06/17: Yanks Come up Short in 9th, Lose to Nats
Posted by: Seamus
I'm not one of the many people who have been saying coming into this week that anything but a sweep of the Nationals in this series, but I have to admit this one was pretty gut-wrenching to watch. The Yankees failed to get anything going offensively, and Robinson Cano killed a 9th inning rally with a double play as the Yankees fell to the Nationals by a score of 3–2.
The one positive (I guess) was that Chien-Ming Wang performed much better than he has in any of his previous starts this season. He pitched four scoreless innings before running into some trouble and allowing 3 runs in the 5th (in Wang's defense, one of those runs were scored by someone who reached because of a bad call). The new father finished with a line of 3 runs on 6 hits in 5 innings of work. Phil Hughes threw two scoreless innings as he continues to be effective out of the bullpen, and Phil Coke and Alfredo Aceves combined for two scoreless innings out of the bullpen as well.
Usually one would expect that kind of pitching to be enough for this Yankee lineup, especially against the Washington Nationals, but the Yankees couldn't get anything tonight off of Long Island native John Lannan. The Yankees were no-hit for four innings before Robinson Cano led the bottom of the 5th off with a home run and didn't score again until Damon led off with a home run in the 9th. Mark Teixeira followed that up with a base hit, followed by two pinch-run stolen bases by Brett Gardner and a walk to Alex Rodriguez, and the Yankees were in position to tie or win this one in the 9th despite the lineup's overall futility. It wasn't meant to be, however, as Robinson Cano grounded to short for a 6-4-3 double play to end a 9-pitch at bat and the game as well.
Joba Chamberlain will try to help the Yankees grab the rubber game in this series tomorrow afternoon at 1:05 ET. His counterpart will be Craig Stammen. The lineup obviously has to perform better than it did tonight, especially against a guy who doesn't even have a photo on his ESPN player page.
Recap records: Patrick: 18–9, Seamus: 15–13, Andrew: 4–6
The one positive (I guess) was that Chien-Ming Wang performed much better than he has in any of his previous starts this season. He pitched four scoreless innings before running into some trouble and allowing 3 runs in the 5th (in Wang's defense, one of those runs were scored by someone who reached because of a bad call). The new father finished with a line of 3 runs on 6 hits in 5 innings of work. Phil Hughes threw two scoreless innings as he continues to be effective out of the bullpen, and Phil Coke and Alfredo Aceves combined for two scoreless innings out of the bullpen as well.
Usually one would expect that kind of pitching to be enough for this Yankee lineup, especially against the Washington Nationals, but the Yankees couldn't get anything tonight off of Long Island native John Lannan. The Yankees were no-hit for four innings before Robinson Cano led the bottom of the 5th off with a home run and didn't score again until Damon led off with a home run in the 9th. Mark Teixeira followed that up with a base hit, followed by two pinch-run stolen bases by Brett Gardner and a walk to Alex Rodriguez, and the Yankees were in position to tie or win this one in the 9th despite the lineup's overall futility. It wasn't meant to be, however, as Robinson Cano grounded to short for a 6-4-3 double play to end a 9-pitch at bat and the game as well.
Joba Chamberlain will try to help the Yankees grab the rubber game in this series tomorrow afternoon at 1:05 ET. His counterpart will be Craig Stammen. The lineup obviously has to perform better than it did tonight, especially against a guy who doesn't even have a photo on his ESPN player page.
Recap records: Patrick: 18–9, Seamus: 15–13, Andrew: 4–6
