Yankees mount five-run comeback, lose anyway

Almost, almost. It looked like it would be a blowout early on, but the Yankees fought back valiantly to tie things up before losing the battle of the bullpens. I’m not sure how often that will happen, but two hits in six innings against Brett Tomko, Arthur Rhodes, Darren Oliver, and Neftali Feliz is facepalm worthy. Recap time? Recap time.

• Bartolo Colon just didn’t have it, though the velocity was there. That’s a good sign, it was just his command that betrayed him. He allowed five runs and nine hits in 4.1 IP, though almost all the damage was done in a four-run second inning. After three straight strong starts, Colon’s allowed a stinker. Three out of four ain’t bad at all.
• The Yankees charged back from that five-zip hole mostly in the third inning, when the biggest hit was Robinson Cano clearing the bases with a triple that was aided by Julio Borbon whiffing on a dive in center. Derek Holland walked five in a ten batter span, contributing to the rally.
• Derek Jeter actually had an extra base hit, and it was unquestionably his hardest and farthest hit ball of the season. It bounced off the wall in straight away left field. He also singled and made the final out of the game. Nick Swisher homered, both Curtis Granderson and Jorge Posada walked twice, Mark Teixeira singled twice, and Russell Martin made six outs in four plate appearances thanks to double plays.
• Boone Logan has been pretty terrible against left-handed batters this year, and two of the three he faced picked up hits. The third ripped a line drive to right that Swish ran down on his horse. Of the 25 lefties Logan’s faced this year, 11 have reached base. That’s awful. Get well soon, Pedro.
• Texas scored the go-ahead run on what Cyborg Tommy Hanson would call a NINNYBUNT, then they tacked on an insurance run on a Michael Young single back up the middle. I don’t get it, he was 3-for-3 to that point and has been killing the Yankees all year. Why do they insist on pitching to the other team’s best hitters in potentially dangerous spots with a base open? Oh well, at least it wasn’t the game-winning hit. Here’s the box score and video, and here’s the WPA graph.

Rubber game Sunday afternoon at 2pm ET. CC Sabathia will square off against Dave Bush. Alexi Ogando was supposed to start, but he’s been scratched with a blister issue. Dave Bush is certifiably terrible, but we know how that usually goes for the Yankees…