Andy Pettitte imploded in the 4th inning once again, and Kyle Farnsworth reverted to his old ways as the Yankees dropped the opener of what is now a two-game set with the Mets by a score of 7-4. The game was loaded with bad breaks and fundamental mistakes, which is something you can't afford when you are as injury-ridden as the Yankees are right now.

Johan Santana was NOT the reason for the Yankees' undoing in his Saturday afternoon affair, as the Yankees belted three homers off of him, including a pretty impressive shot to left by Derek Jeter in the 1st to put the Yankees ahead 2-0. Santana did settle down a bit in the later innings, but ended up with a rather ordinary line of 4 runs on 7 hits in 7 and 2/3.

Andy Pettitte actually was the better pitcher in this game, but lost his control and caught some bad breaks in the 4th. He wasn't shelled the way he was in the 4th inning of his last start in Tampa Bay, but he did allow three runs, one coming via a bases loaded walk and another on an excruciatingly painful-to-watch slow roller halfway down the third base line that just never rolled foul. Pettitte did recover and pitched two more scoreless innings, but the three-run 4th was enough for him to suffer his 5th loss.

Kyle Farnsworth's E.R.A. rose by 1.20 runs after his disaster of a 7th inning, in which he gave up a solo home run to Jose Reyes, and then a two-run shot by David Wright after walking Ryan Church. Those three runs would be the difference in the game, as Morgan Ensberg struck out in the 9th as the tying run to end the game.

This game could have been a lot different, but the Yankees were really over-agressive on the basepaths and let a few balls get away that could have (probably should have) been caught. Derek Jeter got a little greedy trying to stretch a gap-single into a double, and his slide ended about 3 feet premature of 2nd base. Bobby Meachem (who seems to have been making a habit of this) sent Damon on a similarly hit ball by Jeter from 3rd with nobody out, and as you could see the ball being thrown from right field in the background, I was PRAYING that Damon would be held up. Damon was sent and was sent and was blocked off the plate and called out. Then, on a foul pop-up to the third base side by Carlos Delgado, Alberto Gonzalez leans into the stands AND....the ball lands on the dirt, about 10 feet from the wall. Oops.

The Yankees and Mets will conclude this shortened series tonight at 8:05. ESPN will be carrying the game as Chien-Ming Wang takes on Oliver Perez.