Blue Jays continue to stifle Yankee offense, win 3-2 in 14 innings

Andy Pettitte came to play a day after the Yankees got trounced by Toronto, but 7 2/3 stellar innings of two run, 10-strikeout ball — not to mention 5 1/3 of scoreless work out of the bullpen — wasn’t enough to overcome the unwelcome continuing return of Worst Offense Ever (trademark RLYW) as the Yanks fell to the Blue Jays 3-2 in 14 innings.

The Yanks looked like they might pull out a close one after Derek Jeter‘s two-run home run put them ahead by one in the fifth, but that was all they’d get. Alex Gonzalez hit a solo shot — incredibly, his 12th of the year — to tie the game in the 7th. I don’t care what the Jays fans who came over here to talk smack have to say about their team, there is no chance anyone in Toronto expected a guy with a .400 career SLG to be at over .500 on June 5. To the Yanks’ credit, the pitching held tough through five extra frames before finally losing the game in the 14th.

Much credit goes to the Toronto pitching staff, who did a phenomenal job of quieting the Yankees’ league-leading offense for the second straight game. Starter Ricky Romero threw 8 innings of two-run ball, as the bullpen shut the door on the Bombers for six(!) more innings.

Lots of blame to go around offensively for this one — Alex Rodriguez and Robinson Cano each went 1-6, although the goat of the game would have to be the seemingly eternally struggling Mark Teixeira. Tex went 0-6 and left four runners on, including a big strikeout on the top of the 10th to end the inning with two runners on.

I’m tired of making excuses for Tex, and at this point I don’t understand how a player with his track record is having such a poor year. The only reason more hasn’t been made of Tex’s struggles is because the team has been (mostly) winning, but a .323 wOBA out of the three-hole is just not getting the job done. I know there’s been talk of moving him down in the order but that it might upset him, but that’s just silliness — if Joe Girardi feels it will help the team and help Tex break out of this season-long slump, then Tex will have to put his ego aside and cry himself to sleep on his mountain of money if it means he starts hitting again.

The Yankees now have to try to avoid a sweep behind a pitcher who has not only been the team’s worst starter, but one who gives up a ridiculous amount of home runs against a team that hits a ridiculous amount of home runs. With Javier Vazquez on the mound, I predict the Sunday afternoon contest is not gonna be pretty.

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