DiMaggio avoided any drama by singling in the first inning, bringing the streak to thirty-two games in a row. Apparently relaxed, he went on to collect another single in the fifth and a homerun in the eighth. These efforts, along with a grand slam by Charlie “King Kong” Keller (that’s Keller in the photo above), led to a much needed Yankee victory as they salvaged the finale of the their three-game set with the White Sox, winning 7-2. Thirty-two straight for DiMag, fifteen for Yankee home run hitters, and a home run in three straight games for Keller. Not bad at all.

Your calendar might tell you that the first day of summer is later this week, but for me it was Monday. I got out of bed at around 10:30, had a casual lunch, ran a few errands, then tried out the shiny new grill my wife got me for Father’s Day the day before. Let me tell you this with certainty — there are few things better than grilling some burgers while watching the Yanks during the late afternoon of a California summer day. (And if you’re interested, aside from the burgers the full meal included corn on the cob, fries, and a salad with the most incredible white peach balsamic vinegar for dressing.)

The only thing that could’ve made all this better, of course, was a Yankee victory — and that’s just what they delivered, cruising to their tenth straight win.

After suffering a three-game sweep at the hands of the Yankees only ten minutes ago, the Braves came out determined to turn the tables and open the series with a win. Speedster Michael Bourne opened with a triple to left center, then scored on a ground out to give Atlanta an early 1-0 lead off Yankee starter CC Sabathia, and they’d add another run in the fifth to double their lead to two.

Mike Minor, meanwhile, was holding the Yankees down but good. There was a walk to Alex Rodríguez to open the second, but A-Rod was immediately erased on a 4-6-3 double play, and that was it. Minor had faced only twelve batters through the first four innings, but the Yankee bats came to life in the fifth.

A-Rod opened the inning with a line drive single to center and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Robinson Canó followed that with a walk, and two batters later Russell Martin rifled a ground-rule double down the left field line to score A-Rod and put runners at second and third with one out. After a walk to Jayson Nix and a popout from Chris Stewart, Derek Jeter came to the plate with the bases loaded and two out and his team needing a base hit to take the lead. The Captain delivered, bouncing a grounder back up the middle to score two and move the score to 3-2.

Mark Teixeira homered to left in the next inning to push the lead to 4-2, Jeter came up with another two-out RBI with another grounder through the box in the seventh, and Canó finished the Yankee scoring with a bomb into the monuments in dead center field in the eighth. Yankees 6, Braves 2.

The story of the game, though, was Sabathia. After the game he would say that the starters had all been going so well that he didn’t want to be the one to end the streak. He might’ve given up a few things early on, but once he got the lead and smelled the victory, the Big Man was on his game. In the final four innings he allowed only a single base hit while striking out six. It was Sabathia’s first complete game of the year, and according to ESPN’s Game Score stat, it was his best outing of the season.

Ten wins in a row for the Yank, a two and half game lead in the American League East, and just half a game behind the Dodgers for the best record in baseball. Life is good.

[Photo Credit: Al Bello/Getty Images]

The Yankees lost their second straight to the White Sox, coming up on the short end of a 3-2 score. DiMaggio managed only a single in three at bats, a blooper over the head of shortstop Luke Appling, but it was enough to keep the streak alive. Charlie Keller’s two-run homerun in the second accounted for all of the Yankee runs and made it fourteen straight games that New York batters had homered.

There were some who believed that DiMaggio’s single hits in games thirty and thirty-one were questionable at best. The ball that hopped off of Appling’s shoulder on the 17th was seen as especially controversial, and various reporters at the time reported that fans at the Stadium stood in silence as they awaited the official scorer’s decision. That official scorer was Dan Daniel, and in October of 2007 David Robeson wrote an article in the Walrus in which he asserted that Daniel’s biased scoring had erroneously given DiMaggio two hits that he didn’t deserve. (The hit in the 31st game glanced off of Appling’s glove, and Robeson argues it should’ve been scored an error as well.) Here’s the crux of Robeson’s argument:

In keeping with the ethics of the era, Dan Daniel, a popular writer who had been covering baseball since 1909, enjoyed all the perks of covering the Yankees. He travelled with and befriended the players, and had his expenses paid for by the club itself. Daniel was, by modern standards, part of the team, as much a PR man as a reporter. He wrote of DiMaggio extensively, championing “The Big Dago” before DiMaggio had even appeared in the bigs, and it was he who authored the quote, “Here is the replacement for Babe Ruth.” The Clipper made for wonderful copy: he was a good-looking bachelor who patrolled the most revered position in all of sports, centre field for the New York Yankees. Daniel also happened to be the most important witness to the streak. The reason? This friend of DiMaggio and quasi-employee of the New York Yankees just happened, unbelievably, to be the Yankees’ official home-game scorer as well — the very arbiter of hits and errors. For games at Yankee Stadium, Daniel, and Daniel alone, decided if DiMaggio was to be credited with a hit.

