Today’s loss was all about physical errors. Ramiro Pena misplayed two grounders (the second one jumped on him a bit and hit the heel of his glove), Mariano Rivera walked Jason Bay with two outs to start the ninth inning rally, and Luis Ayala put two of the three men he faced on base without forcing them to swing the bat. Boone Logan came in and essentially got out of the inning (though Carlos Beltran struck out on a total hanger, got away with one), but Pena didn’t take care of business behind him.
“[We] move forward,” said Joe Girardi after the game, “we still won the series.” The skipper isn’t going to go out of his way to talk to Pena about what happened, and his outlook was essentially that: move forward. The Yankees just lost their first game in a week and a half because Rivera blew a save, not exactly a regular occurrence. It sucks, but they’re not going to dwell on it and frankly I’m not either. They’re playing too well. It happens.
- As for Phil Hughes, he will in fact start Wednesday and the Yankees only considered two options to accommodate him: a six-man rotation and demoting Ivan Nova to Triple-A. The bullpen wasn’t a consideration for Nova because it takes him a too long to warm up and also because (hypocrite alert!) it wasn’t the best thing for his development. He’ll start for Triple-A Scranton and focus on his slider and changeup. “He handled it like a man, a professional,” said Girardi when asked how Nova took the news.
- No official plan for Derek Jeter because Double-A Trenton hasn’t played. They were in a rain delay earlier and should be starting the game right about now, I believe. Girardi hopes Eduardo Nunez’s hamstring will be well enough to play tomorrow, should he be needed.
- Girardi argued when Russell Martin was tagged out in that seventh inning run down because he didn’t think he was tagged. Third base ump Brian Knight told him the tag was applied, Girardi asked him to get help, then second base ump Jerry Layne told him Martin was out of the baseline. Okay then.
- Apparently the Yankees were originally told the game was going to start at 4pm ET, then at 2pm ET they were told they were starting at 2:30pm ET. That’s why Freddy Garcia was still warming up when the Mets took the field. The umpires and Terry Collins were aware that he needed the extra time.
- Mark Teixeira is not going to participate in the Homerun Derby and assumed he wasn’t going to make the actual All-Star Team because of the talent at first base. Can’t say I blame him for wanting to spending the time off with his family and not making the long flight for the one event.
- If anyone cares, Jose Reyes is day-to-day with a Grade I hamstring injury. No timetable, it’s just a wait-and-see thing. He felt great this morning though. Basically the best case for the Mets. As for R.A. Dickey, he originally hurt his glute in batting practice a few days ago. Wooo NL baseball.
That’s pretty much it. The Yankees are off to Cleveland now and I assume Jeter will be there to meet them, barring something unexpected in Trenton. The loss sucked, especially since it was to the stupid Mets and I’ll have to listen to my stupid family about it for at least one day, but they weren’t going undefeated the rest of the season. I refuse to get worked up over the end of a seven game win streak.The Dodgers and Angels will play tonight on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball (Billingsley vs. Santana), so watch that and forget all about this game. Talk about that or anything else here.