A Tale Of Two Games

Two games. Identical 7-6 scores. Boston was outhit by Baltimore in both games. Boston had an error in both games.

Boston won the game on Saturday. Boston lost the game on Sunday. But there was very little difference between the two.

Tighten Up That Defense

With the non-waiver trade deadline in its last few hours, I'm going to keep this brief. The Mariners have already traded Jarrod Washburn today to the Tigers for pitcher Luke French and another pitching prospect.

Sometimes you're going to get beat and that's OK. But it's hard to accept a loss when your defense gives the game away, as it did in the Yankees' 3-2 loss to the White Sox at Chicago Thursday. The Yankees are now 2-1/2 games ahead of the Red Sox in the AL East.

After the Yankees tied the score at 1 on Johnny Damon's one-out single in the sixth, the defense fell apart.

The White Sox grabbed the lead back in the seventh when Andy Pettitte slipped on the grass while trying to pick up a dribbler for an error. After Paul Konerko struck out, A.J. Pierzynski hit a grounder to third that Alex Rodriguez let deflect off his glove for a "single."

Phil Hughes then came on and got Carlos Quentin to hit a double play grounder to third, but Robinson Cano couldn't get off a good relay, the wild throw diving into the dirt and past Mark Teixeira at for for an error allowing Thome to score, giving the White Sox a 2-1 lead.

Nick Swisher tied it up again in the ninth, depositing a Matt Thornton fastball into the stands in left, but the defense struck again in the bottom half. With one out, Thome hit a routine grounder that would have been an out again most players. The Yankees, however, were in a shift and the ball rolled into center.

Konerko singled Thome to second and Joe Girardi when to Phil Coke to get out of the inning. He got Pierzynski to fly to center, but Dwayne Wise, who is hitting .193, grounded a ball to center to bring in the winner.

Pettitte deserved much better. He allowed two runs -- one earned -- on five hits in 6-1/3 innings. He struck out eight and threw 71 of 101 pitches for strikes. He hasn't won since July 1, but has been pitching well since the All-Star break. If he continues to pitch like that, he's going to rack up a bunch of wins this half. He's frustrated, but he just needs to grind it out and stay confident.

Meanwhile, Phil Hughes allowed a run on two hits in two innings, his scoreless streak getting snapped at 23 innings.

Peter Abraham has a pretty good observation about Hughes. It appears as if the Yankees may be stretching him back out, maybe to replace Joba Chamberlain in the rotation when Joba's innings limit is hit. In his last three outings, Hughes threw 35 pitches in two innings Thursday, 39 in 1-1/3 innings on July 26 and 28 in two innings July 23.

But this game was lost because of shoddy defense on the infield. There won't be a trade coming to fix that. It just a matter of focus, paying attention to details and execution.

Runners In Scoring Position
Thursday
1-for-8 (.125)
Season
248-for-948 (.262)
First Half
217-for-819 (.265)
Second Half
32-for-129 (.248)
Since A-Rod's Return May 8
183-for-676 (.271)
Vs. Red Sox
11-for-82 (.134)

Up Next
Friday at White Sox, 8:11 p.m., YES
Sergio Mitre (1-0, 5.91 ERA) vs. Clayton Richard (4-3, 4.65)

With Mitre on the mound the offense had better get cranked up and the bullpen will have to be at its best. Hopefully Brian Cashman will be able to land someone before the deadline so that we don't have to see Mitre again. Washburn is gone, but Bronson Arroyo, Jon Garland and Zach Duke still remain as possibilities.

Defense Comes Through

Andy Pettitte had just delivered 7-1/3 sterling innings, but the Yankees found themselves tied with Orioles and in quite a jam Monday.

After striking out Matt Weiters to lead off the eighth, Pettitte allowed a single to Cesar Izturis and a double to Brian Roberts to put runners on second and third.

Joe Girardi went to lefthander Phil Coke with left-handed Nick Markakis and the defense responded by cutting down two runners at the plate to propel the Yankees to a 2-1 victory on Hideki Matsui's one-out, walk-off homer in the ninth at Yankee Stadium. The win was the Yankees' fourth in a row and moved them back into a tie for first with the Red Sox in the AL East.

The Yankees have gone 42-22 since Alex Rodriguez returned to the lineup on May 9.

Coke got Markakis to hit grounder to first baseman Mark Teixeira, who fielded the ball cleanly and fired home. Jose Molina caught the ball on the first base side, but was able to reach back across the plate in time to tag Izturis.

Then, Coke's first pitch to Adam Jones bounced in the dirt and squirted away from Molina. After hesitating just a split second, Roberts made a dash for the plate, but Coke got there in time to take the throw from Molina, apply the tag and keep the score knotted at 1.

It's not often when defense makes such an obvious difference in a game, and after three games during which we've seen outfielders struggle with the sun in left, take bad routes to balls and get caught in-between on a sinking liner, it was great to seen the Yankees' defense come through in a huge moment. It preserved what was yet another strong outing from a Yankee starter in another delightful, though increasingly stressful, pitchers' duel.

Andy Pettitte struck out a season-high eight and allowed just one run -- a first-inning homer to Markakis -- on six hits and two walks, throwing a terrific 76 of 109 pitches for strikes. He worked out of a jam in the fifth and got double plays to escape the sixth and seventh. He looked like the old Pettitte.

