Deja Lose

Written by: Drew Sarver on 12th July 2009

Deja Lose | read this item

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
NY Yankees	2	1	0	1	0	0	2	2	0	8	9	1
LA Angels	0	0	0	1	7	1	1	4	X	14	16	1

WP – Weaver (10-3) LP – Pettitte (8-5)

Take a decent sized early lead, have your starting pitcher give it away, and then have your bullpen put the game out of reach. Such has been the recipe for disaster that the Yankees have put together the last 2 days.

Less than 24 hours after an ineffective Joba Chamberlain and his reinforcements turned a 5-1 lead into a 10-6 loss to the Los Angeles Angels, Andy Pettitte and company saw a 4-0 lead become a 14-8 defeat. The latter happened despite five home runs by the Yankees, including a pair by Alex Rodriguez, who passed Rafael Palmeiero for sole possession of 10th place on the all-time home run list.

The Angels had 16 hits, including three each by new and old Yankee killers Erick Aybar and Howie Kendrick (.464 career average vs. NY). The Halos’ running game was also in full effect. In addition to four stolen bases, the Angels took the extra base whenever possible.

Kendrick led off the 5th with a single and Brandon Wood followed with a 2-run home run to cut the Yankees’ lead to 4-3. Singles by Robb Quinlan, Aybar and Bobby Abreu tied the game and sent Pettitte to an early shower. David Robertson came in and threw some grease on the fire, allowing hits to Mike Napoli and Kendrich that drove in 2 runs each. Eric Hinske’s second home run of the day and home runs by A-Rod, (also his second), and Hideki Matsui cut the Angeles’ lead to 10-8 in the 8th, but the Angels put the game out of reach in the bottom of the inning with four runs against lefty Phil Coke.

A-Rod and Hinske homered off Angels starter Jered Weaver in the first two innings for a 3-0 advantage, and Robinson Cano added an RBI single in the fourth. But then the Angels stirred the pot and the Yankees had another colossal Western collapse on their hands.

Game Notes

A-Rod now has 570 home runs to put him three behind Twins slugger Harmon Killebrew for 9th place all-time.

In two starts as a Yankee, Eric Hinske is 4-8 with 3 home runs and 4 RBI.

Andy Pettitte has allowed 12 earned runs in his last two starts (10.1 IP).

CC Sabathia faces John Lacey at 5 p.m. ET today as the Yankees try to salvage the final game of the series. Then it’s 3 days off, except for Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, and Mark Teixeira, who are headed to St. Louis for the All-Star game.

Topics: andy pettitte, Bobby Abreu, Chone Figgins, David Robertson, Erick Aybar, Howie Kendrick, Jered Weaver, Los Angeles Angels, phil coke, Yankees 7/11 recap, Yankees vs. Angels