08/03: Yankee Comeback Falls Short at the Jake
Posted by: Seamus
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 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.
