Fright Night Low Lights

Like biting into unsweetened chocolate, Friday night left a bitter taste in our mouths. The Rangers lead the Penguins 3-0 in their 2nd round NHL playoff game and the Yankees were ahead of the Indians 3-1 at the Jake. Then all hell broke loose. Hours later both teams had gone down to defeat leaving us angry, bitter..okay, you get the idea.

For the Yankees a second straight blown lead meant a two game losing streak. One night after a 3-0 game against the White Sox turned into a loss, the Yankees sent their stopper, Andy Pettitte, to the mound against the Cleveland Indians. The Yankees built their lead on a pair of Jason Giambi home runs. With Pettitte on the hill, it appeared the Yankees would take the first game of the four game series and end their mini 1-game losing streak. Then just as fast as midges can attack, they fell behind and the Indiand went on to a 6-4 victory.

Pettitte retired the first two hitters in the fifth and appeared to be breezing along. Travis Hafner and Victor Martinez stroked consecutive singles and suddenly the Tribe had a rally. Jhonny Peralta made it count when he blasted a hanging breaking pitch into the left field seats for his 5th home run of the season and a 4-3 Indians lead. Franklin Gutierrez then went back-to-back, hitting a his 2nd home run of the year not far from where Peralta's landed. Just like that the Yankees trailed 5-3.

Giambi had taken Indians starter Paul Byrd deep in both the 2nd and 4th innings, the latter with a man aboard. Hideki Matsui quickly got a run back for Pettitte in the 6th, when he took went yard on Byrd for his 4th home run of the year. The blast also sent Indians manager Eric Wedge to the mound to get Byrd and bring in hard throwing left-hander Rafael Perez.

Both Perez and setup man Rafael Betancourt, who is the closer while Joe Borowski is on the DL, have struggled this season, but both dominated last night as they did in the 2007 ALDS. Perez's walk to Robinson Cano would be the only base runner either would allow. Since Melky Cabrera followed Cano's walk with a double play grounder, the two faced the minimum 10 batters over the final 3.1 innings.

News and Notes

The Indians picked up another run in the 6th off of lefty specialist Billy Traber. The last six left-handed hitters that have faced Traber have all reached base safely. It may not be long before Heath Phillips gets a call up from Scranton and takes a shot at the role.

Ian Kennedy goes for the Yankees today and Joe Girardi told the media, "he knows what I want". Kennedy could be ticketed for Scranton very shortly if his struggles continue.

Shelley Duncan has been recalled from Scranton as expected.

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