Alex had it right with his Ray Milland pic on Saturday. The Yankees went on one heck of a bender in La La Land this past weekend, getting swept by the Angels and losing in just about every way possible. On Friday night, Ian Kennedy couldn’t get an out in the third inning. Darrell Rasner and the Yankee bats tried valiantly to climb out of the hole Kennedy had dug, but just as they neared the top, they fell back in. On Saturday, Dan Giese was great for six innings, but Jose Veras, Edwar Ramirez, and David Robertson coughed up ten runs in the final two innings to put the game far out of reach.

Yesterday, Andy Pettitte and Joe Saunders matched each other pitch-for-pitch for seven innings, handing their bullpens a 3-3 tie. Jose Arredondo and Damaso Marte matched zeros in the eighth, sending the tie into the ninth. Home team manager Mike Scioscia went straight to his closer, Francisco Rodriguez, who struck out the side in the ninth. Visiting manager Joe Girardi, having used Rasner for 4 1/3 innings on Friday and having watched each all four of his remaining set-up men stink up the joint over the previous two games (Brian Bruney put Friday’s game out of reach for good after relieving Rasner in the eighth), tried to get another inning out of Marte.

After retiring all three men he faced in the eighth, Marte gave up a single to the leadoff man in the ninth; that hitter being second baseman Howie Kendrick, who entered the game hitting .480 in his young career against the Yankees, but had gone hitless in his three at-bats against Pettitte. Marte rallied to strike out Gary Matthews Jr., but fell behind ninth-place hitter Mike Napoli 2-0 before walking him on a full count to push Kendrick in to scoring position. Having watched Marte blow a game by alternating walks and outs during the previous series in Texas, Girardi broke down and called on his closer, Mariano Rivera. Rivera threw one pitch to Chone Figgins. It caught a bit too much of the plate, and Figgins pulled a perfectly place bounder through the first-base hole to score Kendrick and complete the Angels sweep.

Long-time readers will know that I’ve often argued that a manager should use his closer in a tie game on the road once the game enters sudden death for the home team. Unlike his predecessor, Joe Girardi has done a decent job of employing Rivera that way, but even before Figgins’ game-winning single, opposing hitters were hitting .361/.410/.583 against Rivera this year when the game is tied. In all other situations, they are hitting less than .190 against him. Sometimes you just can’t win.

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 What do you mean we’re all out of spelt muffins?

I’m sure there are a bunch of Yankee fans that would have loved to unload a couple of rounds after yesterday’s loss.  Hopefully, the Yanks pull out a "w" today so we can digest and enjoy our Sunday. 

Go git ’em boys.

* Several years ago, Em was up at her parent’s place in Vermont with her older sister.  One day, they found a large black snake in the garage.  They took a shovel, beat the crap out of the poor bastard and then Em used the side of the shovel to cut its head off.  I listened in horror on the phone when she told me the story.  My ass would have been firmly planted on top of the piano in the living room until the snake was gone.  I likely would have wet myself.  My tough guy wife, my hero.

Of course, Em also freaks out when she sees a city critter–a roach or water bug.  What a wimp.

Couldn’t hoit, no?

The Yanks have been a terrible hitting team with runners in scoring position–Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi are the primary offenders given their importance and what they earn.  The pitching staff is a mess…the problems go on and on.  I haven’t had a whole lot of faith that they’d reach October this year, and now, things look as bleak as they have all season.

So, the somber Sunday morning question is: Are they done?

It was all going so smoothily.  Dan Giese was throwing a lovely game, matching John Lackey zero-for-zero.  In fact, nobody scored through the first five innings (not entirely surprising in a day game after a night game in the post-greenie age).  Then Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi hit back-to-back solo dingers in the sixth and the Yanks had some hope.  But that promise was soon obliterated by a horrid performance from the bullpen as the Angels wacked, smacked and slapped the Yankees down once again, scoring eight in the eighth and that was that.

Final score: Angels 11, Yanks 4. 

It’s getting late early for our boys.

Let the drinking begin. 

