CHICAGO – At the rate the Yankees are going, anytime they see a team with the word “Sox” may as well count as a loss.
Saturday, the team as a whole played one of their worse games of the season as they officially lost their first series since being swept by the Angels before the All-Star Break.
Against the White Sox, the losses have come one worse than the other. All of them equally bad in their nature and the team’s quality of play deteriorating with each defeat. This one, a 14-4 mashing in front of 38, 763 at US Cellular Field.
This brings the Yankees record to 0-11 against a team with the last name of “Sox”.
For AJ Burnett (10-5, 3.89), who was pitching so incredibly well over his the last two months since his start against Boston, this was a slight step back. He was unable to gain command of any off speed pitch, and the White Sox lineup was able to take advantage and drive hit after hit against him in his 4 2/3-inning stint.
His day was looking promising after a scoreless first where struck out two, but in the second inning, the wheels fell off.
After opening the inning by getting Paul Konerko to fly out to right, Burnett gave up successive singles to AJ Pierzynski, Carlos Quentin and Chris Getz to load the bases. Facing .231 ninth place hitter Jayson Nix and up 1-2 in the count, he was unable to put him away and walked him to force home the game’s first run.
Scott Podsednik followed with a two run single to right that brought home Quentin and Getz. White Sox rookie Gordon Beckham continued his hot hitting in the series by doubling in both Nix and Podsednik with a drive into the gap in right center. The final damage of the inning came when Jermaine Dye singled home Beckham to make it 6-0.
The Yankees quickly got two runs back off starter John Danks when Mark Teixeira lifted a single into right field that scored both Jerry Hairston Jr. and Derek Jeter to make it 6-2. They would have another chance in the fourth to add some runs, but Cody Ransom struck out to end the inning.
The score would remain until the bottom of the fifth when Burnett suffered another meltdown. After striking out Jim Thome, he hit Konerko with a pitch and gave up a single to Pierzynski. After he induced Quentin into a fly out, he gave up a single again the Getz to load the bases due to Konerko not being fast enough to score from second with two outs.
This brought up Nix again, who Burnett walked to force home a run in the second. He got ahead of the count 0-2 before not being able to put him away. Nix got back into the count and worked it full. With the crowd at US Cellular rising to their feet and making noise, Burnett’s 3-2 pitch was low and away for ball four, as the number nine hitter had driven home two runs without taking the bat off his shoulder.
Out came Manager Joe Girardi and his starters night was over. Brian Bruney came in to get the final out. The final stats were not pretty. Burnett gave up seven runs (all earned) and ten hits in 4-2/3 innings.
Twice the Yankees had chances to put a dent into the game, and it came in both the sixth and seventh innings. In the sixth, they loaded the bases with no one out and was only able to come up with one run. With one out (Rodriguez was unable to tag on Cabrera fly ball), Hairston softly singled to left, but Jorge Posada was called out at third base going base-to-base.
Ransom struck out to end the inning to make it 7-3. They would get another run in the seventh when Rodriguez reached on an infield hit that scored Jeter. After Posada advanced the runners to second and third in exchange for an out, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen removed Danks for reliever Tony Pena, who was able to snare a hard hit ball right at the mound to thwart the threat.
Danks (9-7) numbers were not great, but enough to gain the win. He gave up four runs on seven hits in six innings, walking four and striking out five.
The White Sox answered in the bottom half when Podsednik (3 for 5, 4 RBI) got his third hit of the game, singling home Getz to make it 8-4 and it would proceed to get ugly in the eighth.
Phil Coke came on trying to hold the deficit at four and had nothing. He allowed the first four men to reach, which included an RBI single by Pierzynski. For the third time in the game, Nix was walked for the fourth time (this time intentionally) to load the bases for Podsednik after a run scoring groundout by Chris Getz.
Coke would proceed to walk Podsednik (the third bases loaded walk of the game) to make it 11-4 and Beckham and Dye would proceed to take on three more runs to continue the beating.
In all, it was a 17 hit attack by the South Side Hitmen they saw their first three hitters (Podsednik, Beckham and Dye) go 6 for 17 with 10 RBI’s and both Getz and Nix reach base eight times in 10 chances.
Nix’s stat line is damning in itself. He finished the game 1 for 1 with four walks and two RBI’s.
The Yankees continued their problems with runners in scoring position, going a combined 3 for 19, with Ransom striking out three times to end the inning.
On Sunday, the White Sox will look to go for their first sweep of the Yankees since June 2000 when they went 4 for 4 at Old Yankee Stadium.
Mark Buehrle gets the ball for the White Sox and CC Sabathia makes an important start for the Yanks as they look to avoid the brooms.
No comments:
Post a Comment