Yanks play like little leaguers, fall to Toronto

Boy, was today a clunker, or what? The Yanks were absolutely putrid in the field, and frankly they deserved to lose this one. Let us count the botches …

1. Jerry Hairston Jr. makes a bad throw to first and pulls Mark Teixeira off the bag, scored an error.
2. Johnny Damon gets lost in the left field corner digging out a ball, scored a double, run scores.
3. Joe Girardi brings the infield in when they’re behind 2-0 in the first inning while playing on turf. What is he trying to accomplish? They’re on turf. Unless the ball is hit right at the defender, they’ve got no chance to make a play on it. Nevermind that it’s the first inning. Result: ball goes just beyond the reach of Derek Jeter, run scores anyway.
4. Robbie Cano botches the transfer on a route grounder to second, scored an error.
5. Nick Swisher loses a ball in the sun, scored a doubled.
6. Mark Teixeira misplays a hopper to his right, scored an error, run scores.
7. Edwin Encarnacion strikes out, but reaches base anyway on a wild pitch.
8. Jerry Hairston Jr. fields a grounder, looks at the runner going home, lolligags it over to first and Joe Inglett beats it out. Scored an infield hit, run scores.
9. Sergio Mitre walks a batter with the bases loaded. Run scores.
10. Mark Melancon walks a batter with the bases loaded. Another run scores.
11. Mark Melancon walks a batter with the bases loaded again. Another run scores.
12. Josh Towers hit Randy Ruiz in the face with a pitch with the bases loaded. Another run scores.
13. Melky Cabrera and Johnny Damon collide in left-centerfield, Damon miraculously holds on to the ball. Maybe that’s not a botch, but it shouldn’t happen.

Did I miss anything? Nick Swisher almost got hit by the barrel of a broken bat while in the on-deck circle, but that I think that’s it. Sergio Mitre didn’t get much help behind him, but that certainly doesn’t absolve him from any blame. He still allowed 11 hits and 2 walks while recording just 14 outs, and that’s just not getting it done. Luckily, it’s unlikely he’ll be on the postseason roster and the Yanks have a 7.5 run lead with 25 runs to go.

As for that whole bases loaded situation in the 5th inning, that’s just awful. You can’t allowed four runs to come around to score without making them ever take the bat of their shoulders. Melancon was shaky and went from nibbling to just straight up chuck-and-duck. Frankly, I’d rather see him come in and give up a grand slam in that spot than walk in two runs. I still think he’ll be a fine Major League reliever, but damn, that was ugly.

Melky Cabrera and Swisher knocked balls over the outfield wall, and Derek Jeter picked up three hits to bringing him that much closer to Lou Gehrig’s franchise record. That’s pretty much all you need to know about the offense. It’s not often you can score 8 runs and lose, but that’s exactly what happened. Luckily they’ll get the turn the page quickly and have a chance to pick up not one, but two wins tomorrow. CC Sabathia gets the ball in game one, AJ Burnett goes in game two. Should be a fun Labor Day.