Yanks hoping to avoid another Lost Weekend out in La La Land.  With John Lackey on the mound today they have more than their work cut out for them.  Pardon me if I’m not brimming over with confidence.  If they get smacked around today, Ray Milland’ll have some company and we’ll all be in need of a stiff drink.

Regardless…

Let’s Go Yan-Kees.

Bernie Mac, a very funny fellow, died early this morning from complications due to pneumonia.  He was just 50-years old.  Mac had a blue act, but also had a great vulnerability that made him a success on TV.  He was never afraid to bust on himself.  I thought the first few seasons of The Bernie Mac Show were especially winning.  More than anything he was authentic, true to himself.  He was the real deal.  He made me laugh a lot, and he made me laugh hard.  

Man, this is just lousy news.  Here is the routine that became the basis for his show:

"Don’t touch my old school, my new school, my slow jams, my party jams, my happy rap, and you bet not touch my James Brown…or somebody is really going to get hurt."

Too much is made about athletes having a game-face, or acting in a specific manner when they lose.  Still, Ian Kennedy’s lack of awareness is troubling.  Remember when Scott Proctor burned his glove after a bad outing?  Maybe he can swing by Anahiem while the Yanks are in town and torch Kennedy’s uniform.

Last night, Ian Kennedy’s third stint in the Yankee rotation this year started off much like the previous two. Unable to record an out in the third inning, Kennedy was pulled after allowing five runs on nine hits and a walk and getting just six outs. Kennedy only walked one man and did a decent job of throwing first-pitch strikes (doing so to 12 of 16 batters, including all five men he faced in his scoreless second inning), but he simply wasn’t getting people out. Ten of the 16 men he faced reached base safely. What’s more, he wasn’t fooling anyone. Three of his 12 first-pitch strikes were put in play as hits. In total, the Angels swung at 22 of Kennedy’s 61 pitches. Only three swings failed to make contact, while 14 of them put the ball in play.

The first four batters Kennedy faced in the first inning hit ground balls, two of which got through for singles, and a third would have had it not hit the mound and ricocheted to Robinson Cano for a fielder’s choice at second. With men on first and second, Kennedy grooved an 86-mile-per-hour fastball right down Broadway to Torii Hunter, who crushed it to the 387-foot sign in the left-center-field gap. Johnny Damon and Melky Cabrera converged on the ball, with Melky appearing to call for it, but Damon lept in front of Cabrera, slamming his already tender left shoulder into the wall and missing the ball, which fell for a two-RBI double (Damon’s fine and Melky didn’t really appear to have a play).

Kennedy then got Garret Anderson to pop out on a full count to end the inning, but Howie Kendrick led off the second with another booming double to the same spot on a hanging curve. Juan Rivera flied out to the wall in dead center to move Kendrick to third, and Kennedy responded by walking the Angels’ ninth-place hitter, Jeff Mathis, but then managed to strand both runners by striking out Chone Figgins swinging on a perfectly placed cutter just under the hands (Kennedy’s only K of the game) and getting Erick Aybar to ground out.

That was the only positive sequence in Kennedy’s brief outing. In the third, he was again greeted by a double, this one a hard shot down the right field line off the bat of Mark Teixeira. Four singles followed, the first a well-placed grounder through the first-base hole by Vlad Guerrero, the next a slow hopper to shortstop that Derek Jeter booted, and the last two flares that dropped in just fair behind first and third base. Still, Kennedy had given up his share of hard-hit balls before that sequence, wasn’t fooling anyone, and was five batters and three runs deep in the inning and still hadn’t gotten an out.

Darrell Rasner came on and got two outs on three pitches without another run scoring, then struck out Figgins to end the inning. Rasner allowed just one run over the next three innings, and the Yankees snuck back into the game with two runs in the sixth on an Xavier Nady solo homer and a Robinson Cano triple that was cashed in by a Melky Cabrera groundout to first base.

