My Pinstripes Alpha

For once a hyped pitching match up panned out. Unfortunately, for the Yankees they came out on the wrong end of 3-0 decision to the Cleveland Indians. While Chien-Ming Wang was solid, allowing 3 runs over 7 innings, he was outdone by Cliff Lee who dominated the Yankees en route to upping his record to 6-0.

Wang got into immediate trouble in the 1st inning, walking lead off man Grady Sizemore. Ben Francisco's single put runners on the corners with no one out, but then Wang bared down. Tuesday's hero David Dellucci bounced into a force out with Sizemore remaining at 3rd Base. Victor Martinez came through with sacrifice fly before Wang retired Jhonny Peralta on an inning ending fly out.

The Yankees could only manage a bloop single by Hideki Matsui, which extended his hitting streak to 16 games, through the first 4 innings. Lee struck out four as he retired the Yankees in order in 3 of those 4 innings. Meanwhile the Indians added tack on runs in the 4th and 5th.

Peralta singled up the middle with 1-out in the 4th and came around from 2nd two batters later on Casey Blake's single to right. Peralta's head first hook slide helped evade the throw home from Bobby Abreu in right.

In the 5th, Andy Marte lead off with a single and Wang walked Sizemore for the second time. Wang struck out Francisco, but Dellucci bit the Yankees on the behind again with a lined RBI single to center. Sizemore killed the chance for a bigger inning when he was thrown by Jose Molina trying to steal 3rd Base.

The Yankees only had a couple of real chances to get to Lee. They put two men on in the 5th on singles by Melky Cabrera and Robinson Cano, but Lee struck out Morgan Ensberg and retired Molina on a deep fly to right. A 2-out single by Abreu and a double by Shelley Duncan in the 6th brought the tying run to the plate again, but Lee struck out Matsui swinging to get out of trouble.

The Yankees had just one base runner over the final 2 innings as Rafael Betancourt closed things out for the second straight night.

News and Notes

His hitting may have gone cold, but Jose Molina's defense is always top-notch. He threw out Ben Francisco attempting to steal 2nd Base for the second night in a row and nailed Grady Sizemore trying to nab 3rd Base this evening. Molina also made the play of the game in the 9th inning. Travis Hafner hit a dribbler in front of the plate with the bases loaded and just 1 out. Molina hopped out, grabbed the ball, and in one quick motion, stepped on home plate and fired to 1st to record the double play.

Chien-Ming Wang suffered his first regular season loss since September 15, 2007. His last 3 losses have all been against the Indians (1 regular season, 2 playoff games).

Kyle Farnsworth's scoreless appearance in the 8th lowered his ERA to 3.18, the lowest it has been since April 7.

May 7, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Cleveland	1	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	3	7	0
NY Yankees	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0

Cleveland	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Sizemore, CF	2	1	0	0	2	1	0	.265
Francisco, RF	4	0	2	0	0	2	2	.357
Gutierrez, RF	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.245
Dellucci, LF	4	0	1	1	0	0	3	.273
Martinez, DH	3	0	0	1	0	0	2	.337
Peralta, SS	4	1	2	0	0	0	1	.229
Cabrera, 2B	2	0	0	0	2	0	1	.187
Blake, 1B	3	0	1	1	0	0	1	.206
Shoppach, C	3	0	0	0	1	0	2	.256
Marte, 3B	3	1	1	0	0	1	1	.105
a-Hafner, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	.209
Carroll, 3B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.225
Totals	29	3	7	3	5	4	16
a-Grounded into a double play for Marte in the 9th.
BATTING TB: Francisco 2; Dellucci; Peralta 2; Blake; Marte. RBI: Martinez (11), Blake (20), Dellucci (13). 2-out RBI: Blake. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Marte; Shoppach; Martinez. S: Blake. SF: Martinez. GIDP: Hafner. Team LOB: 6. BASERUNNING CS: Francisco (2, 2nd base by Farnsworth/Molina), Sizemore (2, 3rd base by Wang/Molina).

