Yanks Drop Finale To The Jays 8-5, Lose Series

At least it was nice out today

Today’s game was ugly. And if you think it was bad watching it on TV or listening to it on the radio, try being there at the Stadium and experiencing it in person like I did. It was just miserable. Plus, being seated in front of a child that did nothing but kick the back of my chair nearly the whole time, wasn’t very fun either. That added to the misery.

The Yankees needed CC Sabathia to step up and win the rubber of the series. That didn’t exactly go according to plan. And the thing is, he wasn’t terrible. Sabathia was more unlucky than bad today – lasting seven innings and giving up two earned runs.

Yes, the home run he gave up to Yunel Escobar in the sixth inning was a big blow but up until that point it was the only hard hit ball the Blue Jays had all day. Poor CC was BABIPed to death in the third when the Jays scored three runs with two outs in the inning.

The Yankee bullpen didn’t help matters, the three errors committed by Yankee infielders and misplays in the outfield also didn’t help. They were playing like drunken beer league softball players during some stretches of the game.

And because we can’t write a recap without mentioning the abysmal runners in scoring position numbers, I’ll use this space to mention them now: The Yankees were 3-17.

The Yankees allowed J.A. Happ to get into and out of trouble in the bottom of the fourth inning which seemed to be the kiss of death for the Yankees. After walking Jayson Nix to start and surrendering a double to Ichiro Suzuki, Happ was able to get Chris Stewart to pop out for the first out of the inning. The Jays intentionally walked Derek Jeter to load the bases and both Nick Swisher and Robinson Cano struck out ending the scoring threat.

With today’s loss, this weekend’s three-game set against the Baltimore Orioles becomes extremely important. When the heck was the last time we could say that a series in late August-early September with the Orioles, mattered for both teams? I think I was in my early 20′s the last time that happened (a.k.a a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.)

Follow Me On Twitter