The Yankees have now gotten a quality start in each of their four games since the All-Star break.

That they've won all four isn't a surprise. What is a surprise, though, is that they've need those kinds of efforts because the offense, which ranks first or second in most offensive categories, has gone cold, relying on homers to score.

Facing David Hernandez for the first time, the Yankees had a chance to knock the rookie about in the first inning, but couldn't get the clutch hit with runners in scoring position. They got three hits out of their first seven hitters, but scored just one run.

With one out, Johnny Damon singled and went to third on Teixeira's single, bringing up Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod, however, watched a third strike go by and after Matsui walked to load the bases, Robinson Cano flew out to left to end the threat.

Even though he's no longer in the fifth spot, big run-scoring situation still seem to find Cano.

Eric Hinske tied the score by leading off the second with a homer, but that would be the Yankees' last hit until the ninth, when Matsui took the first two pitches from Jim Johnson for ball and fouled off the next three before crushing the final pitch, a 95 mph fastball, into right center, giving the Yankees their ninth walk-off homer of the season.

And another shaving cream pie celebration.

Runners In Scoring Position
Monday
0-for-2 (.000)
Season
221-for-843 (.262)
First Half
217-for-819 (.265)
Second Half
4-for-24 (.167)
Since A-Rod's Return May 8
155-for-571 (.271)
Vs. Red Sox
11-for-82 (.134)

Up Next
Tuesday vs. Orioles, 7:05 p.m., Local TV (check your listings).
Rich Hill (3-2, 7.22 ERA) vs. Sergio Mitre (No record)

If this game gets played, and that looks doubtful, the Yankees will try to catch lightning in a bottle, hoping Mitre becomes the next Aaron Small. Mitre is 10-23 in his major league career, but is 2-1 with a 2.40 ERA at Triple-A Scranton this year and is the Yankees best option at the moment. Chien-Ming Wang had a set back as he tries to recover from a shoulder strain and it is unlikely he'll be back by early August.

That means unless Mitre can show he can actually pitch well, the Yankees will be looking for a pitcher at the trade deadline -- just don't expect it to be Roy Halladay. Brian Cashman against reiterated that he is not willing to give up the farm for Halladay and that given the poor market for starting pitchers, he is more likely to try to find a reliever and move Alfredo Aceves into the rotation. Phil Hughes is expect to remain in the eighth-inning role where he has become dominant.

Keep an eye on the Reds here. They are four games under .500 and 5-1/2 games out of first. If they decided to give up the chase and become sellers, Bronson Arroyo might be a feasible option -- if the price is right.

A Modest Proposal

I'm not talking about the game from Sunday, per se. Brad Penny pitched a good game. He matched Shields and had better control. The Sox got some hits and scored some runs.

No, this is personal.

Julio. Lugo. Must. Go.

I don't care how. I don't care where. I don't care if the Sox have to eat every last penny of that dumb-ass contract they signed him to a couple of years back. All I know is that Stone Hands needs to get the hell out of a Boston uniform now.

Lugo has started at short in two games since he rejoined the squad. And in both games, he botched a key play that allowed the opposing team to either get back in the game and win or widen their lead and saddle the Sox with a loss.

Enough. I would rather have Nick Green and his errors at short than Lugo and his mistakes. At least Green commits his mistakes at non-critical times and then makes up for it with his bat. Lugo extends a Rays' rally and goes 0-4. Big shock. Never saw that one coming.

16 errors last year. 19 errors the year before. And two flubs in two games in 2009. Edgar Renteria commited 30 errors in one year in 2006 and was run out of town on a rail. Lugo has 36 so far and one costly bobble last night. It's not "Renteria Bad" but it's getting there. At least Edgar hit .276 that year. Lugo's always competing for the low score in the Sox lineup and seeing if they can rename the Mendoza Line after him.

The pisser is that pretty much every fan who knows anything about baseball and Boston knew that Lugo would be a lousy fit. I believe my exact words at the time were "Please don't sign Julio Lugo." And yet here we are 2+ years later and suffering through another Season O' Mediocrity. Jesus wept. Meanwhile, Orlando Cabrera is still outperforming him. Gosh, it would have really sucked to have kept him around...

And so here is what will happen over the next few days. The Sox will lose a game they should have won because of Lugo and no one on the team will state the obvious. Boston fans will lose their collective...you know what, and the cycle will repeat. The reason being that Theo and Sox management steadfastly refuse to admit that signing Lugo was a mistake of the highest order. And since they won't correct said error, Tito will be compelled to keep playing him because of all the zeros at the end of Lugo's annual compensation.

I mean, isn't the obvious play right now to keep starting Green? At this point I'd favor Gil Velasquez on a daily basis.Hell, I would even prefer to see Argenis Diaz get rushed up from Portland to handle the position because even though his bat would suck, his glove is MLB-ready today (and it is, the kid is a vacuum cleaner). But if I have to watch Lugo screw up at short for another day I may lose my mind.

Bottom line - Lugo must go.

Oh ya, the game...Sox should have won. Penny pitched well, Delcarmen looked shaky. Ellsbury is heating up, Ortiz looks shot. Now it's a pair of games in New York. I'm betting it's a split.