The Yankees lost a tough one last night as they blew a 4-0 lead halfway through and lost 7-4 to the Indians in Jacobs Field. Mike Mussina started and cruised through the first four innings (he had 5 strikeouts after 2) without allowing a run, but had a nightmarish 5th inning. Ben Broussard led off the inning with a home run. The Yankees still led 4-2 with two outs in the inning, but Mussina never retired that last batter as he gave up four more runs, with the biggest hit being former Yankee Aaron Boone's two-run single. Tanyon Sturtze came in to finish the inning and the Yankees allowed only one run the rest of the game.

There wasn't much to talk about in terms of hitting as the Yankees scored all four of their runs in the first three innings, although Matsui had two hits and Jorge Posada launched his 14th home run of the season. Indians' pitcher Cliff Lee settled down after that as he got into the 7th inning, and the Indians' bullpen threw 2 and 1/3 shutout innings to hold on for a 7-4 victory over the Yankees.

Robinson Cano had a really rough night all around. In the top of the 5th, he missed a sign from Luis Sojo and bunted a ball foul with two strikes. Later in the game he misplayed an easy double play ball in which he should've just stepped on the bag and threw to first but instead flipped it to an unexpecting Derek Jeter, and after that he dropped a routine popup. We almost forget sometimes that this kid is still a rookie. I'm hoping last night's game doesn't get into his head too much. It was one of those games that you just hope to forget ever happened.

Jorge Posada's home run was only his 3rd right-handed but he is hitting almost .300 from the right side of the plate. I don't think I've ever seen a hitter struggle so much as Posada has from one side of the plate and at the very same time, not have any problems whatsoever at the other side. Perhaps he's having some mechanical issues.

The Yankees' loss puts them 4.5 games behind Boston for the lead in the AL East, but the A's loss kept them only 3 back in the wild card race. Tonight the Yankees will send out Shawn Chacon to make his second Yankee start and will be opposed by Kevin Millwood. This is a big one as the Yankees have lost two games on the Red Sox in the standings in the past two days, so hopefully Chacon can give us something like he gave us in his previous start against the Angels.

Also of note: Jason Giambi was named the American League Player of the Month for July as he batted .355 with 14 home runs and 24 RBI.

The Yankees lost last night 6-5 as their efforts to slowly crawl back from an early 5-run defecit fell just short against the Indians at Jacobs Field. Al Leiter had a rough night as he gave up 5 runs and walked 5 batters in only two innings. Scott Proctor pitched 4 solid innings of relief, but the one run he gave up turned out to be the difference.

The Yankees started to creep back when Alex Rodriguez launched a laser over the left field wall for his American League leading 29th home run in the 6th inning to cut the Indians' lead to 6-3. In the 7th, Jorge Posada scored on a groundout by Derek Jeter. The next inning Gary Sheffield scored on a wild pitch by Scott Sauerback (this wasn't your normal wild pitch, this was one of those balls that must've just slipped out of his hand).

With the Yankees down 6-5 with two outs in the 9th, Bernie Williams launched a double off the left field wall that was almost caught by Casey Blake, but he never came around to score as Jeter grounded out to second to end the game.

Watching Al Leiter pitch was rough last night. He just couldn't get the ball over the plate. Somebody really needs to help him work on his control issues because he'll be a great pitcher again once he starts throwing strikes. Opposing batters still aren't hitting him very well. He was able to get out of it in his last start when he gave up only one run against the Twins, but you're not always going to be so lucky and when you walk the first three batters in an inning as Leiter did last night, you have little chance of getting out of it without giving up a few runs.

The Bombers will be sending the Moose to the mound tonight to face Cliff Lee. Lee is 11-4 this year with a 3.95 E.R.A.

The Yankees went 17-9 in July. Key performers:

Hot

Jason Giambi
26 games. .355 BA, 20 R, 14 HR, 24 RBI, .524 OBA, .974 SLG, 1.498 OPS.

Mariano Rivera
14 games. 1-0 with 9 saves (0 blown). 1.08 ERA. 0.54 WHIP. .161 BAA.

Gary Sheffield
26 games, .301 BA, 22 R, 8 HR, 26 RBI.

Hideki Matsui
26 games. .313 BA, 23 R, 7 HR, 22 RBI.

Cold

Jorge Posada
21 games. .169 BA (12 for 71) and a .259 OBA. 3 HR, 8 RBI.

Tanyon Sturtze
11 games. 1-0 with a 6.14 ERA.

Tino Martinez
24 games. .208 BA with a .255 OBA. 3 HR, 6 RBI.

Bernie Williams
21 games. .236 BA with a .317 OBA. 3 HR, 11 RBI.

Wade Boggs entered the Hall of Fame today. Although he entered the hall wearing a Red Sox cap, he will still be a beloved Yankee in helping them claim their title in '96.

