It was an odd day for the Yankees, whose winning streak ended at 7 games. The 3-2 extra inning loss Sunday to the Mets was an ugly one, marked by a blown save by Rivera and two errors from currently, the most controversial position in the Yankee diamond. Before the game the Yankees announced that the hottest player in the league, Eduardo Nunez, was scratched with a tight hamstring, and that Ivan Nova was optioned to AAA to clear room for Phil Hughes to start Wednesday in Cleveland. From there, the day got no better.
Through five innings it was a pitcher’s duel between Freddy Garcia and RA Dickey, who was forced to leave after the fifth with an injured left glute. Both starters pitched well, especially Garcia who was denied a win after going 7 innings, scattering 6 hits and just one earned run.
The action picked up in the bottom of the ninth, when Mariano Rivera uncharacteristically walked Jason Bay with two outs and gave up back-to-back singles to allow the tieing run to score. With first and second Ramiro Pena allowed a hot grounder to go through his legs but was saved by a great throw-and-tag play by Gardner and Martin (the second by this combo in interleague play) to send the game to extra innings. Unfortunately, this would not be his worst error of the afternoon.
Pena’s reputation is that he has a major-league ready glove, but a bat that is more suitable for AAA. With Nunez out with a sore hamstring and Jeter not ready to return until tomorrow, Pena was inserted at shortstop—a Yankee position that will undoubtedly be debated over the next few weeks. In the 10th inning Pena made a more costly error when he bobbled a Daniel Murphy dribbler, setting up Jason Bay’s walk-off single to right-center. Bay was a notorious Yankee-killer when he was with Boston, and has done the same with the Mets.
Overall the Yankees had a tremendous interleague season; winning each of the 6 series they played while posing a 13-5 record. Derek Jeter is set to return from the DL tomorrow and resume his quest for 3,000 hits, so don’t expect the mayhem to end anytime soon.
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Andrew Rotondi
NYYUniverse.com Staff Writer
Follow me on Twitter @Yankees_talk
