Up, Out, and Over

Perfection has become expected of Joba Chamberlain. Anything less is shocking. Of course those expectations are too high, but that's what happens when you have a young, hard throwing pitcher that dominates hitter. Last night though it was Chamberlain who got dominated when David Dellucci turned on a 96-mph fastball and put it into the right field seats for a game winning 3-run home run. The Indians held on for a 5-3 win in the first game of the 3-game series.

There were no midges this time around, but just like last October 5th, Chamberlain was called on to protect Andy Pettitte's slim one run lead, and just like last October, Chamberlain failed in his quest.

Pettitte had gotten the Yankees through 6 1-3 innings with a 3-2 lead before Kyle Farnsworth got the final 2 outs in the 7th inning. Joe Girardi had the game just as he would design it from a pitching standpoint. But Chamberlain got in trouble immediately by walking lead off man Grady Sizemore on a 3-2 pitch to start the 8th. Jamey Carroll bunted Sizemore into scoring position before Chamberlain issued his second walk of the inning, this time to Jhonny Peralta. Ryan Garko flied out to right for the 2nd out of the inning, but Dellucci, a great fastball hitter, drilled a pitch that was up and in, up and out as a helpless Bobby Abreu looked on.

The Yankees had the top of the order up in the 9th, but acting closer Rafael Betancourt retired Johnny Damon, Derek Jeter, and Abreu in order to snap the Yankees 3-game winning streak.

Andy Pettitte bounced back from two straight poor showings with an effective outing. He allowed 2 runs, 5 hits, walked 1, and struck out 6, leaving after his 104th pitch. The Yankees had given him an early lead, but as has been the pattern this season, could not break the game open.

The Yankees loaded the bases in the 1st inning against Fausto Carmona on singles by Jeter and Hideki Matsui, sandwiched around a walk to Abreu. But a slumping Jason Giambi continued his bad start, hitting a ground out to first. The only saving grace was that it was hit slowly enough to only get a force out, allowing Jeter to score on the play. Carmona escaped further trouble by getting Melky Cabrera to hit a comebacker for the 3rd out.

Peralta, who had spoiled Pettitte's game in Cleveland in April with a home run, jumped on a Pettitte delivery in the 4th inning for a 2-run home run, his 6th of the season. But the Yankees answered right back against Carmona, who continued to struggle with his control this season.

The young right-hander walked Matsui to start the 4th and Godzilla immediately scored on Giambi's double to left. Cabrera did his job grounding out to the right side to move Giambi to 3rd and Robinson Cano brought him home with a single to left for a 3-2 lead. Jose Molina's 2-out single put a runner in scoring position, but Damon lined out to Sizemore to end the frame.

News and Notes

The Yankees were 1-6 with runners in scoring position. Even if you take away Melky Cabrera's productive out in the 4th, the Yankees continued to fail in the clutch.

Bobby Abreu had a rough night on the bases. He was thrown trying to steal 2nd Base in the 3rd inning, and was throw out trying to go from 1st to 3rd on Hideki Matsui's single to right in the 5th.

Matsui's 3-3 night extended his hitting streak to 15 games and raised his average to .342. He's had 7 hits in last 12 at-bats (.583).

As hard as it is to say, Kyle Farnsworth has been pitching well. He's allowed just 2 runs over his last 9.2 innings, with both runs coming on home runs. He's lowered his ERA from 4.91 to 3.38 in his last 10 appearances.

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