There is, of course, no video of either play, so we are left only with a box score and a handful of written accounts. One thing is certain, though. There are countless variables in the game of baseball, ranging from an umpire’s view of a pitch in the neighborhood of the outside corner to the distance of one park’s fence as compared to another. An official scorer’s decision is simply one more thing which is beyond a player’s control. DiMaggio had a hit on the 17th, another on the 18th, and lots more after that.

The Chicago White Sox snapped New York’s winning streak at eight with an 8-7 victory, but the two other Yankee streaks continued. Charlie Keller crushed an upper-deck shot in the eighth inning, temporarily tying the score and making it thirteen straight games with Yankee homeruns, but the Sox won it in the ninth. DiMaggio set the all-time Yankee hitting streak record at thirty games, but he needed some luck. He came to the plate in the seventh inning, still without a hit, and smashed a hard ground ball directly to Chicago shortstop Luke Appling. But just before Appling could gather in the grounder and put an end to the streak, the ball took a horrible bad hop, bounding up and hitting Appling in the shoulder. He had no play, and DiMaggio kept streaking. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. Much more on this tomorrow…

In the final game of their showdown at the Stadium with the Cleveland Indians, the Yankees grabbed a 6-4 victory and moved to within a game of first place. DiMaggio hit a double to left in the fifth inning, setting a Yankee record by hitting in his twenty-ninth straight game. Second baseman Joe Gordon had homered earlier in the fourth inning, meaning the Yanks had gone deep in twelve straight. The Yankees had now won eight games in a row, and seemed to have finally gotten their season headed in the right direction. It’s interesting that the current Yankees seem to have found their way as well.

The Yankees returned home to face future Hall of Famer Bob Feller and the first place Indians at the Stadium. Feller was working on a streak of his own; since a loss on May 9th, he had won eight straight decisions, bring his season’s record to an impressive 13-3. When DiMaggio came to bat in the third inning, he watched three straight balls before Feller finally had to come into the zone. Hitting away, DiMaggio slashed a drive into the right-center field gap for a double. Also of note, Tommy Henrich homered for the Yanks in the first inning, extending another string. The Yankees had hit homeruns in ten games in a row, a streak that some local papers were beginning to follow.

With the Yankees clinging to a one-run lead, two out in the ninth inning of tonight’s game against the Atlanta Braves, Chipper Jones stepped against the Yankee closer. The Yankee closer pitched him tough, but the future HOFer won the battle by serving a slider on the outside corner for a deep line drive into left field for a base hit. Chipper’s nicepieceofhitting brought Jason Heyward to the plate representing the winning run. He got his hacks, on the second strike especially. He looked like he was trying to hit two game winning dingers in one swing, but the 93 MPH heat danced over the barrel. The next pitch busted his bat and the ball popped harmlessly to Robinson Cano at second base.

The Yankees won 3-2 and gained another game on Tampa, who were Dickeyed to death by the Mets. They completed their second straight sweep and have now won six games in a row and 16 out of 20. I should be feeling great about their recent success and their perch at the top of the American League, but all I was thinking about in the ninth was that the Yankee closer from the first paragraph wasn’t Mariano Rivera. That match-up with Chipper would have been a special one and I couldn’t help but feel a pang of sadness that it couldn’t happen.

And, though Soriano pitched a fine inning and I think he’s done a nice job, the difference between a backdoor slider and a backdoor cutter was never more apparent. Soriano set him up beautifully, but Chipper could wait back on the slider defensively and slash it to the opposite field. The cutter would have sped right past him. Hence Mariano’s proclivity for the backwards Ks to the lefties.

The game started brightly for the Yankees. Just a few days ago I said it would be nice to see Jeter get a double this week, since he had only two extra base hits in his last 32 games. I think the key for the baseball gods was the reasonable nature of my request: Jeter doubled off Tim Hudson to lead off the game. I will be more thoughtful the next time I make a wish. Curtis Granderson didn’t do much with a favorable count, but his grounder advanced Jeter to third. The Braves pulled the infield in on Alex Rodriguez. A few years ago, a third base man would have called time and double-checked his last will and testament if asked to plant his feet on the infield grass with Arod up there.

