Source: FanGraphs
As far as walk-off losses go, that one was slightly less soul-crushing than the average. You could see it coming a mile away, especially after Joe Girardi declined to use David Robertson for a second inning (nine pitches!). Shawn Kelley ominously had trouble putting Juan Uribe (!) away before surrendering the winning losing hit to Mark Ellis in the ninth for the 3-2 defeat. The season isn’t young anymore; the Yankees really can’t afford to lose winnable games without their best pitchers on the mound.
New York didn’t do much offensively, wrote the blogger to no one’s surprise. Lyle Overbay drove in the team’s two runs with a solo homer (second inning) and a ground out (fourth). Eighteen of their final 19 batters made outs, which is something I feel like happens every other game. It’s like, once the pitcher gets through the lineup the first time and reads each swing, the Yankees don’t get anyone on base. Five hits, no walks, that’s it. Hopefully Wednesday’s trade deadline brings a new catcher and a new third baseman because the last 106 games tell me they might need some help there. Chris Stewart looks completely out of gas.
If there is good news, I guess it’s that Andy Pettitte actually pitched well. He’d been struggling big time since coming off the DL two months ago. The Dodgers scored runs in the first (two-out single by Hanley Ramirez) and the second (monster homer by Uribe (!)) before Andy fired off five zeroes and gave the team seven strong innings. He struck out three and got some scary fly ball outs to the warning track. It was only Pettitte’s second start of at least seven innings and no more than two runs in May 11th. Yikes.
For the box score and video highlights, head to MLB.com. FanGraphs has some other stats and ESPN has the updated standings. The Yankees are now eight back in the loss column in the division and three back of the second wildcard spot. There are four teams within three losses of that spot, not including the team who currently holds it. Anyway, it’ll be a matchup of aces on Wednesday night, when Hiroki Kuroda and Clayton Kershaw will wrap up this quick two-game series. That should be a blast.
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