Game 25 Wrap-Up: HOU 9 NYY 1

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You couldn't have scripted a better situation for the Yankees to continue their winning streak coming into last night.  Worst team in baseball as the opponent, playing at home, and Andy Pettitte and his giant bag of "crafty veteran" tricks on the mound to school the glorified Quad-A Houston Astros lineup.  You hate to get cocky, but that's a slam dunk.

Game Notes:

- Unless, of course, you just flat don't show up the way the Yankees didn't show up through 4 innings.  It started when Andy gave up 3 1st-inning runs after getting 2 outs and 6 pitches and it never stopped.

- The lineup managed just 1 hit and 2 GIDPs in the first 3 innings and barely made Houston starter Lucas Harrell work, as he needed just 37 pitches to groundball them to death.

- Pettitte just never found anything in the next few innings, continuing to miss up with cutters and sliders and giving up a lot of hard contact.  Mercifully, his night ended with 1 out in the 4th after 7 ER and 10 hits.  Strange to see him pitch that shitty against such an inferior opponent.

- It didn't get better for the offense.  They grounded into 2 more DPs in the 4th and 7th innings, but at least they managed to push a run across in the 6th on a Vernon Wells single to not get blanked.

- Adam Warren was pretty terrible in relief of Pettitte, and he gave way to the recently called up Vidal Nuno.  It was just mop-up duty, but Nuno looked pretty good in his 3 innings of work, allowing 0 runs on 4 hits and striking out 2.

- Just an awful night all around, the kind of game you have to wash off of yourself in the shower.


F*ck Yeahs:

- Wells: 2-3, 1 RBI, 1 BB.  Drove in the only run of the game, and was one of the few to have some good at-bats against Harrell.

Oh Nos:

- Pettitte: 4.1 IP, 10 H, 7 ER, 1 BB, 3 K.  Just a complete dud from Andy.  He didn't have any command or movement on his pitches, his cutter was terrible, he never seemed to get in sync with Austin Romine, and he got tuned up by a team of barely Major League-caliber hitters.  Just gotta chalk it up to a bad night.

- Jayson Nix: 0-4, 5 LOB.  There's no reason for Jayson Nix to be hitting 6th in a Major League lineup, and the longer Kevin Youkilis is out with his back problems, the more we're going to be reminded of that fact.

Next Up:

The good news is that the Yanks get a chance to redeem themselves tonight and they do it with stopper Hiroki Kuroda on the mound and a rested bullpen core behind him.  The incredibly hittable Phil Humber makes the start for Houston.