Alex looked lost on a couple of sliders, but Hudson eventually found the middle of the plate and Alex sent it right back up the box with a sharp knock and the Yankees led 1-0. Somehow, Hiroki Kuroda kept it right there for half the game. The Braves threatened just about every inning, but with Hudson coming up to the plate just about every time the Yanks needed a big out, Kuroda escaped damage. If the Yankees are afflicted with RISPitis, at least there’s a chance it might be contagious. The Braves were 2 for 13 with no RBI with runners in scoring position.

In the fifth, Brian McCann hit a long two-run homer to give the Braves the lead. In soccer, it would have been a “deserved lead” because the Braves seemed in control of the game at that point. Two batters into the sixth, the Yankees had it back – so much for “deserve”. Jeter singled and Granderson kept his hands and weight back behind a floaty cutter and skied it into the right field stands. It had a pop-up’s trajectory, but a homer’s distance, so we’ll take it. That skinny dude has a heckuva power stroke.

The Yankees again hunkered down behind a flimsy one run lead. Kuroda gave way after six and the Russian nesting doll of a bullpen the Yanks are running out there these days went to work. Logan walked two but squeaked through by retiring Heyward and Hinske with runners on base. Rapada was in an even worse spot, runners at the corners with only one out and .320 hitting Martin Prado at the plate. Rapada’s sidewinding sinking action induced the double play grounder that saved the game.

That brings us to Soriano in the ninth, a win, a sweep and a nice little challenge series with the first place Washington Nationals coming up. No Strasburg though.

When the Yankees were in fourth place, playing losing/boring (however you want to describe it is fine with me) baseball, every night seemed the same. The starting pitching wobbled early and the Yankees would be down two or four before even getting loose. And when they did get into the game, there would be some insurance runs for the bad guys or RISP fail for the Yanks that would seal the loss. Tonight was just the opposite. The Yanks scored first. The Yanks reclaimed the lead as quickly as possible after relinquishing it, and the Yanks induced the soul-crushing double play in the late innings. I don’t know if that’s good baseball, exciting baseball or just the swing of the pendulum, but I sure do prefer the wins.

Photo by Scott Cunningham / Getty Images

In one of the Yankees’s few night games of 1941, DiMaggio stretched his streak to twenty-six games with a fourth-inning single against the Chicago White Sox. Later, with the game tied in the top of the tenth, he gave his team the winning run with a solo homerun. The Yankees held on for the 3-2 victory and inched closer to the first place Cleveland Indians.

So you want the good news or the bad news? Well, I’ll give you both but let’s start with the good news: the Yankees won the ballgame tonight down in Atlanta and are now tied for first place in the American League East. Really, that’s the only news that matters but there’s more–the Yanks flashed the leather: Ivan Nova and Mark Teixeira turned a slick double play, Robinson Cano made a great pick on a hard-hit line drive and Nick Swisher robbed Brian McCann of a home run (McCann also hit a ball to the wall in center field and ripped a line drive directly into Teixeira’s glove).

Yeah, and Nova pitched seven scoreless innings and showed fine control. The sidearming glimmer twins Cody Eppley and Clay Rapada retired the side in order in the eighth, and Corey Wade and Boone Logan did likewise in the ninth.

The bad news? Yanks didn’t do much with the fourteen hundred runners they put on baset. And while that caused much irritation for Yankee fans during the game and may not be forgotten it’s certainly forgiven.

A shutout. First place. Good news wins.

Final Score: Yanks 3, Braves 0.

[Photo Credit: Bags; Scott Cunningham/Getty Images]

The Yankees won their fourth in a row on this afternoon at Chicago’s Comiskey Park, topping the White Sox by a score of 8-3. DiMaggio was able to extend his streak only through the benefit of a decision by the official scorer. He hit a hard shot at third baseman Dario Lodigiani in the seventh inning. Lodigiani was handcuffed by the ball and couldn’t make a play; the scorer saw it as a hit, and the streak lived another day. Baseball tradition says that no-hitters and perfect games often need a little help from a great defensive play or a questionable call from an umpire, and we don’t have to think back any farther than Johan Santana’s recent no-no for the Mets. This hit by DiMaggio wasn’t as controversial as Carlos Beltran’s foul ball on the chalk, but in today’s culture it might’ve raised a few eyebrows. Oh, well. Twenty-five straight for Joe D.