That brought the Yankees within one run of the Angels, but Rasner couldn’t hold it any longer. Torii Hunter, who was 4 for 5 on the night with 4 RBIs and a great first-inning catch on a dead run toward the wall in center, led off the seventh with a home run. After a groundout, a Howie Kendrick single drove Rasner from the game in favor of Brian Bruney, who proceeded to allow Hendrick and two of his teammates to score, inflating the Angels’ lead to 10-5, which is how it ended.

After the game, Kennedy seemed disturbingly undisturbed by his poor outing. Flashing his “What Me Worry?” grin, this is what he had to say for himself:

“It’s the first bad outing I’ve had in a long time. I’m not going to look much into it. I felt like I made some good pitches. Yeah, I got the leadoff hitter on quite a bit [twice in three innings], but got out of it in the second inning. I’m not too upset about it. . . . Even on their singles, like, what, ground balls? [shrugs] So, that’s not a big deal. Gave up a couple doubles [three], but I felt like I made some good pitches and competed, which is all that really matters. . . What was it? A bunch of singles and three doubles, or so. I’m just not real upset about it. I’m just gonna move on. I’ve already done that.” [big grin]

All that really matters, aye, Ike? I was high on Kennedy coming into this season, but he’s had three chances this year and nothing has changed. After watching him grin his way through his post-game comments, I’m not sure he thinks anything needs to, which could be his biggest problem.

Asked what he’d been doing right in triple-A over the last month that differentiated his success there from his poor outing last night, Kennedy replied, “Honestly, it’s quite a bit the same. I just got ahead of guys. I felt like I made good pitches when I tried to get them out. I jammed some guys, got some bloop hits at the end. That second inning, which I told you earlier, I got that leadoff double, and he didn’t score. I’ve been working on throwing that cutter inside and it got me out of that jam. . . . I don’t know, I felt like I got ahead of guys fine.”

It’s one thing to be able to put a bad outing out of your head and accentuate the positive. It’s another to be in total denial. Joe Girardi’s evaluation of Kennedy’s performance was that he got in bad counts with runners on base, forcing him to throw gimme strikes, and that he was leaving his pitches up in the zone. Said Girardi, “You have to make quality pitches on a consistent basis if you want to pitch deep into games and win ballgames,” implying that Kennedy did not do that last night. In the YES booth, Ken Singleton and David Cone commented on Kennedy’s failure to mix up location or make much of any use of his curveball. Apparently, Kennedy’s not going to worry about any of that, though.

So, is Phil Hughes ready yet?

The Yankees are 5-7 since opening the second half with an eight-game winning streak and have lost the first two games of each of their last three series, including last weekend’s four-game set against the Angels at the Stadium. Then again, they rallied to earn four-game splits in their last two series, and given the Angels’ .644 winning percentage on the road, splitting four against them in the Bronx was perfectly acceptable.

Facing a three-game set in Anaheim this weekend, the Yankees don’t have the option of a split. For all of the Angels’ success on the road, the Halos still have a .600 winning percentage at home and are 11-3 in Anaheim since July 1. The Yankees righted their ship against the Angels last weekend by dropping a six-spot on Jered Weaver, who starts again tonight, but Weaver’s home ERA is more than a run lower than his road mark and his home run and walk rates are way down in his home park.

This series will be a real test for the Yankees, but the biggest test will be for tonight’s starter, Ian Kennedy. Kennedy’s already been tested quite a bit this season, by his manager, who challenged the young righty to throw strikes during his early season struggles, by the organization, which farmed him out to triple-A in early May when he failed to meet Girardi’s challenge (7.61 BB/9 in his first six games), and by the team doctors after he left his third start following his recall with what proved to be an oblique strain.

Kennedy returned to action at the end of June with a pair of dominant rehab outings in the low minors and has since made seven appearances (six starts) for triple-A Scranton, posting a 2.60 ERA and walking just 3.08 men per nine innings, an exact match of his minor league walk rate last year. In his last four starts for Scranton he has compiled this line: 27 IP, 14 H, 4 R, 5 BB, 20 K, 3-0, 1.33 ERA, 0.70 WHIP.

