Yanks Fall to BoSox 6-4, Posada Out

In a game that lacked any of the usual intensity of Yanks-Red Sox due to the 2 1/2 hour rain delay, and some justifiably outraged fans not being let back in the stadium,the Yanks lost he game and more importantly, their catcher last night.

Hughes had a shaky outing, allowing 4 runs and 11 baserunners in 4 innings. But he gets a pass because he was getting squeezed all night by home plate umpire Jerry Meals. I’m generally not one to complain about umpires strike zones, they’re usually the same for both sides. But that wasn’t the case last night. Lester consistently got calls that Hughes did not. When Jose Molina and Derek Jeter are complaining about it, you know its something unusual. Girardi wound up getting ejected in the bottom of the 5th protecting Jeter. Check out these post game comments:

The argument quickly resulted in Girardi’s ejection.

Girardi would not discuss it afterward. But Jeter, Molina and the Yankees’ starter, Phil Hughes, indicated they thought the umpire was more generous with his calls toward the veteran Boston starter Jon Lester than he was toward the youthful Hughes.

“I can’t give you more than that, it’s not going to be the last time he’s umpiring,” Jeter said. “It’s a no-win situation when you talk about the umpires.”

Molina said, “To blame it on the umpire would be a bad thing for me to say. Other people can say it, but I won’t.”

Hughes took a similar approach.

“You want to get pitcher’s pitches,” Hughes said. “It sometimes seemed like I was behind in the count.” When asked whether he and Molina had displayed their frustration, Hughes said, “I think I did a little bit, but I’m not sure how it looked.”

That’s about as much as you’ll ever get out of those three, so I think we can all read between the lines there.

That wasn’t Girardi’s first outburst, though. He got into it with BoSox 1B coach Tim Bogar as well, whom he suspected (correctly) of giving away the catchers position. What followed was one of those great inside the game sequences for those of us paying attention:

Youkilis is fouling off pitch after pitch by Hughes. Sox 1B coach is apparently giving him some sort of indication where the catcher is positioned, which Girardi picks up on. Girardi starts yelling at Bogar to knock it off, who yells back. So what happens next? Molina sets up on the outside part of the plate and Hughes drops a curve on the inside corner for a strike, which Molina called for and was expecting. This TOTALLY crosses up Kevin Youkilis and he strikes out swinging. Nice work there by Joe.

But despite winning that little battle the Yanks lost the war and even worse, their starting catcher and one of their hottest bats. Posada felt a grabbing in his hamstring in the 8th inning and was pulled for Matsui. Even if its a minor grade 1 strain, expect him to hit the DL.  If its any consolation, Keven Youkilis also left the game with back spasms in the 6th.

Weather permitting its Joba vs Beckett tonight, with the Yanks still looking for their first win of the year against the Sox.