My Pinstripes Alpha: Pettitte Gets Yankees Off on Wrong Foot

The Yankees don't know what to expect from their number 4 and 5 starters and from veteran Mike Mussina, but they knew they could count on Chien-Ming Wang and Andy Pettitte to give them quality starts. So far Pettitte has let manager Joe Girardi down in that respect.

Pettitte started out the season well, going 3-1, 2.45 through his first four starts. But since then he's pitched poorly in 3 of 4 outings and has allowed 16 earned runs in 21.1 innings. Those 3 poor outings have all resulted in Yankees losses. Last night it was the Tampa Rays sending Pettitte to an early shower in a 7-1 win at Tropicana Field.

The Yankees offense was flat as well as Rays starter Matt Garza dominated them through 7 innings. Pettitte looked sharp to start the game, but Jonny Gomes continued to be a thorn in his side this season. The Rays outfielder hit a game winning blast against Pettitte at Yankee Stadium back on April 5. This time Gomes ran the Rays into the early lead with a 2-out single in the 2nd inning and a stolen base. Former Yankees prospect Dionner Navarro had the first of his three hits on the night with a bloop RBI single to center field to give the Rays a 1-0 lead.

Rays phenom Evan Longoria doubled off the top of the right field wall to start the 4th and came home on Gomes' single to left. Navarro sacrificed him to 2nd and Gomes then stole 3rd Base as Eric Hinske walked. Jason Bartlett then provided the back breaker with a 2-run triple for a 4-0 lead. He would come home on Aki Iwamura's RBI single before Pettitte eventually wriggled his way out of the inning.

Garza meanwhile did not allow a Yankee to reach 2nd Base until the 6th inning when he allowed singles to Alberto Gonzalez and Derek Jeter. But Garza, who had already gotten Jose Molina to bounce into a pair of double plays, induced an around the horn double play from Bobby Abreu to end the inning.

The Rays tacked on a pair of runs against Chris Britton and Jose Veras before the Yankees finally scored a meaningless run in the 8th inning against the Rays bullpen.

News and Notes

Derek Jeter is 6-16 with 2 walks over the last 4 games, but just 2 runs scored. To exemplify the Yankees inability to score runs, consider that one of those runs came on his own home run.

Since his 17-game hitting streak ended, Hideki Matsui is just 1-11.

Alberto Gonzalez was 2-3 last night, is hitting .310, and has reached base in 9 of the 10 games he's had had at least one plate appearance. He definitely merits playing time over Morgan Ensberg.


	Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E

	NY Yankees	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	6	0

	Tampa Bay	0	1	0	4	1	0	1	0	X	7	13	0


WP: M. Garza (2-1) LP: A. Pettitte (3-4)

NY Yankees
	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	Season Avg
J. Damon lf	4	0	0	1	0	0	2	.274
D. Jeter ss	3	0	1	0	1	0	0	.309
B. Abreu rf	4	0	0	0	0	2	3	.295
H. Matsui dh	3	0	0	0	1	3	0	.323
J. Giambi 1b	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	.177
M. Cabrera cf	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	.270
R. Cano 2b	3	0	1	0	0	0	2	.188
J. Molina c	3	1	1	0	0	0	2	.214
A. Gonzalez 3b	3	0	2	0	0	0	0	.310
Totals	30	1	6	1	2	5	11

Batting

2B - J Molina (8, G Glover).

RBI - J Damon (17).

Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - B Abreu 1.

GIDP - J Molina 2, B Abreu.

Team LOB - 5.

Tampa Bay
	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	K	LOB	Season Avg
A. Iwamura 2b	5	0	2	1	0	2	0	.258
C. Crawford lf	4	0	1	0	1	2	2	.288
B.J. Upton cf	4	0	1	0	1	0	2	.295
C. Pena 1b	5	0	1	0	0	1	5	.209
E. Longoria 3b	4	2	2	0	1	2	2	.223
J. Gomes dh	4	3	2	1	0	0	1	.225
D. Navarro c	3	0	3	2	0	0	0	.362
E. Hinske rf	3	1	0	1	1	0	3	.257
G. Gross rf	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.205
J. Bartlett ss	4	1	1	2	0	0	2	.248
Totals	36	7	13	7	4	7	17

Batting

2B - E Longoria (4, A Pettitte).

3B - J Bartlett (1, A Pettitte).

S - D Navarro.

RBI - D Navarro 2 (12), J Gomes (10), J Bartlett 2 (8), A Iwamura (12), E Hinske (17).

2-out RBI - D Navarro.

Runners left in scoring position, 2 out - C Pena 2, J Bartlett 1, E Longoria 1.

Team LOB - 10.

Base Running

SB - J Gomes 2 (4, 2nd base off A Pettitte/J Molina, 3rd base off A Pettitte/J Molina).

Fielding

DP - 3 (J Bartlett-A Iwamura-C Pena 2, E Longoria-A Iwamura-C Pena).

NY Yankees
	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	Season ERA
A. Pettitte (L, 3-4)	4.0	8	5	5	2	5	0	4.40
C. Britton	2.0	1	1	1	2	0	0	1.93
J. Veras	1.2	4	1	1	0	1	0	2.45
E. Ramirez	0.1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0.00

Tampa Bay
	IP	H	R	ER	BB	K	HR	Season ERA
M. Garza (W, 2-1)	7.0	5	0	0	1	3	0	3.86
G. Glover	1.0	1	1	1	1	1	0	2.31
T. Miller	1.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	4.76