Given his struggles in the majors at the start of the year and his 0-3 record on the season, it’s easy to forget that Kennedy did turn in two quality starts in his seven opportunities, both games the Yankees went on to win after his departure. Still, the gap between Kennedy’s minor league dominance (career: 17-5, 1.90 ERA, 214 K in 203 1/3 IP) and his pitching in the majors earlier this year was wide and more than a little bothersome.

After straining his oblique at the end of May, Kennedy was replaced in the rotation by Joba Chamberlain. With Chamberlain on the DL due to rotator cuff tendonitis, Kennedy is being given his third chance to establish himself in the Yankee rotation. Beating Weaver and the Angels tonight while keeping his walks down would be a huge victory, not only for the team, but for Kennedy, who needs to stand atop major league mounds with the same confidence and command he’s shown throughout his brief minor league career.

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This isn’t the first time Jered Weaver and Ian Kennedy have faced each other.  Rich Lederer saw them during their college days, back in 2004.

The intrepid Pete Abraham has the latest injury reports on Phil Hughes, Joba Chamberlain and Godzilla Matsui.

In other news, Brian Giles will not be a Red Sox.

Feel free to schmooze.

Yanks looking to pimp their ride in L.A. tonight.  Never is easy for them against the Angels, but man, wouldn’t it be nice if they go out and actually win this series?

When it comes to individual achievements, there is nothing that would make me happier than to see Mike Mussina win twenty games this season.  I don’t think his Hall of Fame candidacy should rest on whether he wins twenty or not, though I’m sure some of the voters would disagree.  But regardless of how things pan out–and knowing Mussina’s luck, he’ll end up with eighteen or nineteen wins–it’s been a remarkable comeback season for Moose.  So writes Craig Brown over at The Hardball Times.

By Will Weiss

A few quick hits for the week, as the Yankees head to Anaheim for another big series against the “Whatever You Want To Call Them Tonight” Angels, as Paul O’Neill calls them:

* When the media has placed a skilled player on a pedestal, when said player becomes injured and it could affect a team’s playoff chances, the press makes a point to hammer that possibility. The Joba Chamberlain tendinitis coverage was surprisingly matter-of-fact and not panic-ridden. Even more surprising, Mike Lupica provided excellent analysis in his Wednesday column, proving that when he wants to concentrate on a piece, he can still write very well. Buster Olney was solid as usual, also.

* With Joba out and not much hope on the Chien-Ming Wang front, YES is showing a number of graphics tracing the progress of Phil Hughes and Carl Pavano in the minors. Relying on Pavano as providing any kind of support for the rotation this year is laughable. Hughes could be a wild card. I’d expect to see him soon, particularly if Darrell Rasner continues to pitch his way out of a job. Mike Mussina is the team’s only reliable starter, especially given Andy Pettitte’s situation and the perceived lack of confidence in Ian Kennedy.

* It took Brett Fav-ruh to knock the Joba coverage to the deeper pages of the local sports sections. For all you Jets fans reading this, I hope the Favre era Jets are more Joe Montana leading the Chiefs than Joe Namath as a Ram or Emmitt Smith as a Cardinal. I had to choke at the thought of Chad Pennington potentially becoming a Ram. I may relinquish my fandom if that happened.

* I am a fan of Ken Singleton, as a broadcaster and a person. But sometimes, he drops some weird quotes on us unsuspecting YES viewers. Recounting a conversation he had with someone on the Rangers’ staff regarding the strength of the Texas Rangers’ lineup (I apologize for not recalling the exact person), Singleton said, “They’re not guess hitters. They just see the ball and hit it.” … Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that the definition of a guess hitter?

