Flickr Image Courtesy of andy.wolf

I don’t want to sound like one of those people I usually like to make fun of for overreacting to Yankee losses but after tonight’s dismal performance against Baltimore, it really cannot be helped.

That game was awful. There’s no way around it.

The Yankees were never in it. They looked impatient, they looked sloppy and they didn’t play like a team in danger of letting their Division lead slip away.

I also don’t like when people say things like, “They weren’t even trying!!” but didn’t it seem like that was the case tonight?

What a terrible display of ineptitude.

And thank goodness for Curtis Granderson’s meaningless home run late in the game. At least it prevented the Yankees from being shutout tonight.

The game was so bad I almost don’t want to watch tomorrow’s game. Why should I be aggravated again?

Tonight
RHP Hiroki Kuroda (12-9, 2.98)
vs.
RHP Miguel Gonzalez (5-3, 3.66)
7:05 p.m., YES Network and MLB Network

Saturday
RHP Freddy Garcia (7-5, 4.90)
vs.
LHP Wei-Yen Chen (12-7, 3.78)
1:05 p.m., YES Network

Sunday
RHP David Phelps (3-4, 2.96)
vs.
TBA
1:05 p.m., YES Network and TBS

Info courtesy of the Lohud Yankees blog.

I don’t know about you guys but that TBA guy on Sunday scares me a little…

Alex Rodriguez will begin a rehab assignment with High A Tampa tomorrow.

How I feel about this news:

Courtesy of Funny Or Die

And this:

Aw yeah.

So far, Rodriguez has only had a couple of batting practice sessions but the Yankees really need him back and it looks like they really want him back. According to reports he’ll be the DH tomorrow and if all goes well, he will be at third base on Saturday.

GM Brian Cashman said Alex’s rehab will be reevaluated after the weekend.

I will think of this development as a belated birthday present and I expect it to go smoothly.

It also looks like David Aardsma may be making an appearance in the Bronx late in the season. He will be joining Rodriguez in Tampa, pitching for the High A squad. Aardsma is attempting a comeback from Tommy John surgery in July 2011.

You know it was a bad game when I can’t even remember what the hell happened and I was actually at the Stadium today.

One positive was that it was a lovely day at the ballpark.

Too bad the game was a total nightmare. When you can’t count on your ace to overcome bad defense and not lose to the lowly Blue Jays, what can you count on?

And no offense to the many Jays fans that I follow on Twitter but even you guys have to admit that your team isn’t good right now. If they were, they’d be in the hunt for a playoff spot.

This was just a bad loss. Almost as bad as Monday night’s. It was a winnable game that unraveled in a short amount of time. Plus the oh-so-fun and not-so-shocking RISP failures reared their ugly heads today. Again.

Thank goodness for Phil Hughes’s performance last night and Robinson Cano’s big defensive play, otherwise, we could have been looking at a three-game sweep at the hands of the Jays.

Now, the Yankees enter a meaningful three-game series this weekend against the Baltimore Orioles – meaningful for both teams for the first time since about 1998. Sunday afternoon should be a fun time. Hopefully I won’t be there praying for the Yankees to avoid a sweep.

As I was sitting here listening to the 80′s channel on Music Choice, “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me” by Culture Club came on.

It made me think about all of the injuries nearly every team in the American League East has had to deal with this season. The Yankees’ opponent at the moment, the Toronto Blue Jays seemed to have lost every pitcher – both starters and relievers – to Tommy John surgery and poor Jose Bautista came back from the DL only to return after a couple of at bats when he re-aggravated his wrist injury.

The Boston Red Sox have dealt with numerous injuries, a new manager and multiple trades this season.

The Tampa Bay Rays were mediocre until Evan Longoria finally came back from his injury and now it seems like they can’t lose.

Our Yankees have lost Michael Pineda, Brett Gardner and Mariano Rivera to season-ending injuries; have lost Andy Pettitte and Alex Rodriguez for significant amounts of time and now have to deal with a new injury for Mark Teixeira who had been struggling with wrist issues.

What the hell is happening in baseball this year? Are injuries more prevalent because certain things *cough* HGH *cough* are now being included in testing?

Whatever it is, I don’t like it. I’m sick of the injuries. I’m sick of hearing about the disabled list and I just want everyone to be healthy. Is that too much to ask for??

There’s nothing like a good bounce-back victory to help get rid of the rancid taste of last night’s loss from everyone’s mouth.

Phil Hughes, who struggled in his last outing against the Blue Jays, went seven innings for the Yankees, only giving up one earned run on four hits and out-dueled Ricky Romero who also went seven innings tonight, giving up two earned runs on five hits for Toronto. Romero, who started the year 8-1 is now 8-12 for the Blue Jays.

Hughes struck out five and the lone run was a solo shot by Adeiny Hechavarria.

Nick Swisher started things for the Yankees in the third inning with an RBI single that scored Jayson Nix. Nix had himself a good night at the plate finish 2-3 with two singles – he was the only Yankee with a multi-hit night. Curtis Granderson hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth which scored the newly arrived Steve Pearce for the Yankees’ only other run.

With the way Hughes pitched, two runs were enough to win. And with the Yankees lineup tonight, two runs seemed like a miracle.

New papa David Robertson needed only five pitches to retire the Blue Jays in the eighth and Rafael Soriano added a perfect inning of his own in the ninth to close out the game and pick up his 34th save of the year.

The Yankees will try to close out the series with a victory tomorrow afternoon at the Stadium with CC Sabathia taking on J.A. Happ in a battle of pitchers with initials as first names. Happ is 9-10 with a 4.68 ERA and Sabathia is 13-3 with a 3.44 ERA.

(post syndicated from The Yankee Analysts)

Jeter SS
Swisher DH
Cano 2B
Teixeira 1B
Granderson CF
Chavez 3B
Martin C
Ibanez LF
Suzuki RF

Phelps P

David Robertson and wife Erin welcomed their first child, a baby boy they named Luke Joseph Robertson into the world today. Robertson will be at the game, in uniform, tonight according to manager Joe Girardi.

Oh sure, I don’t watch last night’s game and they win. I watch tonight’s game and they lose.

What the hell, boys?

Thanks for nothing guys!

How I feel right now

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Robinson Cano 2B
Mark Teixeira 1B
Andruw Jones DH
Curtis Granderson CF
Russell Martin C
Casey McGehee 3B
Ichiro Suzuki LF

RHP Phil Hughes

The Yankees are looking to avoid a sweep and avoid seeing their lead in the AL East shrink to three games – Tampa already beat KC this afternoon.

Help us, Phil Hughes, you’re our only hope.