The Yankees again took advantage of the St. Louis Browns, this time sweeping both games of the doubleheader by scores of 9-3 and 8-3. DiMaggio hammered the Brown hurlers in one of his more impressive performances of the season. He homered twice in the opener, then went deep again in the nightcap in addition to a double. He drove in a total of seven runs in the two games. What little kid wouldn’t want to be Joe DiMaggio when he grew up? Elsewhere, Ted Williams fell by the wayside in his efforts to keep pace with DiMaggio’s streak. In a doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox, Williams was hitless in both games, stopping his streak at twenty-three straight games.

The St. Louis Browns, having recently replaced manager Fred Haney with Luke Sewell, continued their losing ways by giving up five runs in the ninth to lose to the Yankees, 11-7. DiMaggio had three singles on the day, easily keeping his string intact at twenty-two straight. In Chicago, meanwhile, Williams stayed a game ahead of DiMaggio by singling once in four at bats and stretching his streak to twenty-three games. DiMaggio’s streak, of course, was still a week from its midpoint; Teddy Ballgame’s would die the next day.

Perhaps caught in a malaise in the aftermath of Lou Gehrig’s death and funeral, the Yankees dropped their third straight game, falling to Hal Newhouser and the Tigers, 5-4. DiMaggio tripled into the left field corner in the sixth, but that was it for him. His one for five day at the plate saw his average dip to .326, but during the streak he was hitting a bit better, .354 (29 for 82). Ted Williams, meanwhile, was keeping pace. He had now hit in twenty-two straight, and was hitting an even .500 (40 for 80!) during his streak, pushing his season number to a laughable .434.

Magic Hour in New York City. Picture by Bags.

When they got off the train in Detroit the night before their series against the Tigers, the Yankees were greeted with the stunning news that Lou Gehrig had died earlier in the day. Several of the older players, including DiMaggio, who had played with Gehrig were concerned for his wife and considered skipping the game. DiMaggio decided to play, and his fourth-inning homerun was a small bright spot in a bleak day as the Yankees lost, 4-2, while mourning their former captain.

The Yankees attempted to complete a sweep of their series against the Indians but were faced with the daunting task of hitting against one of the league’s hottest pitchers, Bob Feller. Coming into the game he hadn’t allowed a run in twenty-nine straight innings, and although the Yankees snapped that string in the second, Feller was still able to earn his eleventh win of the young season as the Indians came out on top, 7-5. DiMaggio had a single and a double on this day, and back in his hometown, the San Francisco Chronicle picked up on the streak for the first time. Soon enough, every paper in the country would be tracking DiMaggio’s progress.

Playing their second doubleheader in three days, the Yankees continued their roadtrip by sweeping two games from the Cleveland Indians and moving to within a game and a half of the first place White Sox. DiMaggio had one single in each of the games to bring the streak to eighteen games. His hit in the second game came in his last at bat of the day. At this point, as a new paper each day seemed to pick up on the DiMaggio streak, he certainly must have been aware of what was at stake. He smashed a rocket that glanced off the glove of third baseman Ken Keltner. (The next time the Yankees came to Cleveland, DiMaggio would not be so lucky.) Elsewhere, Ted Williams was also continuing his torrid pace. He collected four hits in a doubleheader against the Tigers, raising his average to an obscene .430. His hitting streak was still intact a game beyond DiMaggio’s at nineteen straight, and he was even hotter than Joe D. Williams’s streak average was an even .500 (36 for 72) while DiMaggio was hitting a comparatively mild .362 (25 for 69).

Sometimes life can get in the way of baseball, and this was one of those nights. The good news, of course, is that I have a DVR, so I never really have to miss anything. I can coach volleyball practice, head directly to my daughter’s middle school band concert, then take the family out to a late dinner, confident that all the while my trusty DVR is dutifully recording the game.

The problem, of course, is that the game is also in my pocket the whole time. My phone buzzed at 7:05 to let me know that game had started, and I was tempted several times throughout the evening to check on the score. I resisted each time. During the lull between beginning band and beginning orchestra? Stand strong. After foolishly glancing at the restaurant television and seeing this on ESPN’s Bottom Line: Nova (NYY): 5 IP, 5 ER…? Stay calm and carry on. When my phone buzzed at 10:05, feeling suspiciously like an incoming text from a gloating Angel fan? Keep the faith.

