The injuries and a string of poor play are starting to really catch up to the Yankees as the Toronto Blue Jays came into Yankee Stadium to serve as a punching bag, but instead made the Yankees look flat and depleted. The Blue Jays are jockeying for position in the last position in the AL East cellar with the Boston Red Sox and are a team the Yankees should been using to pad up their lead in the division. By the end the Yankees would be left only 3.5 games up with the Baltimore Orioles coming in to possibly cut the lead down to a tiny half-game.
David Phelps made the start with Nova on the DL and was helped out with a Robinson Cano homer to kick off the scoring in the bottom of the 1st. Adam Lind for Toronto tied it in the 2nd with a solo homer of his own, but Cano would have none of that and hit his second solo shot in the 4th to put the Yankees back up 2-1. The Bombers weren't done in the inning, a Russell Martin double that hit off of the leg of Blue Jays starter Henderson Alvarez that scored two more for a 4-1 Yankees lead. Phelps wasn't able to keep Toronto off the board and gave back two of the runs in their next chance in the 5th from a Yorvit Torreabla 2-run homer. The see-saw affair kept going on when Nick Swisher then hit a 2-run homer of his own in the bottom of the inning. Phelps allowed another run in the 7th, but Cody Eppley came in to get the Yanks out of the inning without any further damage. The young Yankee right-hander was decent enough in his 6.1 innings and mostly suffered from two long balls. It all came down to the bottom of the 9th with Rafael Soriano on the mound with two outs and a runner on first. Soriano was 0-2 on Rajai Davis and one strike away from closing it out. The next pitch caught too much of the plate and Davis was able to hit a single. Then a flat slider to the next hitter, Colby Rasmus, was crushed deep to right for a 3-run Blue Jay homerun that gave the visiting team a heartbreaking 7-6 lead. The remaining Yankee Stadium crowd unfairly showered Soriano with boos, despite the fact he is 33 out of 36 in save opportunities and its not as if Mariano Rivera never blew a save.
The crowd would have another thrill before the night was through. In the bottom of the 9th Toronto brought on their closer, Casey Janssen, to do what Soriano couldn't do. His first batter was Derek Jeter, and he still had the homerun bug when he took Janssen deep to tie the game 7-7. Unfortunately for the Yankees, they couldn't get another run for a walk-off, so it went to extra innings. In the top of the 10th, the Blue Jays lead off the inning with a single off of new pitcher Derek Lowe. Mike McCoy came in to pinch run and played a little cat-n-mouse with Lowe trying to get a good lead off of first base. Mark Teixeira left the game earlier in the night due to a strained calf that will have him sidelined till the rest of the homestand at a minimum. With Chavez playing the bag and the combination of a poor toss over by Lowe, the ball ended up in right field and McCoy hustled over to third. The Blue Jays would eventually get the run in and take the 8-7 lead. Long-time reliever Darren Oliver came out for another inning and finished the long night off. It was perhaps the worst loss of the season.
With Teixeira sidelined for who knows how long, the Yankees made a move to bring up Steve Pearce, who they acquired recently from the bottom-feeding Houston Astros for a sack of potatoes. On the mound for the Yankees was Phil Hughes, who took the hard luck 2-1 loss last week to the Chicago White Sox. This time Hughes would be on the other side of that 2-1 score as the Bombers squeaked by Ricky Romero and the Blue Jays. An RBI single by Nick Swisher in the 3rd and a sacrifice fly by Curtis Granderson to score newcomer Pearce in the 4th gave the Yankees all their runs. Hughes' only blemish was an opposite field homerun he gave up to Adeiny Hechavarria in the top of the 5th. In the 6th Hughes faced serious danger with two runners on and nobody out, but a fly out coupled with a line out double play in which Cano made a strong throw to third base after catching the ball, got the Yankees out of the jam. New father David Robertson breezed through the 8th and Soriano came on in the 9th to mend himself after the previous night's disaster and pick up his 34th save. Phil Hughes went 7 innings for his team-tying 13th win and struck out 5 while doing it.
The Yankees had to feel the series was in their hands with C.C. Sabathia on the mound making his second start off the DL against Jays' lefty J.A. Happ. Things were going in the right direction early when the Yankees were able to grab a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st from an Andruw Jones RBI single and Curtis Granderson fielder's choice ground out. Sabathia encountered a bizarre inning in the 3rd when he cleanly allowed a single to Jeff Mathis Then on the next play Jayson Nix, playing third, booted a ground ball from Adeiny Hechavarria and both runners were safe. Eventually the bases would be loaded with nobody out and the Blue Jays were set up for a big inning, but Sabathia was able to induce a double play which Nix fielded cleanly; stepped on third for one and tossed to home to nail Mathis trying to score. Sabathia looked to be one out away from escaping, but then two singled and a double which would plate three runs for Toronto and give them a 3-2 lead. In the bottom of the inning, the Blue Jays would give the Yanks a hand in the scoring of the next two runs. With runners on second and third, Curtis Granderson lined a ball to left field which should've been a simple fly out, but Rajai Davis misjudged it and let it sail over his head. Both Yankee runners came in the score and give the Yankees back a lead at 4-3.