Cleveland	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Lee (W, 6-0)	7.0	6	0	0	0	7	0	0.81
Perez (H, 4)	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	0	3.86
Betancourt (S, 4)	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5.52

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, LF	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	.273
Jeter, SS	4	0	0	0	0	2	0	.300
Abreu, RF	4	0	2	0	0	1	0	.305
Duncan, S, 1B	4	0	1	0	0	1	1	.192
Matsui, DH	4	0	1	0	0	1	2	.339
Cabrera, CF	4	0	1	0	0	1	1	.279
Cano, 2B	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	.160
Ensberg, 3B	3	0	1	0	0	1	2	.226
Molina, C	3	0	0	0	0	1	3	.219
Totals	34	0	7	0	0	8	10
BATTING 2B: Duncan, S (2, Lee), Abreu (5, Perez). TB: Abreu 3; Duncan, S 2; Matsui; Cabrera; Cano; Ensberg. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Molina; Matsui 2; Duncan, S. Team LOB: 7. FIELDING Outfield assists: Abreu (Francisco at 2nd base). DP: (Molina-Duncan, S).

NY Yankees	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Wang (L, 6-1)	7.0	5	3	3	3	4	0	3.12
Farnsworth	1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0	3.18
Albaladejo	1.0	1	0	0	2	0	0	4.76

Pitches-strikes: Lee 103-76, Perez 10-9, Betancourt 22-15, Wang 99-65, Farnsworth 12-5, Albaladejo 20-11.
Ground outs-fly outs: Lee 8-6, Perez 1-1, Betancourt 1-2, Wang 7-9, Farnsworth 0-2, Albaladejo 3-0.
Batters faced: Lee 27, Perez 4, Betancourt 3, Wang 28, Farnsworth 3, Albaladejo 5.
Umpires: HP: Brian Gorman. 1B: Scott Barry. 2B: Sam Holbrook. 3B: Gerry Davis.
Weather: 65 degrees, partly cloudy.
Wind: 15 mph, R to L.
T: 3:04.
Att: 50,199.

Labels: Chien-MIng Wang, Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore, Hideki Matsui, Yankees Go Down Easi-Lee, Yankees vs. Indians - May 7

Generally when a pitching match up is hyped it falls flat on its face. Hopefully Chien-Ming Wang holds up his end of the bargain tonight when the Yankees face Cliff Lee and the Indians.

The Wanger is 6-0, 5.00, while Lee is 5-0, 0.96. Hard to believe that ERA, even in May. Lee has struggled at the Stadium going 1-2, 8.79 in 3 career starts in the Bronx. Overall he's 2-3, 6.82 in 6 career starts against the Yankees and has allowed 7 home runs in 33 innings.

Cabrera .250 (2-8) 1 HR 1 RBI
Cano .100 1-10 1 RBI
Damon 0-11
Giambi .300 (3-10) 1 HR 5 RBI
Jeter .471 (8-17)
Matsui .333 (3-9)
Moeller 0-3
Molina .375 (3-8) 1 HR 2 RBI

It's pretty fair to say that left-handers don't fair well against Lee. Abreu has never faced him, but will be in the lineup tonight. Shelley Duncan also is back in there..hitting cleanup..which gives us the shakes. Jorge, A-Rod, hurry up and get back here.

Wang beat the Indians on April 27, blanking them over 7 innings. He had to leave his last start with a hand cramp, which hopefully won't recur tonight.

Here's tonight's lineup from Peter Abraham.

Damon LF
Jeter SS
Abreu RF
Duncan 1B
Matsui DH
Cabrera CF
Cano 2B
Ensberg 3B
Molina C

Labels: Chien-MIng Wang, Cliff Lee, Pitchers Night in the Bronx, Yankees vs. Indians - May 7