Three runs for the Yanks in this one – with the last one being a gift from Ian Kinsler breaking the wrong way on Jeter’s grounder. The Yankees have to start scoring more runs.

A-Rod is now oh’fer his last fifteen. That’s part of the problem.

On the flip-side, there’s Mike Mussina. Hey, Texas can hit. In fact, they hit very well. Moose holding them to goose-eggs in this one…well…shoot, I’ve run out of words to describe how good Mike Mussina has been…in this game…and on this season.

Without Mike Mussina, the Yankees would be in a heap of trouble this season. Yes, I know that the Yankees are only 15-9 in the games that Moose has started. But, within those nine losses are games that the Yankees dropped by the scores of 4-3, 3-2, and 2-1. (And, there’s two more by the scores of 4-2.)

Only five more wins, now, needed for Mussina to get twenty on the season. Moose should have about 8 or 9 more starts this year. It’s going to be close…but…I hope he gets that 20th win. He deserves it.

Sonnanstine didn’t just fall out of a tree. He was awesome in Double-A last year and did very well in A-ball the year before that one. His game is one based on great command and changing speeds. He’s got some talent and skills and is capable of shutting down a big league team, even at his young age, once in a while, like he did to the Yankees tonight.

Young Phil Hughes, also full of talent and skills, came into this game, for New York, with an ERA of 5.35 is his career seven big league starts. What did he do for the Yankees tonight? He throws 4.3 innings – allowing 11 of the 24 batters that he faced in that time to reach base. In terms of “stuff,” Hughes was averaging 92 MPH on his fastball in the first 4 innings of this game. But, when Phil came out to pitch in the fifth inning, his fastball was closer to 90 MPH – and, in fact, his last fastball of the game was clocked at 88 MPH. Once he got near 90 pitches this evening, Hughes basically ran out of gas.

On a night where Seattle lost again and where Boston lost a heart-breaker in Fenway, it would have been great to see Phil Hughes pitch more like Andy Sonnanstine did tonight, and vice versa, and have the Yankees win in a romp today – instead of having Tampa Bay take New York to school. Alas, it was not to be…and that’s a shame.

Update, 8/30/07, 2:20 pm ET: It’s the bottom of the 4th, with one out, and Wang’s averaging 4.0 P/PA in the game compared to Schilling’s 3.14 P/PA. Seems like the Sox are making Wang work whereas the Yankees are jumping at Schilling early in the count.

Update, 8/30/07, 2:42 pm ET: At this point in time, Robinson Cano is batting .407 lifetime against Schilling with 3 homers in 27 At Bats. I think he likes him.

Update, 8/30/07, 2:54 pm ET: It’s 2:54 am, Friday morning, in Taiwan. Think anyone there knows that Worm Killer Wang is 9 outs away from a no-hitter?

Update, 8/30/07, 4:14 pm ET: Sweep Fancy Moses! The Yankees are now 5 games back of Boston. Those two blown “Sean Henn” games from last week – August 20th and August 24th are indeed very haunting now. If the Yankees had won those two games, we’d be looking at 3 games back – with 28 games to go, including three at Fenway against the Sox. Now, that would have been something.

As far as the whole Youkilis/Joba thing, well, I want to see the video on that one before I comment. However, if you saw it, and want to comment on it now, please feel free to…in the comment section here.

Good game. The loss means nada to the Red Sox. Still, to a Yankees fan, at least this one, it’s always fun to beat Boston, in a close game, at the Stadium. Plus, it keeps the Yankees tragic number at ten (for another day). This really was a fun one to watch – I wouldn’t even mind seeing it make a re-run some time over the winter on YES.

Yeah, it’s a ditto job – but, it fits because these last two games were mirror images of each other in terms of feel, excitement and impact.

Did you know that, since 1957, the Red Sox have never pitched a game in Yankee (or Shea) Stadium against the Yankees where they threw eight innings in the contest and allowed 14+ hits and four runs or less? Well, until tonight, that is…so, maybe this game was a little bit different from the one of last night? (By the way, it, meaning H>=14 and R<=4, last happened in a nine inning game on August 22, 1989.)

Clemens and Rivera earned their pay today. Kyle Farnsworth, well, yoooooou….not so much. Oh, well, at least we’re now duly reminded that you cannot trust Kyle…no matter how many games in a row he may pitch where it appears that he could be useful.

Before I close, was anyone screaming “Bunt!” at their T.V. when Giambi was batting in the third, with Matsui on third, and two outs, and where Lowell was way off third – positioned at deep short (in a shift) and the right-handed throwing Beckett (falling towards first) on the mound?

So, now, the Yankees are in a virtual tie for first in the Wildcard – with 29 games left to go. That’s great. But, I want to see it where New York is in first for the ‘card with the trailing team one game back in the loss column. At that time, I will be a giddy Yankees fan – and then some.

Speaking of YES, sure, they played the squirrel sitting on the foul pole thing to death this evening. But, maybe that little guy can become the Yankees version of Charley Lupica?

Speaking of reincarnations, can it be that Matsuzaka facing the Yankees, as a member of the Red Sox, might turn out the same as Contreras facing the Red Sox, as a member of the Yankees? Wouldn’t that be a kick?

Big game for some of the character guys on the team today: Pettitte was full of fire – storming off the mound in the fifth, and, getting pissed in the dugout after allowing the homer in the seventh. Posada got the clutch hit in the first. Jeter homered. Phillips got a big hit to set up the Damon homer. Mo was nasty for the save. Melky had a sweet bunt. And, Damon, along with the hits, made some nice plays in left.

Lastly, when I look at Joba Chamberlain, I see him being a starter next year, and doing very well – until he hits three homeruns in one game during an inter-league match-up. Then, the Yankees start playing him in the outfield during off days…and the long-balls keep coming…and eventually Joba becomes a full-time position player and goes on to hit 714 career homeruns…wait, am I confusing him with someone else?

Seriously, as much fun as the “Jabba the Hutt” play on names thing is, it’s a tad insulting because the kid did once have a weight problem. Perhaps, playing on Icebox Chamberlain, we should start calling Joba “Toaster Chamberlain,” as that’s what he’s turning batters into with that heater he throws.

O.K., that’s not awesome either. Anyone have some better suggestions?

Back on August 20th, I wrote:

The New York Yankees are currently 4 games back of the Boston Red Sox in the A.L. East – with 38 games remaining on the 2007 schedule.

The Yankees and Red Sox are scheduled to face each other on August 28th. Between now, and then, both New York and Boston have seven games to play this week – all on the road (for both teams).

Look at it this way, at the best, the Yankees will be three games ahead of the Red Sox, when they meet on August 28th. And, at the worst, the Yankees will be eleven games out of first, when Boston comes to New York.

Well, with a loss in this game, the Yankees will be eight games out of first place when they face the Red Sox tomorrow. In just one week’s time, the Yankees have fallen another four games back of Boston – making this upcoming series no pressure whatsoever for the Bosox. Even if the Yankees sweep, at the worst, Boston will be five games up with 28 games left to play. That’s no problem for the Sox.

On the flip side, if the Red Sox take 2 of 3 from the Yankees now, that will give them a nine game lead with 28 games to play…so, if that happens, you might as well stick a fork in New York, because they appear to be done in the A.L. East.

The Yankees have played themselves into a corner where their only hope for October baseball now comes in the form of the Wildcard. One of five teams will take the ‘card between the Angels, Mariners, Yankees, Indians or Tigers. No one else has a shot at it. And, I suppose that you can say it’s three teams – since someone from the M’s/Angels will win the west and someone from the Tigers/Tribe will win the central.

Since it usually comes down to pitching, I’m going to say that Angels win the west and the Indians win the central – leaving the Yankees, Tigers and Mariners to fight over the Wildcard.

Detroit and Seattle are pretty close to each other, in terms of overall team pitching effectiveness. Some people would say that New York is slightly better than the two of them in this department. But, the Yankees are working with a three-man rotation now. It’s going to be tight for New York.

It’s up to Pettitte, Wang and Clemens from here out. Combined, they’re probably going to get 18 starts over the rest of the season. And, the trio will most likely have to go something like 13-5 over those games to get the Yankees were they need to be (for the Wildcard).

Therefore, this is what I’m calling at this point: As soon as Pettitte, Wang and Clemens lose 5 more games this year, combined, you can then forget about the Yankees’ 2007 season – as it will be over at that point.

David Justice, in the YES post-game, was right. When Hughes hits the corners with his fastball, he’s tough. But, when he gets too much of the plate with it, Hughes’ fastball is very hittable to major league batters. John Flaherty said this back on August 4th as well – that Phil’s 89-91 MPH fastball was very hittable in a spot where it’s expected.

It will be interesting to see if this will always be the case with Phil Hughes.

Less than two weeks ago, the Yankees were just 4 games back of Boston in the A.L. East. Since that time, New York has gone 5-7 while the Red Sox have gone 9-4. The gap between the two teams is now 7 games in the loss column.

It’s probably safe at this point for the Boston Red Sox to put that 2007 A.L. East Crown Champagne on ice.

