AJ has a case of the Mondays

After an 8-6 setback to the Blue Jays the Yanks are tied with the Rays for first place in the AL East (66-39).

Shit I did like:

• AJ’s eight-pitch first inning.
• Jeet moving into sole possession of 41st place on the all-time hits list with his 2,868th base knock.
• Swish Dog’s two homers. He now has four over his last four games.
• The ninth-inning outfield consisting of Kearns in left, Swish Dog in center and Thames in right. Wow, thank God no balls were hit out there.
• The bullpen. Mitre, D-Rob, Boom Boom Boone and Joba combined to throw 4 1/3 innings of two-hit relief. They combined for three walks but no runs and five strikeouts.
• The offense was clicking as a whole; granted they failed on a ninth-inning rally but if not for that AJ bed-shit in the fifth it would have been a different game.
• Lance Berkman hitting seventh to “take some pressure off” and driving in his first RBI with the Yanks.

Shit I didn’t like:

• Allan James Burnett (how much time you got?). 24 pitches in the second inning after a great first; Wells’ solo homer in the second snapped AJ’s scoreless streak at 12 innings. He walked Jose Molina in the fifth after going up 0-2 on him (Molina was thrown out at the plate, but still) and gave up seven runs in the frame including six extra-base hits. His eight earned runs on Monday tied a season high.
• Girardi’s decision to keep Burnett in for so long in the fifth. The Jays batted around on him. WTF, Joe?
• The six doubles by the Jays in the fifth tied an AL record (’02 Rangers & ’34 Senators). The Rangers’ six doubles in 2002 also came against the Yanks in a game started by Moose that saw A-Rod hit home run number 277.
• The seven runs in the fifth tied a season high for a single inning.
• A-Rod is 9-for-43 since hitting home run 599. I’m not so much pissed at him, and really don’t care about milestones all that much, but I just don’t want to hear Michael Kay talk about it every friggin’ at-bat. Get it done Al, for the sake of us who are stuck listening to Mike. Also, Tex has hit four homers (one on Monday) batting in front of him and Cano has three dingers hitting behind him since #599 left the yard.
• The Yanks share first place in the division for the first time since June 19th.

The Yanks got Dustin Moseley going tomorrow against Ricky Romero in an effort to stop a 1-3 stretch. The good news: Dusty was great in his last time out and made his debut against Toronto on July 3, tossing two innings of perfect relief in a game the Yanks roughed up Romero for eight runs in 2 2/3 innings.

Post game quotes:

Girardi on AJ:

"He lost command of his fastball and was flat. Of course it’s correctable…You’re surprised when he gives up a big inning like that."

Girardi on A-Rod:

"He made outs. Nothing alarming that told me he didn’t have good at-bats."

AJ:

"The big key is singles are alright but extra-base hits you gotta take out of the game. I didn’t have it tonight, it’s just a matter of locating it better. There’s a lot of things that baffle me, but you figure it out and move on. It’s a bump in the road."