Game 151: Recap

So last night I liveblogged an entire Yankee game for the first time since last May. Good times ensued, and several players even stopped by, including last night’s starter, Andy Pettitte. How Pettitte was able to toss a quality start while simultaneously commenting on a random Yankee website is beyond me, but still very impressive.

Anyway, the Yankees lost last night’s affair 5-2, in a game which the usually patient Yankees allowed Angel starter Joe Saunders to pitch into the 9th inning. The team’s approach was clearly first-pitch swinging, and it looked like the strategy might work way back in the top of the 1st, but Saunders would get out of trouble and end up allowing almost no runs outside of solo home runs by A-Rod and Matsui. Otherwise the Yankees barely made Saunders work, and as a result the game flew by in a very un-Yankee like two hours and a half.

The Angels took advantage of a shaky Andy Pettitte in the first, plating two runs, but Pettitte really settled in afterward and ended up turning in a quality start. Brian Bruney and Jon Albalaedejo each gave up a run, allowing the Angels to put the game just far enough out of reach. A 3-2 game in the top of the 9th may have been a slightly different story with Brian Fuentes on the mound instead of 5-2. And so the Yankees fell to 5-18 in their last 23 games at Angel Stadium, which means the Yankees essentially turn into the Baltimore Orioles playing the Boston Red Sox when traveling out to Anaheim.

Entering this series I’d hoped the Yankees could steal two of 3, but with Gaudin going tonight and Burnett on Wednesday, now I just hope the team doesn’t get swept in Anaheim again. Unfortunately that seems increasingly likely, as the Angels just do not lose to the Yankees in their home park.

Highlights from last night’s liveblog

“I know the Red Sox don’t lose anymore, but how come every time I check MLB.com for the score it’s always a Boston highlight and never the team they’re playing?”

“And Posada smacks a base hit.”
“Can’t wait to strand him on base.”

“Of course that walk is followed up with a base hit by a guy batting .200.”

“The Yankees have spent what feels like a total of 10 minutes at bat over the course of 6 innings.”

“Cano, to the surprise of absolutely nobody, swings at the first pitch, and drives it foul.”

“I bet that [death bed-ridden cancer patient] was pumped that one of the last things he ever did was film one of the most disturbing commercials of all time.”

“Morales crushes a solo shot to RF — this comes, of course, after Kay and Singleton spend approximately 800 years talking about how badly Morales has been slumping.”

“The crowd starts chanting ‘Yankees suck.’ I can’t argue with them.”

“And that does it, yet another loss for the Yankees in Anaheim. Not sure why they will even bother to play the next two nights– Girardi would be better served forfeiting to give everyone a couple extra days of rest.”

“At least the Royals somehow came back from a 6-0 deficit to improbably beat the Red Sox.”

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