The Yankees were looking like a juggernaut for awhile there. I was starting to think that maybe I was wrong, and this year would be the year they finally won it all again.
But the pitching concerned me. It concerned me before the season started, and it still concerns me now. The Yanks' bats were hot for awhile there, but they couldn't be expected to hit like that forever. It always comes back to pitching.
More than one observer has noted that yesterday's disaster could be at least partly blamed on A-Rod. That incident where he yelled "I got it" (or whatever) at the Jays, tricking them into letting it drop between them, came back to bite him. The Jays took their revenge when the two teams played again, throwing behind A-Rod, then plunking him in the knee. (He's lucky he wasn't seriously injured.) Clemens "protected" his teammate by hitting Alex Rios in the middle of the back with a pitch. I thought there was going to be a brawl a couple of times.
So Clemens was suspended, and Jeff Karstens started against the Orioles. And was awful. 12-0 awful.
A-Rod can be such a bonehead sometimes. That game where he ticked off the Jays by yelling was already in the bag. There was nothing to gain by doing what he did.
He did play very well today, going 4 for 4 with a walk. It wasn't enough.
I really wanted to see this game. It was Phil Hughes vs. Erik Bedard, a great matchup. But it was a day game, so I was at work, following the game in spare moments via the Internet.
It looked hopeless, with the Yanks trailing by three for most of the game. Then I refreshed the page, and whoah! Shelley Duncan had tied it up in the bottom of the 9th with a three-run homer. I couldn't believe it.
By then it was quitting time for me, so I ran to the car and searched the radio for the game. I couldn't find it, but I did find ESPN, which was giving brief updates. They said it was tied in the 10th, with the Orioles threatening, then went back to talking about the Mets. It was only a 15 minute drive, but by the time I got home, the Orioles were up 6-3. Boo! And that ended up being the final score.
I only found out later that it was Mo who gave up those three runs. Yikes. But I'm not too concerned. Mo often struggles in August. It doesn't mean he's injured, or too old, or a mental case. He'll be fine.
Ah, well. At least the Sox lost, too, so the Yanks didn't lose any ground. (They did, of course, miss the opportunity to gain ground.)