The Yankees could've put the Jays away in the 4th when they had a golden opportunity that was bases loaded and only one out. Happ buckled down and boldly struck out Swisher and Cano to escape surrendering any runs. Not adding any extra runs in that spot would turn out to be fatal. In the 6th, Adam Lind singled to right and the ball seemed to have been caught by the slowing Andruw Jones, but the umpire said the ball was trapped. That turned out to be crucial because the next hitter Yunel Escobar crushed a 2-run homer deep to left to put Toronto on top 5-4. The Yankees worked Happ's pitch-count up and had him gone after the 5th. New Toronto pitcher, Steve Delabar, came on in the bottom of the 6th and Jayson Nix started what looked like a promising inning with a leadoff double. With the need to play small-ball to get the runner in without a hit, the Yankees failed miserably; Ichiro failed at a bunt attempt and would eventually strike out, Chavez grounded out to move the runner to third, but Jeter completed the failure by striking out to end the threat. The Yanks had more small-ball failure in the bottom of the 8th, down by two runs this time at 6-4, the Yankees got one back from an RBI double by Russell Martin, a lucky double that hit the third base bag and allowed Raul Ibanez to score from second. Then the next three hitters failed as they did in the 6th; Ichiro flied out to shallow center, Chavez struck out, and Jeter flied out to right.
With David Robertson unavailable from pitching three games in a row, Joe Girardi went to a string of pitchers in the top of the 9th and found himself with the bases loaded with Blue Jays and the unreliable Joba Chamberlain out of the pen still trying to get his act (and weight) together since returning from Tommy John surgery. With one out, Joba wasn't able to get a double-play, instead Yunel Escobar flied to right and the slow/non-chalant Andruw Jones yet again couldn't field the ball cleanly and it resulted in two runs, putting the Yankees behind 8-5. Mercifully, the Yanks would only lose by those three runs and were sloppy in the field with three charged-errors, although they should've received two more in the pitiful afternoon.
The strain of A-Rod's missing bat in the line-up, Teixeira's new calf injury and his lingering wrist issue that will have him gone for a few games, Granderson's dive-bomb slump, and overall too many hitters with low batting averages, the need to effectively execute small-ball for runs is going to make the difference between being 2012 AL East champs and battling five other teams for the final Wild Card spot.....
David Phelps made the start with Nova on the DL and was helped out with a Robinson Cano homer to kick off the scoring in the bottom of the 1st. Adam Lind for Toronto tied it in the 2nd with a solo homer of his own, but Cano would have none of that and hit his second solo shot in the 4th to put the Yankees back up 2-1. The Bombers weren't done in the inning, a Russell Martin double that hit off of the leg of Blue Jays starter Henderson Alvarez that scored two more for a 4-1 Yankees lead. Phelps wasn't able to keep Toronto off the board and gave back two of the runs in their next chance in the 5th from a Yorvit Torreabla 2-run homer. The see-saw affair kept going on when Nick Swisher then hit a 2-run homer of his own in the bottom of the inning. Phelps allowed another run in the 7th, but Cody Eppley came in to get the Yanks out of the inning without any further damage. The young Yankee right-hander was decent enough in his 6.1 innings and mostly suffered from two long balls. It all came down to the bottom of the 9th with Rafael Soriano on the mound with two outs and a runner on first. Soriano was 0-2 on Rajai Davis and one strike away from closing it out. The next pitch caught too much of the plate and Davis was able to hit a single. Then a flat slider to the next hitter, Colby Rasmus, was crushed deep to right for a 3-run Blue Jay homerun that gave the visiting team a heartbreaking 7-6 lead. The remaining Yankee Stadium crowd unfairly showered Soriano with boos, despite the fact he is 33 out of 36 in save opportunities and its not as if Mariano Rivera never blew a save.
The crowd would have another thrill before the night was through. In the bottom of the 9th Toronto brought on their closer, Casey Janssen, to do what Soriano couldn't do. His first batter was Derek Jeter, and he still had the homerun bug when he took Janssen deep to tie the game 7-7. Unfortunately for the Yankees, they couldn't get another run for a walk-off, so it went to extra innings. In the top of the 10th, the Blue Jays lead off the inning with a single off of new pitcher Derek Lowe. Mike McCoy came in to pinch run and played a little cat-n-mouse with Lowe trying to get a good lead off of first base. Mark Teixeira left the game earlier in the night due to a strained calf that will have him sidelined till the rest of the homestand at a minimum. With Chavez playing the bag and the combination of a poor toss over by Lowe, the ball ended up in right field and McCoy hustled over to third. The Blue Jays would eventually get the run in and take the 8-7 lead. Long-time reliever Darren Oliver came out for another inning and finished the long night off. It was perhaps the worst loss of the season.