* Speaking of guess hitters, Alex Rodriguez is becoming more and more disappointing to watch. His 0-for-14 performance in Texas was atrocious. He looked out of balance, out of sync, and completely fooled by even mediocre pitchers. Even when he’s on a tear, I get the sense that opposing managers aren’t afraid to let him beat them, because the pitchers can follow this pattern: fastball up and in; changeup, slider down and away. In three of the last six games I’ve watched, A-Rod struck out looking on fastballs down the middle three different times. If A-Rod had the plate coverage of a Vladimir Guerrero, who is another guess hitter but because he can hit the ball out of the park even if you throw it at his head, he’d be scary. I wish the broadcasters would have the gumption to call A-Rod out on his approach, or even go so far as to say he’s guessing up there.

* Although his Civil War reenactment is over, for the balance of this year, I’m referring to Jason Giambi as “Jason Giambi’s Moustache.” It’s too good to pass up.

Until next week …

Apparently the recipe for a pitchers duel is to have Mike Mussina face Scott Feldman. Feldman beat Moose 2-1 in the Bronx at the end of June. Last night, Mussina returned the favor, tossing seven shutout innings as the Yankees pulled out a 3-0 win and a series split in Arlington. It was the first time the Rangers had been shutout at home all year. The last game at the Ballpark in Arlington to end with three or fewer runs scored was a May Day duel between Sidney Ponson and Zack Greinke, which the Rangers won 2-1. The only game since that was close saw Feldman beat Greg Smith and the A’s 4-0 on May 9.

Derek Jeter gave Mussina all the runs he’d need with a solo homer in the first of Feldman. Johnny Damon singled home Wilson Betemit in the fifth to double the Yankee lead, and Jeter singled Betemit home in the ninth to set the final score. Both times Betemit scored after replacing Robinson Cano on base via a fielder’s choice on a comebacker to the mound.

Betemit’s trip around the bases in the ninth was particularly interesting. Cano doubled off Jamey Wright to start the inning. Betemit then grounded back to Wright, who caught Cano off second and got him in a rundown as Betemit reached first safely on the fielder’s choice. Jose Molina then hit a sinking liner to second base. Betemit thought the ball was going to be caught, so he retreated to first, but Ian Kinsler took a step back and let the ball drop before fielding and flipping to rookie first baseman Chris Davis. Davis instinctualy stepped on the bag only to be surprised to see Betemit already standing there. Unfortunately for the Rangers, by stepping on the bag, Davis retired Molina and removed the force on Betemit, who was then called safe when Davis attempted to tag him out. Singles by Damon and Jeter then plated Betemit with the final Yankee run.

Said Mussina after the game, “You get some breaks sometimes. I’ve never seen a ground ball that the guy doesn’t run from first and he’s safe, stays there and is safe, and then we end up getting two hits and scoring a run. I’ve never seen that.”

Mussina also got a break in the sixth when Marlon Byrd, who had doubled with one out, strayed too far off second on a comebacker to the mound. Mussina whirled and ran right at Byrd forcing him toward Alex Rodriguez, who took the throw from Mussina and caught Byrd retreating for the second out. Brandon Boggs, who had hit the comebacker, likely expected a longer rundown and was on his way to second as Byrd was tagged out. Rodriguez then flipped to Cano, who tagged Boggs for the final out of the inning (making it all the more surprising that Cano was similarly caught off second base on that ninth-inning comebacker).

By his own admission, Mussina didn’t have his best stuff, but he got the outs he needed to keep the Rangers from scoring. The sixth was one of three innings that ended in a double play as Mussina scattered eight hits and walked one. In fact, each of Mussina’s first six innings ended in either a double play or a strikeout with a runner in scoring position. His only 1-2-3 inning was his last. After Byrd and Boggs were doubled up in the sixth, however, the Rangers didn’t get another men on base, as the Yankee bullpen was perfect in relief of Mussina, with Brian Bruney and Damaso Marte splitting the eighth inning, and Mariano Rivera picking up his 28th save in as many chances.

The win was the 265th of Mussina’s career and the 15th of his season, marking the eleventh season in his 18-year career that he’s reached that total, and the fifth time in his eight seasons with the Yankees. If he stays healthy, Mussina will make nine more starts this year.

