Game 128 Wrap-Up: TOR 8 NYY 7

(Not the play where Teix strained his calf.  Courtesy of The AP)

The Yankees are 20 games over .500 right now, and if you really stop and think about it, that's a pretty damn good record considering how many winnable games they have lost this season.  Too many times there are games where they score early and then ever again and lose, or they do nothing early but score a few runs late but fall short and lose.  Last night it was the bullpen's turn to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, as the Yankee relief corps combined to give up 4 runs (5 if you want to count Eppley's inherited runner) to help the Yanks lose another game they should have won and get off to a bad start in this home series against Toronto.

Game Notes:

- Both teams traded solo shots in the early innings, Robinson Cano in the 1st and Adam Lind in the 2nd.  Cano's wasn't quite enough to say he's officially out of his slump, but it put him right on the edge.

- And he officially went from out of his slump to "on a hot streak" when he led off the 4th inning with his 2nd consecutive HR.  The Yankees followed that up with 2 more runs in the inning on an RBI single by Russell Martin and an RBI groundout by Raul Ibanez to make it 4-1 New York.

- The biggest news of this inning was Mark Teixeira hobbling around the bases to score a run and then leaving the game after the inning.  The eventual diagnosis was a calf strain and Teix is already expected to miss at least 1-2 weeks.  Great.

- For his part, David Phelps did a very good job outside of the homer to Lind through the first 4 innings.  He was throwing all his pitches for strikes, locating his fastball well, and allowed only 1 other hit.

- All of that good work went out the window in the 5th when Phelps gave up another HR, this one a 2-run job, to Yorvit Torrealba to make it 4-3.  No matter how well you're pitching, 2 HR in a start just isn't good.

- Nick Swisher continued his hot hitting and boosted the advantage right back up to 3 with a 2-run HR of his own in the top of the 6th.  Derek Jeter was on first after a leadoff walk, and he and Swish continue to carry the offense.

- Phelps pitched into the 7th, getting another run tacked onto his ledger when Cody Eppley couldn't bail him out, but the game turned in the 9th when Rafael Soriano came in for the save.  For some reason, he went away from his fastball after giving up a hit, but couldn't locate his slider and he threw a hanger that Colby Rasmus crushed for a 7-6 Toronto lead.

- But The Captain wasn't going down that easily.  Jeter came right back in the bottom of the 9th and hit a trademark HR to right field to lead off the inning and tie the game back up at 7.

- Unfortunately, the offense could do no more after that or in extras, and Derek Lowe's awful 2-base throwing error led to the eventual winning run on a groundout in the 11th.  Shitty way to lose.

F*ck Yeahs:

- Cano: 2-4 , 2 HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB.  He's baaaaaaaaaack.

- Jeter: 1-5, 1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 LOB.  1-5 isn't great, but Jeter was on base twice, scored both times, and hit a clutch HR in the bottom of the 9th to tie the game and give his team a great chance for a walk-off win.

Oh Nos:

- C-Grand: 0-5, 1 K, 3 LOB.  Down to just .236 on the year, but at least he only struck out once.

- Lowe: 1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R (0 ER), 0 BB, 1 K, L.  Dude.  Seriously.  What the fuck was that with that throw??

Next Up:

Second game of the series is tonight.  Phil Hughes for the Yankees and Ricky Romero for the Jays after he got pushed from last night's scheduled start.  The 'pen has to be a bit overworked after the last 2 games, especially the late-inning guys, so some length from Phil would be nice.