Remember the old gag from the Warner Bros cartoons when a plane or a car was racing at incredible speed and the speedometer read “Silly, Ain’t it?” That pretty much sums up another lost weekend for the Yankees in the City of Angels. The Yanks just can’t beat the Angels in California and on Sunday afternoon they found a new way to lose. The Angels survived some shoddy fielding and had lady luck on their side once again. John Lackey out-pitched CC Sabathia as the Angels held off several late rallies by New York to win 5-4.
Sabathia wasn’t horrible but he was tagged for four runs in the fourth inning putting the Yanks in a 4-1 hole. Cut to the seventh. The Yanks scored a run and loaded the bases against Lackey with nobody out. But Lackey showed chutzpah and struck out Mark Teixeira on a full count curve ball. The pitch would have been a strike regardless–Teixeira whiffed–and it was the third slow curve of the at-bat. Then Alex Rodriguez turned over a pitch and hit a grounder to third. Chone Figgins made a slick pick fielding a tough hop, touched third and then fired a ball in the dirt to first. But Kendry Morales–who had made an error earlier in the inning–picked the ball clean and the Angels were out of trouble.
After the Angels scored another run against Sabathia, the Yanks loaded the bases with nobody out in the eighth too. They scored a run and then Jorge Posada–who entered the game late as a pinch-hitter–hit a sacrifice fly scoring another, pushing the score to 5-4. Nick Swisher pinch-hit for Brett Gardner and smoked a line drive back through the box. Reliever Darren Oliver stuck his glove out and made the Look-What-I-Found catch. Then he turned and picked Melky Cabrera off first for the double play.
And that’s how it goes for the Yanks in L.A.
Rodriguez struck out to end the game in the ninth. He had a great hack at the second pitch–a fastball–but missed it, fouling the ball back. He whiffed on another fastball.
So the Yanks end the first half on a down note. They have played well. They have been fun to root for but they go into the break with a bad and all-too familiar taste in their mouths. The Yanks are now three games behind the Red Sox who won again against the Royals.
Well, that’s okay. Whadda ya gunna do? Gives ’em something to remember. We’ll see if they’ve got it in ’em to do something about it.
