Another day, another ugly loss. It's tough to know whether the Yankees offense was stopped dead by an effective Jered Weaver or if the Yankees are just really bad right now. The Angels ace went eight innings, striking out seven batters, allowing six hits, one walk, and, most importantly, only one run.
David Phelps competed with Weaver and held his own against the Angels for 5.1 innings. He wasn't great, but he was rather effective by striking out three, walking one, allowing three hits and only one run. The Angels scored the first run of the game in the fifth inning when Howie Kendrick hit a triple that raddled around the right field wall and Ichiro Suzuki let it ricochet past him. Ian Stewart grounded out on the next play to score the first run of the game. Adam Warren replaced Phelps in the sixth and went on to pitch 1.2 innings, allowing a hit and striking out a batter.
The offense was kept completely inept against Weaver with one hit from Derek Jeter and a walk from Tex over the first six innings. The Yankees didn't get their next hit until the seventh inning when Jeter doubled down the left field line. Jacoby Ellsbury grounded out to move Jeter to third and Mark Teixeira knocked him in with a single to finally break through against Weaver. The run tied the game 1–1, but it also tied Jeter with Tris Speaker for 11th place on the all-time runs scored list with 1,882.
The Yankees challenged Weaver again in the eighth when they loaded the bases on singles from Kelly Johnson, Brian Roberts, and a bunt base hit from Ichiro. Then we went nuclear. Joe Girardi got heated after a questionable strike call against Brett Gardner. The Yankees manager went into berserker mode, got ejected for arguing balls and strikes, and then stayed out there for a few minutes to give home plate umpire Laz Diaz a piece of his mind.
Unfortunately, Gardner then went on to strikeout and Derek Jeter grounded into a double play to end a bases loaded, no-outs situation without scoring a run.
After the Yankees offense failed, so did the pitching. It started when Shawn Kelley came in and walked Collin Cowgill; innocent enough. After getting to two outs, he was ordered to intentionally walk Albert Pujols and then he lost the strike zone. He walked Raul Ibanez and Howie Kendrick to force in a run and make it a 2–1 game. Kelley was taken out of (and then promptly ejected from) the game for Matt Thornton, who then walked John McDonald to add another run. Preston Claiborne was brought in and he walked in a run too before it finally ended. If you want to keep track at home, that's a rally comprised of six straight walks and nothing else.
The Yankees' defense was pretty bad as well. Ichiro made two misplays in one inning; the aforementioned blunder with the ball along the wall, and a fly ball that he completely misjudged which landed several feet in front of him. Mark Teixeira also allowed a ground ball to bounce directly through his legs for an error. That's actually already his fourth error of the season, a mark he hasn't gone over since 2008. To give you the most crystal clearest of pictures, they stunk all over. If you missed this game because you were sleeping and/or sane, consider yourself a winner.
Sign of a true professional:
