How furious is everybody with Julio Lugo right now? Pretty furious, I’d say. He comes to the plate in the top of the ninth, two out, bases loaded, Yanks lead 2-1, and strikes out. At that moment I said to myself, “Who cares if he’s fast? It doesn’t matter if the man can’t get on base.” He’s just so irritating at times like this.
Masterson turned in a top-notch performance. He gave the Yankees plenty of scoring opportunities (ten Yankees left on base, but that’s negated by Boston’s eight), but he only gave up two runs on six hits over six innings pitched, walking two and striking out two. Those two runs were the only runs given up by Boston pitching all day with both Lopez and Timlin (I was shocked, too) pitching one perfect inning apiece. Boston’s run was batted in by Lowell, and Ellsbury was caught stealing the second day in a row. Dustin Pedroia was called out trying to stretch a single into a double. Sometimes there’s a price to pay for the grit, but in the long run the grit pays off: Pedroia also extended his hitting streak to thirteen games.
I trust that I am not the only one who noticed that yesterday’s home plate umpire was inconsistent with both teams all day. I’m telling you, watching this man did not help the fury factor. There’s nothing like a bad umpire in a close game to ruin it for you. There’s also nothing like a slumping Manny Ramirez, who according to Terry Francona is having trouble with good fastballs. I’m sorry, but I had no idea Mike Mussina’s fastballs could be classified as “good.” The Yankees are nine games out of first. We’re four games out of first. Not a good situation we’re in right now.
Wakefield at Chamberlain tonight. Like yesterday’s game, this should be interesting. Chamberlain as a starter doesn’t go very long, which means more innings of the Yanks bullpen. Unfortunately, the Yanks bullpen has been pulling its weight lately, but we’ll see if there’s something we can do about that.
