Game 158 Wrap-Up: TB 8 NYY 3

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The Yankees didn't score a single run against a shaky Matt Moore and the Tampa Bay bullpen on Tuesday night.  They trotted out arguably a worse lineup last night against David Price, so if he was even half as on his game as Moore was there was a good chance New York would be filling the scoreboard with zeros again.  Whatever.  If Joe plays the crappy veterans and they don't score, he's an idiot for not playing the kids.  If he subs them all out and they don't score, he's an idiot for putting a bunch of unproven youngsters up against a Cy Young winner.  Not that it would matter much with Phil Hughes on the mound.  He was making his final Yankee Stadium start and it went about as you'd expect.  He was out early, the game was over early, and the Yanks were officially eliminated from the Wild Card race.

Game Notes:

- Phil was his usual self.  He gave up a run on back-to-back doubles in the 1st and put 2 men on base before escaping the 2nd.  Fastballs over the middle, failure to put guys away with 2 strikes, the usual.  He had the whole arsenal working.

- He had runners on the corners with nobody out after a handful of pitches in the top of the 3rd, in part because Vernon Wells is old and shitty, and a few batters later it was curtains.  Hughes didn't retire a batter in the 3rd, left the bases loaded, and got barely a reaction from the lifeless crowd as he walked off the mound.  "Oof" and "da."

- At least the offense kept it close early.  Robinson Cano plated Eduardo Nunez in the 1st with a double to left that just missed being a home run, and Nunez took Price yard to lead off the bottom of the 3rd to make it a 3-2 game.

- That was as close as the Yanks would get.  David Huff pitched 2 scoreless innings in relief of Hughes before blowing up in the 6th.  With 2 outs in the inning he gave up a single to James Loney, a 3-run homer to Evan Longoria, and a solo HR to David DeJesus in 3 consecutive ABs to extend the Tampa lead to 7-2.

- The Yanks managed only 2 more hits against Price as he cruised through 7 with a 5-run lead, and scored their final meaningless run of the night on a Lyle Overbay bases loaded walk in the 8th.

- Lotta bullpen scrubs got work after Huff left, but for some reason Joe decided to use David Robertson for the 8th.  Longoria tacked on his second homer of the night off Preston Claiborne in the 9th for a final insult.


F*ck Yeahs:

- Nunez: 2-5, 1 2B,1 HR, 2 R, 1 RBI.  Certainly wasn't expecting that kind of production from the leadoff spot last night, and from Nuney no less.

- Cano: 2-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI.  Another multi-hit game.

Oh Nos:

- Huffes: 5.2 IP, 12 H, 7 ER, 2 BB, 4 K.  The tandem 5th starter experiment blew up big time last night.  Hughes was predictably ineffective but also burned by some bad defense and bad calls.  Huff can't survive forever pitching to good right-handed hitters.

- Alfonso Soriano: 0-4, 3 K, 3 LOB.  Wonder how bad that thumb is.

- Chris Stewart: 0-4, 3 LOB, 1 PB.  Just go away, guy.  You fucking suck.  You can't hit and you can't catch.  Go away.

Next Up:

It's the final home game of the season tonight and it's one without any playoff implications for the first time in what feels like forever.  Between the Indians win and their own loss, the Yanks are officially eliminated from postseason contention.  It's just for pride now, if they even have any of that left.  Ivan Nova and Alex Cobb are the starters.