My favorite Wade Boggs moment was when he pitched against the then Anaheim Angels.




What's your favorite Boggs moment?

Last year, the big three (Mo, Gordon, Quantrill) got a lot of action - some would say they were overused. Plenty of people were saying that Flash's problems in the postseason were due to him being tired. So, I thought that I'd take a look and see how this year's big three (Mo, Gordon, Sturtze) are doing as compared to them through 104 team games.

Last year:

Mo: 52 Games
Gordon: 52 Games
Quantrill: 58 Games

This year:

Mo: 42 Games
Gordon: 52 Games
Sturtze: 40 Games

So, as you can see... Mariano has pitched in 10 less games, while Gordon is on the same pace as last year. This years number 3 man, Sturtze, has pitched in 18 less games than last year's number 3 man, Quantrill had through the same period of him.

Hopefully this will help us down the stretch as they are (hopefully) less likely to have issues.

With the Unit on the mound and a called-up replacement for the Angels, one would figure it would be a good day for Yankees baseball. The excitement was there as the Yanks had to rally with four runs in the eighth to tie the game 6-6.

The game was almost won in the 9th when Andy Philips hit a smoker down the third base line. Maicer Izturis was there to make the diving grab, and threw out Philips at first. The game then went into extra innings with the Angels going ahead in the 10th off of Vlad's soft single into center.

Bernie William's stretched out a double to lead off the bottom of the 10th with Womack replacing him obviously for speed. Interesting to say that its one of the few times I was glad Torre replaced Bernie with Womack. After Posada struck out, Jeter was walked after a wild pitch by the Angels Kevin Gregg. Womack advanced to third. Cano struck out, then Gary Sheffield hit a hard drive to Angels' shortstop Orlando Cabrera. In Michael Kay's words, it was a "tough hop" and he could not make the out at first. Womack scored to tie the game at 7-7.

The play of the game happened in the 9th when Hideki Matsui, yesterday's hero, hit a long fly ball over the head of center fielder Chone Figgin's head. The ball bounced off the wall, which allowed Matsui to round the bases for an easy triple. I was out of my seat!

The Angels then made an interesting move. They pulled Figgin's into the infield for a five man infield. They intentionally walked Jason Giambi, struck out Phillips, then Womack came to the plate. Womack was able to ground the ball between the heavy defensive infield for the game winning single to bring in Matsui for the win!

Jason Giami hit his 13th and 14th homers for the month of July. The first hit that many in one month since Mickey Mantle did so back in '61. Giambi also hit his 300th HR in his career. Congratulations Jason!

These last two days of Yankee baseball have been very thrilling. It feels like the postseason, and we're not playing the Red Sox. If you feel that way too, pinch yourself. It's only July with two more months of regular season ball to play and the Yanks are 2.5 games out of first.

The Yanks go back on the road this Tuesday night facing the Cleveland Indians at the Jake. For the Yankees Al Leiter (4-9, 6.20 ERA) takes on Scott Elarton (6-5, 4.54 ERA). Game time: 7:05pm et.

We are now an hour past the deadline. With the exception of the Groom trade, not a thing. Oh well, can't say it wasn't somewhat expected. Maybe August will bring some deals.

Sheff is up with men on 1st and 3rd in the bottom of the 10th with 2 outs, down by 1...

Not Groom's man: Pitcher blasts Yanks' Torre:


I'm going to call this sour grapes because it is nonsense.

Now, some people feel Joe doesn't use the pitching staff correctly. Some people feel that Groom may not have been used as he was and that he should have faced lefties only (despite the fact that Mo, Flash, Sturtze and Rodriguez have all been more effective against them this season and every one of those 4 but Sturtze has been better against lefties in their career). That's beside the point and not really related to what Groom said, in my book.

First of all, Joe is loyal... there is no doubt about it. It's a good trait to have. And if you produce for him or you show him something, he'll be comfortable with you and he'll continue to call your number. That's called trust. Trust is something you build and not something you get right away. In this regard, every manager has their "boys" a.k.a their go to relievers. But, that's not what Groom is implying. Not to me, anyway. He's more saying that Joe is the little league coach who starts his completely less capable son at short stop. Mariano Rivera, Tom Gordon and Tanyon Sturtze are the proverbial coaches sons. It's quite an insult to Mo, but it's also an insult to Flash and Tanyon. Was Mo one of "Joe's boys" when Joe was hired? No. He became Joe's boy because of his performance. Was Gordon Joe's boy when he signed here? No. He's been our 2nd best RP since opening day 2004. And that's why his number is called. Sturtze isn't as clear, but he has been semi reliable and once you look at the numbers, you will see that they show someone who has simply and clearly outperformed Groom. Last year, for instance. Lefties hit .333 off Groom. They hit .261 off Strutze. Righties hit .290 off Groom and they hit .246 off Strutze. This year, Strutze has again put himself far ahead of Groom in these categories. And that is why he is one of "Joe's boys" a.k.a. someone who pitches a lot - because he deserves to because of his performance!

