Dan Giese was phenominal in a game that felt like a must-win game, but the bullpen could not hold on to a late two-run lead, and the box score shows a laughable 11-4 loss for the Yankees against the Angels. Tampa Bay and Boston both won, so the Yankees are now 4 games out of the wild card and 6.5 out of the division with just 45 games left to play.

I've heard a lot of people talking about how pathetic it is that the Yankees have to start Dan Giese in a big game in August, but he's pitched well all around since he's been up here, and on Saturday he actually outpitched Angels' ace John Lackey. Giese allowed only a run on three hits in 6 innings, and it's a mystery to me why he didn't come out for the 7th, as he threw only 83 pitches.

The offense was carried by a pair of back-to-back home runs by A-Rod and Giambi in the 5th that put the Yanks up 2-0. An RBI single for Johnny Damon that scored Ivan Rodriguez made it 3-1 in the 7th, but from there it was all downhilll.

Jose Veras relieved Giese in the bottom of the 7th and gave up a pair of solo shots to tie the game for the Angels. The wheels completely fell off in the 8th, as Edwar Ramirez allowed four hits and the Angels scored 6 runs before even recording an out. David Robertson relieved Ramirez and was just as bad, although in the box score only three of the eight runs were charged to him.

The Yankees scored one in the 9th, but it was not nearly enough and a very important game that looked like the Yankees may come out of victorious turned into a 7-run slaughter.

So now the Yankees have to bounce back today to avoid falling even further behind in the playoff chase. Fortunately the right guy is on the mound for the Yanks, as Andy Pettitte will get the start against the very good Joe Saunders. Game starts at 3:35 ET.