And so I kept the faith, even as the Angels jumped on Ivan Nova for an early 1-0 lead in typically annoying Anaheim fashion. Mike Trout, heretofore referred to as the Most Exciting Player in Baseball, took a pitch to the shoulder to lead off the first, then galloped to third when a hit-and-run worked out and Alberto Callaspo singled where Derek Jeter had just been standing. Albert Pújols, suddenly fearsome again, walked to load the bases with none out, and disaster loomed. But Nova rebounded to strike out Kendrys Morales, yielded a sacrifice fly to Mark Trumbo, then got Howie Kendrick to fly out. Sure, it was 1-0, but it could’ve been much worse.

The Yankees answered back in the third when Russell Martin walked and later used the 3-2 head start to race to third on Derek Jeter’s single. Curtis Granderson followed that with home run to right, and the Yankees had their first lead since the first inning of the first game of the series. Ervin Santana was the victim of all that, and he responded by hitting Alex Rodríguez a few pitches later. If the Yankees were bothered by that — and I can’t imagine they were — Robinson Canó exacted revenge by powering a home run deep to right and they were up 5-1.

Nova, meanwhile, was looking good. I’m not sure how accurate it was, but according to the radar gun at Angels Stadium, Nova’s fastball was topping out at 97 MPH in the early going, and he cruised through the second and third innings on only eighteen pitches. But then came the fourth. I don’t have the energy to recap it completely, but believe me when I tell you it was just more Halo nonsense. Yet another home run from Mark Trumbo, a two-strike single, a bunt single, and a rocketed double off the bat of the Most Exciting Player in Baseball. In the blink of an eye, the game was tied at five. If you were watching live and felt confident at this point, you’re lying.

But Nova stuck around to cruise through the fifth and sixth and got back in position for a win when the Angels defense finally made a mistake. Raúl Ibáñez smoked a ball to the wall in right center, but Peter “Gorgeous” Bourjos foolishly chased it all the way to the warning track only to watch helplessly as the ball ricocheted over his head and bounded back towards center field, following the exact path Bourjos had just tread. Ibáñez actually looked like he had designs on an inside-the-parker before downshifting and coasting into third for his first triple in more than a year. Nick Swisher jumped on the first pitch he saw and produced a sacrifice fly to give the Yankees the 6-5 lead.

Nova was lifted after getting the first two outs of the seventh inning, then Boone Logan made things interesting by giving up consecutive singles to put runners on first and third with two out. With the game clearly in the balance, Cory Wade entered to face Kendrick and promptly fell behind 3-0. He was having trouble finding the feel of his curveball, but once he found it, the Angles hitters were at his mercy. He bounced back to strike out Kendrick, then K’d two of three in the eighth to hand the game to Rafael Soriano.

I won’t describe the ninth inning, except to mention that Pújols came to the plate as the winning run and I was dead certain that he was about to hit a walk-off. (Remember the suspiciously-timed text message from earlier?) He didn’t. Pretty or not, Soriano got the save. Yankees 6, Angels 5. And by the way, it isn’t just Mariano’s cold-hearted efficiency that I miss, it’s also his business-like reaction to the final out. Whenever Soriano gets a save, pulling his jersey out of his pants as he walks off the mound, I find myself completely distracted from the win and instead wishing he’d keep his clothes on. Classless. Someone should talk to him.

But things are looking up in Yankeeland. The teams heads off to Detroit, where two wins will make for a successful 6-3 road trip. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Oh, and that text message? Turns out it was just a push notification. It was my turn in Scrabble. If I had had the letters, I obviously would’ve played V-I-C-T-O-R-Y.

[Photo Credit: Chris Carlson/AP Photo]

The Yankees travelled to Boston for a Memorial Day doubleheader, one of six twinbills played during DiMaggio’s streak, another notable difference between baseball then and now. A sell-out crowd of 34,500 crammed into Fenway Park as the Yanks and Sox split the pair. In the opener, things looked bleak for the Yankees and DiMaggio as they came to bat in the top of the ninth trailing 3-1. Still without a hit, DiMaggio came up in the final inning with a runner on first. He singled to keep the rally (and the streak) alive, and New York eventually scored three times to take the one-run lead that would give them a 4-3 victory. In the nightcap, Boston hammered the Yankees, beating them 13-0, but DiMaggio was awarded a hit on a fly ball lofted high into the wind and sun that often plagued Fenway’s right field. Boston’s Pete Fox tried valiantly to make the catch, but the ball fell untouched at his feet, and DiMaggio scampered into second base with a double.

Aside from the two hits, DiMaggio’s day was utterly forgettable. Normally one of the best defensive outfielders in the game, DiMaggio earned his nickname, the Yankee Clipper, with the effortless way in which he sailed across the outfield grass in pursuit of flyballs. On this day, however, he was charged with an error in the opening game and three more in the second, making this perhaps his worst day in the field. None of this, however, affected the streak.

