Yanks outclassed by A’s again; lose 5-2

Source: FanGraphs

I’m not quite sure what can be said about the Yankees offense that hasn’t already been repeated ad nauseum. It’s terrible and the it doesn’t give the team much of a chance to win. New York was again completely overmatched in their 5-2 loss to Athletics on Wednesday. Let’s recap:

• Hughesless: For the fifth time in 13 starts, Phil Hughes was unable to complete five innings of work. He walked a season-high five — previous high was two — in 4.1 innings as the Athletics fouled off pitch after pitch and worked deep count after deep count. Brandon Moss hit the #obligatoryhomer (two-run shot) and John Jaso chipped in an RBI double to account for the three runs. Hughes has morphed into A.J. Burnett this year, with a Good Phil and a Bad Phil. Good luck guessing which one shows up for a given start.
• Offense: Thanks to their token two runs on Wednesday night, the Yankees have now scored a dozen runs in their last 51 offensive innings. That dates back to the six-run inning against Aaron Harang in the series opener against the Mariners. If the Yankees offense was a pitcher, it would have a 2.12 ERA during that time. Mark Teixeira (sac fly) and Jayson Nix (ground ball single) accounted for the two runs, but otherwise they put just one other runner in scoring position. That man was stranded after pinch-hitter for the pinch-hitter Chris Stewart struck out to end the seventh. At one point A’s starter Dan Straily retired 15 of 16 batters faced. Not even competitive.
• Leftovers: Joba Chamberlain allowed two runs (Moss solo homer, Jaso single) in the eighth to effectively put the game to bed … Boone Logan walked his first left-handed batter of the year while Preston Claiborne walked his first batter overall. Had he survived the outing, he would have set a record for the most walk-less appearances to start a career in baseball history … the pitching staff allowed nine walks overall, which is crazy considering they came into the game with the lowest walk rate in the league … Brett Gardner’s hitting streak ended at eight games with an 0-for-3 (plus a walk) … the entire offense for the game was four singles, two walks, and one hit batsman … for the first time since 2006, the Yankees have gone five straight games without hitting a homer. Embarrassing.

For the box score and video highlights, go to MLB.com. For the non-traditional stats, go to FanGraphs. For the updated standings, go to ESPN. The Orioles lost and the Red Sox beat the Rays, so the Yankees are two back of Boston, one up on Baltimore, and two up on Tampa in the loss column. Hiroki Kuroda gets the ball against Jarrod Parker in the series finale on Thursday afternoon.