When you've pitched 739 games and have an ERA of 4.63 as Groom had coming into this season, everyone knows what you're about. If he wasn't a lefty, would he be pitching in the majors? Perhaps, but not nearly as much. You've had a million opportunities. In 2003, batters hit .309 off Groom. In 2004, batters hit .309 off Groom. This season, where he has been allowed to pitch 24 games, batters have hit .305 off him. I mean... newsflash: the probable reason you went 15 days without pitching in Baltimore is because you're supposed to get lefties out and they were crushing you! He hadn't earned anyones trust and it was unrealistic of him to expect more opportunities than that when he is on a bullpen that features relievers clearly more capable than him at getting both righties and lefties out and on a team that is trying to get to the playoffs where every loss counts. That's what happens when your on a staff with your betters - you don't get a lot of chances and when you get those chances, you have to take advantage or you won't get more. There is nothing strange or wrong about that.

I hope he never pitches for the Yankees again. He shouldn't - unless he apologizes for what he said. These comments lead me to believe there might be something else going on here that the Yankees are not going to tell us. Perhaps an attitude issue? Again, all speculative on my part, but it seems strange that we'd go with Embree and Franklin over Groom, when he has performed better than both of them.

Edit: He's been dealt to Arizona for a PTBNL or cash. Works for me.

Various rumblings...

Pitchers being discussed include Ron Villone, Jamie Moyer, Kevin Millwood (supposedly Cash is trying to find a third team to get them what they want), Jason Johnson, Eddie Guardado, Bob Howry, Scott Sauerbeck, Scott Eyre, Bob Wickman and Gil Meche. We are said to have lost interest in Mark Redman.


On Juan Pierre:


:(


Bigbie is interesting. I was looking through some clips at MLB.com and it looks like Bigbie can play some defense. He has played 58 games in center, including 6 this year. From the few clips on MLB.com, I think he's probably a decent (at least) defensive solution for the rest of the year. He's 27 and has a career batting average of .271. He would become a free agent at the end of the season.

I'm thinking it would be nice if we could pull of deals for Millwood and Bigbie. With both being FAs at the end of the year, it'll be tough for us to deal good prospects which will make it tougher for us to get them.

Via the New York Daily News, the New York Post, The New York Times, The Star-Ledger, Newsday.com and the Beaver County Times via Pro Sports Daily.

Shawn Chacon's first start went well as he allowed just 1 unearned run on 4 hits and 3 walks over 6 innings. He left the game with a 3-1 lead on a 2 RBI double by Jeter in the 2nd and a Bernie Williams solo shot in 6th. It was after that that we got into trouble.

Felix Rodriguez (1 batter, didn't record an out), Alan Embree (2 batters, didn't record an out) and Tom Gordon combined to allow 7 runs (5 of them earned) in just an inning of work. Wayne Franklin came in with a man on 2nd and proceeded to retire three consecutive batters to prevent the runner from scoring.

Entering the bottom of the 8th, the Yankees are down 4. A-Rod made an out, followed by a Matsui single. Giambi hit a shot to deep right to put the Yankees down by 2 runs. K-Rod came in and retired Posada and Bernie.

Mo pitched a 1-2-3 ninth as he struck out Erstad and Vladdy (Seamus tells me he made Vladdy look bad) and got Garret Anderson to ground out to first. He now finds his ERA at 0.81. ... He is amazing.

Now, we head to the 9th. The Angels are going to ask K-Rod to give them 1 and 2/3 innings. He'll face 9, 1, 2 (Womack, Jeter, Cano).

Womack walks. He proceeds to steal second. Then Jeter walks. Cano strikes out. Womack and Jeter advance on a wild pitch. Then... Gary walks. Then... A-Rod walks and scores Womack. Yes... that's right - 4 walks. And now we're only down 1 with Matsui up. Matsui doubles to deep left center and Jeter and Sheffield score - Yankees win 8-7. Sweetness.

Giambi was 3 for 3 on the day with 1 HR, 2 RBI and a walk. Matsui was 2 for 5 with 2 RBI and 1 run. Bernie was 2 for 4 with 1 HR and 2 runs. Womack was 2 for 3 with 2 runs a walk and 3 stolen bases (bringing his total up to 23). Jeter (1 R, 2 RBI, 1 walk), A-Rod (1 RBI, 1 walk) and Sheffield (1 run) also added hits of their own. Cano and Posada were the only Yankees without a hit.

Randy Johnson goes against Chris Bootcheck (second start of his career, first since 2003) tomorrow at 1:05 PM eastern time.