Source: FanGraphs
The Yankees have let the Red Sox come into their building and just about push them out of the playoff picture this weekend. New York’s skeleton crew pitching staff stood no chance against a Boston lineup that was still ridiculously deep and dangerous even though like, three regulars were resting. The Sawx have a better offense, a better rotation, a better bullpen, a better bench, better young players, better veterans, better pretty much everything. Except facial hair. They are a truly ugly team. Anyway, let’s recap the 13-9 shellacking:
- Huffed Out: So it turns out three long relief appearances against a last place teams wasn’t a sign David Huff had turned a corner. The Red Sox pounded the left-hander for nine runs on eight hits (only two singles) in just 3.2 innings on Saturday, which is only slightly worse than what he had been doing for the Indians in recent years. Amazing they a) managed to replace Phil Hughes with an even worse pitcher, and b) actually started Huff in a very important September game against a division rival.
- Generic White Guys: Overall, three Yankees pitchers threw 174 total pitches, allowed 13 runs on 14 hits, and got only ten and swings and misses. The just called up Jim Miller was terrible, allowing three runs in 1.1 innings. Brett Marshall spared the rest of the injured riddled staff by allowing one run — the obligatory Mike Napoli homer, of course — in 4.1 innings. He’s been the pitching bright spot in this series, sadly.
- Nine Runs Wasn’t Enough: For the first time in AL history (!), a team scored at least eight runs in three straight games and lost all three. That team was the Yankees. They scored nine runs on Saturday, including four in the sixth against a tired John Lackey. Lyle Overbay (one-run single), Robinson Cano (one-run single), Ichiro Suzuki (one-run double), Brett Gardner (two-run double), Derek Jeter (one-run single), Alfonso Soriano (one-run single), and Mark Reynolds (two-run double) did the damage. New York was down nine runs before the offense did anything meaningful. Too little, too late.
- Leftovers: The Yankees have allowed at least nine runs in three straight games for the first time since June 2002, when all three of those games were played in Coors Field … Gardner was the best offensive performer of the day, going 2-for-3 with a walk … the Yankees actually went 7-for-18 (.389) with runners in scoring position and scored five of their nine runs with two outs … Curtis Granderson laid down a bunt in an effort to beat the shift with a man on and nobody out in the second inning. That’s silly. Swing the damn bat that early in the game.
MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs the other stats, and ESPN the standings. The Yankees are now two back of the Orioles in the loss column and could be two back of the Indians as well if they beat the Mets. Depending on the late game, New York will either be three back (Rays lose) or four back (Rays win) of the second wildcard spot with 20 games to play. Cool Standings has their playoff odds at 7.4%. Running out of time (and pitchers). Hiroki Kuroda and Jon Lester is Sunday afternoon’s pitching matchup. Check out RAB Tickets if you want to catch the game live.
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