With Teixeira sidelined for who knows how long, the Yankees made a move to bring up Steve Pearce, who they acquired recently from the bottom-feeding Houston Astros for a sack of potatoes. On the mound for the Yankees was Phil Hughes, who took the hard luck 2-1 loss last week to the Chicago White Sox. This time Hughes would be on the other side of that 2-1 score as the Bombers squeaked by Ricky Romero and the Blue Jays. An RBI single by Nick Swisher in the 3rd and a sacrifice fly by Curtis Granderson to score newcomer Pearce in the 4th gave the Yankees all their runs. Hughes' only blemish was an opposite field homerun he gave up to Adeiny Hechavarria in the top of the 5th. In the 6th Hughes faced serious danger with two runners on and nobody out, but a fly out coupled with a line out double play in which Cano made a strong throw to third base after catching the ball, got the Yankees out of the jam. New father David Robertson breezed through the 8th and Soriano came on in the 9th to mend himself after the previous night's disaster and pick up his 34th save. Phil Hughes went 7 innings for his team-tying 13th win and struck out 5 while doing it.
The Yankees had to feel the series was in their hands with C.C. Sabathia on the mound making his second start off the DL against Jays' lefty J.A. Happ. Things were going in the right direction early when the Yankees were able to grab a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st from an Andruw Jones RBI single and Curtis Granderson fielder's choice ground out. Sabathia encountered a bizarre inning in the 3rd when he cleanly allowed a single to Jeff Mathis Then on the next play Jayson Nix, playing third, booted a ground ball from Adeiny Hechavarria and both runners were safe. Eventually the bases would be loaded with nobody out and the Blue Jays were set up for a big inning, but Sabathia was able to induce a double play which Nix fielded cleanly; stepped on third for one and tossed to home to nail Mathis trying to score. Sabathia looked to be one out away from escaping, but then two singled and a double which would plate three runs for Toronto and give them a 3-2 lead. In the bottom of the inning, the Blue Jays would give the Yanks a hand in the scoring of the next two runs. With runners on second and third, Curtis Granderson lined a ball to left field which should've been a simple fly out, but Rajai Davis misjudged it and let it sail over his head. Both Yankee runners came in the score and give the Yankees back a lead at 4-3.
The Yankees could've put the Jays away in the 4th when they had a golden opportunity that was bases loaded and only one out. Happ buckled down and boldly struck out Swisher and Cano to escape surrendering any runs. Not adding any extra runs in that spot would turn out to be fatal. In the 6th, Adam Lind singled to right and the ball seemed to have been caught by the slowing Andruw Jones, but the umpire said the ball was trapped. That turned out to be crucial because the next hitter Yunel Escobar crushed a 2-run homer deep to left to put Toronto on top 5-4. The Yankees worked Happ's pitch-count up and had him gone after the 5th. New Toronto pitcher, Steve Delabar, came on in the bottom of the 6th and Jayson Nix started what looked like a promising inning with a leadoff double. With the need to play small-ball to get the runner in without a hit, the Yankees failed miserably; Ichiro failed at a bunt attempt and would eventually strike out, Chavez grounded out to move the runner to third, but Jeter completed the failure by striking out to end the threat. The Yanks had more small-ball failure in the bottom of the 8th, down by two runs this time at 6-4, the Yankees got one back from an RBI double by Russell Martin, a lucky double that hit the third base bag and allowed Raul Ibanez to score from second. Then the next three hitters failed as they did in the 6th; Ichiro flied out to shallow center, Chavez struck out, and Jeter flied out to right.
With David Robertson unavailable from pitching three games in a row, Joe Girardi went to a string of pitchers in the top of the 9th and found himself with the bases loaded with Blue Jays and the unreliable Joba Chamberlain out of the pen still trying to get his act (and weight) together since returning from Tommy John surgery. With one out, Joba wasn't able to get a double-play, instead Yunel Escobar flied to right and the slow/non-chalant Andruw Jones yet again couldn't field the ball cleanly and it resulted in two runs, putting the Yankees behind 8-5. Mercifully, the Yanks would only lose by those three runs and were sloppy in the field with three charged-errors, although they should've received two more in the pitiful afternoon.
The strain of A-Rod's missing bat in the line-up, Teixeira's new calf injury and his lingering wrist issue that will have him gone for a few games, Granderson's dive-bomb slump, and overall too many hitters with low batting averages, the need to effectively execute small-ball for runs is going to make the difference between being 2012 AL East champs and battling five other teams for the final Wild Card spot.....