Of the seven four-game series the Yankees have completed this year, six have been splits (the other was a 1-3 loss to the Rays in May). With a win tonight, the Yankees will make it seven of eight. The good news is that there’s just one four-game series left on their schedule.

The Yankees have the right man on the mound for the job tonight, as Mike Mussina looks to pick up his 15th win of the season. Moose won 15 or more games in nine of the 12 seasons from 1992 to 2003, but has won 15 just once since then. If he stays healthy, he’ll have nine more starts after tonight to see just how high he can get his win total this year.

Opposing Mussina is Scott Feldman, who beat Mussina in the Rangers’ 2-1 victory at the Stadium on June 30. The only Yankee run of that game came on an Alex Rodriguez solo homer off Feldman in the fourth inning. Fortunately, runs have been more plentiful in the Texas heat (the average score in this series thus far has been 6.7-5.3 Rangers). Even better, the Yankees are averaging 6.2 runs per game in the second half to go with their .632 winning percentage since the break. All of that syncs up nicely with the fact that Feldman isn’t that good (6.67 ERA and 11 Ks against 16 walks in his five starts since facing the Yankees).

With Ivan Rodriguez nursing the knee he bruised in last night’s home plate collision with David Murphy, Jose Molina’s turn as Mussina’s personal catcher is well timed. He’s joined in the lineup by Wilson Betemit, who will give Derek Jeter a half-day off by manning shortstop while the Captain DHes. With the DH spot again used in that manner, Johnny Damon will start in center for the second day in a row while Melky Cabrera rides pine for the fourth straight game. Rodriguez hopes to be back in the linup tomorrow.

As for Murphy, he’s on the DL with a strained posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) in his right knee. Brandon Boggs will likely replace him in left field, as he did last night. Jason Ellison, a marginal righty-hitting outfielder who spent time with the Mariners last year, replaces Murphy on the roster. Also, for those who missed it, displaced Rangers closer C.J. Wilson was placed on the DL after Tuesday night’s game due to bone spurs in his pitching elbow. He was replaced by Joaquin Benoit, who was activated off the DL and pitched in last night’s game. Eddie Guardado, who picked up the save on Tuesday night, appears to be the team’s new closer.

The latest on Joba…

So maybe I owe Sidney Ponson an ap– … an apol– …nope, can’t make myself write it. But to be fair, I might’ve been a little hard on Sir Sidney. After all, I’ve been mocking Ponson ever since the Rangers released him (or, okay, technically, I’ve been mocking him since about 2005), but he’s managed to be mostly on the right side of mediocre for the Yankees this year, and that’s a lot more than I expected. He was solid again last night as the Yankees beat the Rangers 5-3.

With that said… we all know Ponson’s been lucky this year, but did you know just how lucky? Really, really lucky: Ponson has gotten more run support than any other Major Leaguer with 60+ innings pitched this season, 7.34 runs per game. There’s really no such thing as karma, is there?

Anyway, when Ponson loaded the bases with nobody out in the second inning last night, I suspect I wasn’t alone in assuming an implosion was imminent. Two runs scored on Chris Davis’ single, but with two outs, David Murphy tried to score on an Ian Kinsler singler and was called out at home thanks to a vintage block by Pudge Rodriguez. Catchers block home plate all the time, of course, but Rodriguez really BLOCKED home plate, setting up several feet in front of it just as the ball arrived, and he took the full brunt of Murphy’s weight. Both players lay stunned for a couple of minutes; Murphy was pulled an inning later, while Rodriguez came out immediately with a bruised knee.

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The Yanks beat the Rangers 5-3 tonight, a game that featured a memorable collison at the plate.  Derek Jeter came up big; Mo looked good in the 9th and got the save.  We’ll have more on the game in the a.m.  And more on the good news from Dr. James Andrews.  Looks like Joba’s injury isn’t dire.  Chamberlain was placed on the 15-day DL.

In the meantime, Brett Favre has been traded to the J-E-T-S, JetsJetsJets.  That’s enough to make you go, Whoa. 

This is so Cool.  My autumn just got a whole lot more entertaining.