Unbelievably Frustrating Loss, Again

Dan Giese brought his A game and looked like a champ for 6 innings. Veras gave up a few and then Ramirez blew it wide open. The book on Ramirez is that good hitters can take advantage of him and he needs to get his other pitches working. If not, he suffers from Farnsworthitis, giving up lots of big hits deep.

Oh well. A few bad calls by Girardi, a horrible outing by Ramirez and a wasted solid performance by Giese. Another feather in the Yankees caps this year. I certainly hope none of the players on today's losing team feel bad about their play. Girardi made it clear that being pleased with poor performances is OK.

Joe has made quite a in-game time decisions that I didn't like. The most important thing, however, is that he can't find a way to get the team to win. The team had one decent winning streak all season and too many losing streaks.

I think it's time to shift perspective on the season. This is not a championship team, for several reasons.

1. Too many injuries. Hughes, Wang, Chamberlain from the starting rotation. Numerous bats gone for short to long periods.

2. Lack of consistency. Cano and Giambi have played well in the middle of the season, but where were they at the beginning? Every position has had it's ups and downs. Mussina had some rocky outings before settling down. Relief pitching has really been a roll of the dice at times.

3. Lack of heart. Too many leads have been blown, too many games have been lost by one point, and too few come from behind wins point to a listless club.

4. Joe Girardi isn't a championship caliber manager. He's no Torre. Joe G has done little to get the team motivated, to effectively manage players, or make good calls in game. I know he'll get a pass this year, but next year, he's on the hotseat starting day one.

Back Above .500

It took extra innings, but the Yankees toughed out an exciting win last night. The winning pitcher? Ross Ohlendorf. Joe Girardi brought Ross to pitch the 10th and 11th innings and the struggling reliever walked 2, gave up 2 hits, and struck out 4 all the while allowing no runs. Granted Joe didn't have a lot of other options, but it looks like he's still got faith in the young pitcher.

Notably absent in both Friday and Saturday's games was LaTroy Hawkins, who looks to be in the doghouse and won't be called on in close spots. Kyle Farnsworth, on the other hand, has been brought in two nights in a row. The YES announcers commented on how Torre never used to use Kyle two days in a row and were hesitant as to how he'd perform. On Friday he gave up a quick run to close a 2-run lead to a 1-run lead. Last night he quickly got all three batters out.

Veras and Ramirez both continue to look good and are the heart of the Yankees middle relief right now. I'd take either of them over Farnsworth in the set-up role, but Girardi has been a longtime Farnsworth fan and that doesn't look like it's going to change any time soon.

Neither of the starters looked particularly sharp, but both Wang and Mussina managed to get through the bulk of the innings with the score close, and sometimes, that's all you can ask.

Bobby Abreu has been the offensive star the last two games, going 2 for 5 and then 3 for 4.

There has been a bit of sloppy play lately, and errors and bad plays that could be scored as errors are starting to creep into the mix more and more. Alex Rodriguez got picked off of second base after stealing it, and a similar thing happened to Derek Jeter a few days back. Last night's game had an errant throw by Jeter that cost the team a run and the night before Shelley Duncan had an error.

Shelley Duncan is a fun guy to watch. He brings a great deal of enthusiasm to the game and is good for bench morale. Unfortunately, he really hasn't improved his game much over the last year. He's hitting .161 and is playing average defense at best. He really hasn't turned out to be much of an improvement defensively over the lumbering Giambi and hasn't come close to the offensive production, despite the fact that Giambi was in a huge slump.

I like Shelly and would like to see him stick around, but he's got work to do. He might last a bit longer than Ensberg, but he's going to have to start bringing something more to the table if he wants to be successful in the big leagues.

Clutch hitting by Yankees

The Yankees were down 5-2 to start the bottom of the 8th inning.  Jeter walks, Abreu drives in a run with a double. A-Rod walks, Giambi strikes out and Matsui comes in to pinch hit for Duncan. With a weak hit to the pitcher, Matsui hustles down the first base line and the throw to first is off the mark, allowing Abreu to score. Robbie Cano hits a sac fly to score A-Rod and then Molina hits a double to score Matsui, putting the Yankees up 6-5.

With a little help from the errant throw, the Yankees put together a solid inning of offense when they needed it. While Matsui could have been thrown out, give him credit for hustling to first to force the off-target throw. The Yankees got the hits when they needed and put the game in the win column despite an off day for Wang. If they can continue to play like this, the rest of the season could be interesting. Wang will have better days but it's nice to see the team pull out a victory even when the pitching staff is off their game.

Edwar Ramirez pitched 1.2 innings and hasn't allowed a run all year. Mariano Rivera came in to pitch the 9th and struck out two, retiring the side in order for the save. Things looked iffy for a second there as Kyle Farnsworth was warming up in the 8th, but after the Yankees took the lead Mo was the go-to guy. The idea of bringing in the Farns in a close game is a little scary, as he hasn't shown he can be reliable in tight situations. Ramirez looks sharp and could also be a candidate for the setup job later in the season.