Game 68 Wrap-Up: LAA 6 NYY 2

(Don't be bummed, Reid.  You just suck.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

Desperate times call for desperate measures, and those were the measures Joe took when putting together yesterday's lineup.  He had Travis Hafner on the bench against a right-handed starter and Lyle Overbay in his place at DH.  He had David Adams on the bench after Adams was the only hitter to drive in a run the day before.  He had Thomas Neal starting against a righty and playing the outfield after initially saying Neal was only going to be used as a DH against lefties.  The offensive struggles seem to be getting to Joe just as much as they are the rest of the team, and things only got more desperate when Mark Teixeira left early last night because of his wrist.  Oh, and the losing streak continued.

Game Notes:

- Familiar start to this one.  Yankees went down in order in the first 2 innings at the dish while starter David Phelps was up and down in giving up 3 hits and a solo HR to Erick Aybar to give Anaheim the early lead.

- The offense managed to string a couple hits together with 2 outs in the 3rd to take the lead.  Brett Gardner tripled in Chris Stewart and scored on Jayson Nix's RBI double.  Rare to see a 2-out rally like that these days.

- The lead didn't last long.  Phelps gave it back in the bottom half when he walked Mike Trout and gave up a 2-out RBI single to Albert Pujols.  Phelps also had to wriggle off the hook in the 4th after giving up 2 leadoff hits, but he kept the game at 2-2 through 5.

-Phelps couldn't do it again in the 6th after walking Mark Trumbo to lead off the inning.  Erick Aybar singled him home to regain the lead for the Angels, but a slick 3-6-1 double play turn by David Adams (who entered for Teix) and Reid Brignac ended the threat and the inning.

- Ichiro Suzuki tried to do it on his own in the top of the 7th, getting on with a bunt single and stealing 2nd and 3rd base.  He stayed right there as the hard-hitting trio of Neal, Brignac, and Stewart stranded him with 3 straight strikeouts.

- Shawn Kelley made a mess of things in the bottom of the inning in relief of Phelps, so did Joba in the 8th, and the offense went down with nary a whimper in the late innings.  5th straight loss and another one in pathetic fashion.


F*ck Yeahs:

- Ichiro: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 K, 2 SB.  The only consistent sources of hits right now are him and Gardner.

Oh Nos:

- Cano: 0-3, 1 BB, 1 K.  Still can't seem to find a way to put 2 or 3 good games together to break out of his slump.

- Thomas Neal: 0-3, 3 K, 1 LOB.  For everybody out there who was wondering why they didn't call up Neal earlier, this is why.  He's a mediocre Quad-A player who can't hit a Major League offspeed pitch to save his life.

Next Up:

Yanks will try to avoid a second straight sweep this afternoon when CC Sabathia squares off against Jered Weaver.