I’ll tell you a secret. I hate the Angels. I hate them about a hundred times more than the Red Sox, a thousand more times than the Rays. I hate the way Mike Scioscia cocks his head and squints his eyes in confusion whenever a call goes against him. I hate the scrappiness, I hate the hustle, I hate the font of the numbers on the backs of their jerseys.

After a disappointing loss on Monday night, the Yankees returned to the scene of the crime on Tuesday and looked to bounce back into the win column. The problem, though, was that the Angels were sending Dan Haren to the mound. Haren has been unhittable recently, most notably in his last start against Seattle when he authored a 3-0 shutout that featured 14 strikeouts and zero walks, only the third time in the past dozen years that pitcher done that (a shutout with 14 Ks and zero walks). Opposing Haren would be the ageless wonder, Andy Pettitte.

I touched on this yesterday, but it cannot be understated. The Angels, as nauseating as they are, are an exciting team to watch, and it all starts with their youngest player, Mike Trout. On Monday night he flexed his muscles by bashing his fifth home run of the season, but on Tuesday he showed some of his other skills, namely speed and defense. With two outs and no one on in the bottom of the second inning, Nick Swisher launched a rocket to left center, but that’s Trout territory. He ran down the drive, leaping and snaring it just as it may or may not have left the park.

And how often does it happen? A guy makes a great player in the field, and two innings later he comes to the plate with a runner on second. Trout rifled a ball past third and down the line. The speedy Peter Bourjos coasted in easily on what seemed like a certain double from Trout. But Trout is probably in Brett Gardner’s class as a runner, and slid into third with a triple — on a ball hit into the left field corner. The whole world is crushing on Bryce Harper right now, and justifiably so, but check the numbers. Trout is outplaying the kid with the faux hawk.

The Angels push the envelope at all turns, so Trout went on contact and ran into an out at home on a grounder to Eric Chávez, but Albert Pújols erased that mistake seconds later when he smashed a no-doubter into the Yankee bullpen far beyond the left field fence for a 3-0 Angels lead. Pettitte would later call it “just a stupid pitch by me.” It seems the reports of Sir Albert’s demise were, indeed, highly exaggerated.

The Yankee hitters continued to struggle, and again they continued to fail with the bases loaded. In the half inning before the Angels scored those three runs, the Yanks had had a golden opportunity when they loaded the bases with two outs and Robinson Canó at the plate. A base hit there would’ve given Pettitte a cushion, pushed Haren a bit, and opened a lead, but instead Canó watched strike three dart across the outside corner. Fifteen minutes later it was the Angels who were giving the cushion, doing the pushing, and opening the lead.

Raúl Ibáñez doubled with one out in the fourth, and Nick Swisher quickly cashed him in with a hard single to right, bringing the Yankees to within two runs and breathing a little hope into the situation.

Following Swisher’s base hit, the next fifteen Yankees and Angels to come to the plate were all retired without the ball ever leaving the infield. Pettitte and Haren combined to gather nine groundouts, four strikeouts, a popup and a line out. The sixteenth hitter, however, was the Angels Mark Trumbo. Trumbo broke the string in the bottom of the sixth with a mammoth 433-foot blast into the rocks in center field, widening the Anaheim* lead to 4-1.

The Yankees put two runners on in the seventh, then two more in the eighth, but couldn’t make anything out of either opportunity. Then, more to taunt the Yankees than anything else, the Angels manufactured another run in the bottom of the eighth: single, ground out, single. It was all so easy, and in a game that had been close all night long, the Yankees were suddenly a grand slam behind.

The Yankees mounted a rally in the ninth as they often do, starting with a walks to Russell Martin and Derek Jeter. Granderson flicked a line drive to left, and it looked like a sure base hit, but again, left field is Trout territory, so it turned into an out. Angel reliever Ernesto Frieri plunked Alex Rodríguez, and suddenly the bases were loaded and Canó was walking to the plate as the potential tying run.

But if you’ve been paying attention lately, you know that the Yankees don’t get hits with the bases loaded. Canó struck out swinging. As the Angels announcer is fond of saying at the end of each victory, “Light that baby up.” Angels 5, Yankees 1. Lord help me.

*I know they’re not the Anaheim Angels, but they’re not the Los Angeles Angels, either. They don’t play in Los Angeles. They don’t play anywhere near Los Angeles.

[Photo Credit: Harry How/Getty Images]