08/10: Chacon's Gem Goes to Waste as Yankee Hitters Can't Solve Contreras
Posted by: Seamus
Shawn Chacon now has three dominant performances in three career starts for the Yankees as he gave up a run on three hits in 7 innings, but it was all for naught as former Yankee Jose Contreras pitched just as well and the White Sox beat the Yankees 2-1. The Yankees' loss coupled with an extra inning win for the Red Sox puts the Yankees 4.5 games behind their arch rivals with 51 games to play. Fortunately they couldn't lose any ground in the wild card race, as the two teams that were tied at the top played against each other last night (The Angels defeated Oakland 9-2).
The Yankees trailed by a score of 1-0 the most of the way and the White Sox went ahead 2-0 after Paul Konerko launched a home run of Alan Embree in the 9th inning. That home run proved to be the game winner as A-Rod launched his league leading 33rd home run (his 3rd in three games) to lead off the bottom of the 9th. The Yankees had runners on first and third with two outs when Bernie Williams came up to pinch hit for Tony Womack. He swung at the first pitch he saw from Dustin Hermanson and hit it down the first base line probably as hard as he has hit a ball all season, only to be caught for the final out by newly acquired White Sox' 1B Geoff Blum.
Bubba Crosby was the runner on 3rd when Bernie came up to bat in the 9th. Crosby reached third base on a single by Tino Martinez with two outs in the 9th. I don't understand why the Yankees didn't have Crosby try to steal second while Martinez was at the plate. Crosby has speed, and you greatly increase your odds of scoring obviously when you need only one hit to score a runner and not two. Had Crosby been on second when Tino got that hit, he would've scored and the game would've gone into extra innings.
Also, is it me or does Alan Embree just have that "Boston" look to him? I can't explain it, but seeing him pitch in pinstripes just looks so weird. He's got that very distinguishable face and when I look at him, I just think "Red Sox." I guess it's just because I've seen that face so many times underneath a BoSox cap over the years that I just can't get used to him being a Yankee, albeit he has only been here for about a week and a half.
"The only exciting thing that happened" in last night's game, according to George Steinbrenner, was when a fan jumped from the upper deck onto the net above home plate. Smart move, kiddo. He's lucky he didn't break his neck. The 18-year old kid was taken out of the stadium on a stretcher immediately following the game.
Aaron Small, who has been just as delightful a surprise as Chacon has, will take the mound this afternoon to face Freddy Garcia in the rubber game of this three game set. The Yankees can't really afford to fall much further back, so hopefully Small will give us what he's given us in his previous three starts.
The Yankees trailed by a score of 1-0 the most of the way and the White Sox went ahead 2-0 after Paul Konerko launched a home run of Alan Embree in the 9th inning. That home run proved to be the game winner as A-Rod launched his league leading 33rd home run (his 3rd in three games) to lead off the bottom of the 9th. The Yankees had runners on first and third with two outs when Bernie Williams came up to pinch hit for Tony Womack. He swung at the first pitch he saw from Dustin Hermanson and hit it down the first base line probably as hard as he has hit a ball all season, only to be caught for the final out by newly acquired White Sox' 1B Geoff Blum.
Bubba Crosby was the runner on 3rd when Bernie came up to bat in the 9th. Crosby reached third base on a single by Tino Martinez with two outs in the 9th. I don't understand why the Yankees didn't have Crosby try to steal second while Martinez was at the plate. Crosby has speed, and you greatly increase your odds of scoring obviously when you need only one hit to score a runner and not two. Had Crosby been on second when Tino got that hit, he would've scored and the game would've gone into extra innings.
Also, is it me or does Alan Embree just have that "Boston" look to him? I can't explain it, but seeing him pitch in pinstripes just looks so weird. He's got that very distinguishable face and when I look at him, I just think "Red Sox." I guess it's just because I've seen that face so many times underneath a BoSox cap over the years that I just can't get used to him being a Yankee, albeit he has only been here for about a week and a half.
"The only exciting thing that happened" in last night's game, according to George Steinbrenner, was when a fan jumped from the upper deck onto the net above home plate. Smart move, kiddo. He's lucky he didn't break his neck. The 18-year old kid was taken out of the stadium on a stretcher immediately following the game.
Aaron Small, who has been just as delightful a surprise as Chacon has, will take the mound this afternoon to face Freddy Garcia in the rubber game of this three game set. The Yankees can't really afford to fall much further back, so hopefully Small will give us what he's given us in his previous three starts.
Patrick wrote: