(Wonder if he threw his record-setting XBH allowed ball into the dugout. Courtesy of the AP)
There's no other way to say it then to just say that the Yankees didn't have it last night. There's really no excuse for it, certainly not the travel. They went Minnesota to Toronto, that's nothing. I make basically the same flight every time I go home from Milwaukee to LaGuardia and it's only a 1-hour time change. I guess facing Brandon Morrow in Toronto meant they were doomed from the start, but to come in off a series win and a complete team win against Minnesota on Wednesday and not even come close to putting 1 run on the board is deflating and not the type of result you want or expect against a last place team like the Jays.
Game Notes:
- Ivan Nova was a great combination of sharp and efficient through 2 innings, throwing 20 pitches and 16 strikes, but lost some of his edge in the 3rd, giving up a walk and a 2-run homer to Brett Lawrie to make it 2-0 Toronto.
- Shit didn't get any better in the 5th when things swung back around to the top of the order. Nova gave up a 2-run double to Edwin Encarnacion to make it 4-0 and didn't make it out of the inning. Just didn't have any kind of offspeed command. Story of his season.
- I don't know what the deal was with the Yankee bats, but they couldn't solve the Brandon Morrow riddle through 6 innings last night. Morrow only struck 2 batters out, and walked 2, but lived off the Yankees swinging early, swinging often, and making a lot of shitty contact.
- If that wasn't bad enough, the double play parade came back to town. Nick Swisher hit a ball to the wall that was caught and turned into a DP in the 4th when Robinson Cano strayed too far, and Raul Ibanez rapped into an inning-ender to kill the 5th.
- Cano came to play, and sparked some life with a leadoff double and a follow-up walk by Nick Swisher against Morrow in the top of the 7th, but Morrow got the next 3 batters in order as his last hurrah to strand the pair.
- If there was one positive to take from last night's game, it was that David Aardsma finally made his return to the mound and his Yankee debut. He gave up a solo shot, but whatever. At least he's back pitching after over 2 years on the DL.
- Just for good measure, the Yanks put 2 more on to start the 9th, including another Cano hit, only to have the next 3 hitters fly out to end the game.
F*ck Yeahs:
- Cano: 3-4, 1 2B, 1 LOB. Another great day for Robbie at the plate, even if he didn't come away with anything to show for it. He's 8-12 in his last 3 games, and it's at least comforting to know that Cano has come out of his slump at the right time.
- Martin: 2-4, 1 2B, 4 LOB. Literally the only other Yankee to show up last night. He and Cano were responsible for 5 of the team's 6 hits.
Oh Nos:
- Nova: 4.2 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K. To start off throwing 16 of 20 pitches for strikes through 2 innings and then give up 4 runs in the next 3 and not make it out of the 5th inning is straight up unacceptable and is the type of outing that Nova has had too many times this season. Regardless of what he does in his final start, I don't see any way Joe takes him when he picks his final 25. There's just no way to be confident in the guy.
- Curtis Granderson: 0-4, 1 K, 4 LOB. Up to 189 strikeouts on the season, and setting a new Yankee record with each whiff, and down to a .227 batting average. Curtis Granderson IS Adam Dunn.
Next Up:
It's a 4-game series, so there's still plenty of time to right last night's wrong, but damn if that wasn't a really huge bummer of a loss. The scuffling Hiroki Kuroda takes the mound tonight against Chad Jenkins to try to even the series up and keep the division lead at at least 1.
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