To date, this season, the Yankees have gone 3-0 against the Pirates, 5-1 against the Rangers, 6-0 against the Indians, and 3-0 against the Diamondbacks. That’s a total of 17-1 against the Pirates, Rangers, Indians and Diamondbacks. This means New York has gone 55-57 against everyone else (not named the Pirates, Rangers, Indians or Diamondbacks). Heck, maybe the 2007 Yankees are just not that good?

And, it’s beyond good – nearing awesome – to see Worm Killer Wang on top of his game. When he’s on, he’s an absolute pleasure to watch on the mound – like in the case of this game.

Also, while I respect a pitcher who uses the inside corner of the plate and who is willing to make batters move in the box once in while, I thought that the Tigers’ Jeremy Bonderman came up and in to Yankees batters too many times in this game. Below the belt is fine – a pitcher should make a batter move his feet once in a while. However, Bonderman was coming up and in every time – above the belt and too close to heads. So, it was great to see the Yankees tag Bonderman for seven runs in less than six innings – as payback of sorts for his brushbacks.

Good to see, awesome to see, great to see…yet, because of where the recent losses to the Angels and the loss in the game before this one (to the Tigers) have put the Yankees in the chase for a post-season berth, it’s hard to get overly excited about this game – at least to me. It just feels like a win – but, one that’s too little too late.

Maybe some more wins in the next five games or so will change the way I feel about all this? And, I wonder if any other Yankees fans will the same way today?

The first pitch at 11:06 p.m. (because of a rain delay of 4 hours and 1 minute)? That’s just wrong.

Pin this terrible loss on Clemens and Henn – every other Yankees pitcher did their job in this game. Henn allowed three straight two-out hits to blow the game. Clemens allowed 4 huge extra-base hits in 6 innings of work…along with 3 walks…to allow 6 runs in 6 innings pitched.

The Yankees bats were good in the first half of the game – they scored 6 runs in the first 5 innings of the contest. I guess they were just sleepy by the time the sixth inning rolled along.

So, now the Yankees are 6 back, in the loss column, of Boston in the A.L. East – and New York is 4 games back, in the loss column, of Seattle in the Wildcard standings. The Yankees have 34 games left to play.

I think the Yankees have now found their theme song for 2007. It’s Dave Edmunds’ Slipping Away:

I can feel you slipping away from me.
A little bit further now every day.
I’m holding on, but I can’t believe
This is how you want it to be.
Oh, you’re slipping away.
Oh, you’re slipping away.
It feels like walking down a long, dark road.
You never talk to me the way you did before.
You ride through the city with your head held high.
And all I can do is watch you go by.
Oh, you’re slipping away.
Oh, you’re slipping away.
I’m gonna give it all I’ve got to give.
I’ve got to hold on, see what tomorrow brings.
You’re slipping away, but give me one more try.
One more chance to wipe these tears from my eyes.
You’re slipping away.
Oh, you’re slipping away.

1. The results of the two games before this one.
2. The Yankees place in the standings.
3. The calendar.
4. The losses by Boston and Seattle prior to this game.

This contest was as close to “must win” for the Yankees as you can get during the regular season. And, Andy Pettitte came through for New York.

Pettitte did not allow the Angels to take a lead in this game, through six, and then threw a shutdown inning in the seventh after the Yankees took a 3-1 lead. You cannot ask for more than that from a pitcher.

Given Hughes’ learning curves, Mussina’s ups-and-downs, Clemens’ age, and Wang’s issues with pitching on the road, you have to think that Pettitte is the Yankees “Game 1 Starter” and ace for the post-season, no?

One beef on this game for me: Joba Chamberlain is your “Barney Fife Bullet” – meaning he has to stay in your pocket and only be used carefully – and you bring him into a game when you have a 7-1 lead in the eighth? Is the Yankees bullpen that bad that no one else can help get the last 6 outs of a game where you have a 6-run lead?

O.K., sure, I realize that there’s an off-day between this game and the Yankees next series. And, that factors into it. However, if there’s an overall innings limit that the Yankees are applying to Joba this year, it seems like a waste to have him pitch an inning in a situation like this one, no?

Lastly, congrats to Joe Torre – for getting sole possession of second place on the franchise win chart behind Joe McCarthy. That’s pretty impressive. It makes me wonder if Joe wants to keep his job through 2010 to try and get the all-time record. Given his pay-rate, and the perks of being the Yankees manager, I can’t imagine why he would not want to stick around. If the Yankees don’t get a ring this year, it will be interesting to see what happens with Joe and his future plans.