former, we got. The latter, not so much.
CC Sabathia started, and after 4 innings, had allowed 1 run (unearned) on 3 hits and a walk, with 4 strikeouts. So far, very good.
Then CC left the game. A painful hamstring. Oh no.
He'd pitched to a 0.99 ERA in his last 6 starts, including this one. If he's unavailable, especially long-term, that's a serious problem in the bid for Title 28. We already need 1 starting pitcher, since we can't be sure that Masahiro Tanaka is straightened out. We don't need to need another.
Joe Girardi gave the ball to Yeovany Gallegos. Yankee Fans everywhere said, "I can't look... " but he was fine, allowing just 1 baserunner in 2 innings. Adam Warren: Same, but he pitched a scoreless 7th inning.
A Brett Gardner single in the 5th brought home a run, and Chase Headley hit a home run in the top of the 7th, his 4th homer of the year. Going to the bottom of the 8th, it was 2-1 Yankees.
Unfortunately, instead of using his brain, Girardi used his binder, and brought Tyler Clippard in to pitch the bottom of the 8th. The 1st batter was Eric Young Jr. of Piscataway, son of Eric Young Sr. of New Brunswick. Each was one of the greatest athletes ever to come out of Middlesex County, New Jersey. Eric Jr. hit a home run to tie the game. Nice move, Girardi.
Headley got to 2nd base in the 9th, but was stranded. Girardi burned another pitcher by bringing in Jonathan Holder, but he got through it, and the game went to extra innings. The Yankees went down 1-2-3 in the 10th. Girardi burned another pitcher by bringing in Chasen Shreve. He barely got out of a jam.
Then came the top of the 11th. With 1 out, Gary Sanchez drew a walk. This is where we should have had the cliche alert that walks can kill you. Didi Gregorius doubled to deep right. Sanchez should have scored, but he couldn't. It was 2nd and 3rd with 1 out.
Headley was intentionally walked, so that the Angels could face Chris Carter. Chris Carter, who led the National League with 41 home runs last season. Chris Carter, who is batting .207 in the American League this season, on-base percentage .298.
He led the NL in homers last season. This season, Chase Headley is being intentionally walked to face him. Chase. Headley.
Carter could have made Angels manager Mike Scioscia look very foolish. All he had to do was get the ball out of the infield. A decent fly out would have gotten Ronald Torreyes home.
Oh yeah: Girardi was the manager who looked very foolish, because he didn't put Torreyes in as a pinch-runner for Sanchez until Carter came up. Why didn't he do that after Sanchez' walk? It would probably have won the game.
Carter popped up. So did Gardner. End of threat. Bottom of the 11th, Shreve proved that, yes, walks can kill you, especially leadoff walks. Walk, flyout, stolen base, groundout moves runner to 3rd, walk, and Young hurt the Yankees again with a grounder to short, and Gregorius had no play anywhere.
Angels 3, Yankees 2. WP: Kenyan Middleton (2-0). No save. LP: Shreve (1-1), although the loss should be charged to Girardi -- at the very least, to Clippard.
Losing CC is quite a worry. The Yankees have until his next scheduled start, on Sunday, to decide whether to put him on the Disabled List (retroactive to today). He says he feels better today. We'll see, but we may not want to see.
Sunday is also when Aroldis Chapman could come off the DL. He pitched a simulated game in Tampa yesterday, and was fine. Not that he would have made much of a difference last night, as Girardi would have either not pitched him at all (the "You don't pitch Mariano in a tie game" rule, which is in no book, except maybe the damn binder), or pitched him for 1 inning and then put out Shreve or some other lesser pitcher.
The series concludes tonight. Michael Pineda starts against Matt Shoemaker. Then, the Yankees go up the Coast to Oakland.
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