Bad AJ makes cameo

The Yanks lost the middle test of their set with the Red Sox, 11-6.

Bad AJ was out in full force, as he gave up eight runs — a season-high seven earned — on seven hits with three strikeouts to four walks in just 5 2/3 innings of work. His ERA against the Sox as a Yankee is now 8.85 in eight starts. Yikes. He’s 6-4 this year and I hope that this isn’t the part of the season where he breaks down and spirals out of control.

AJ has put together some great starts this year, but he has yet to throw a scoreless outing this season. I don’t know what that means, but I feel like he should have at least one scoreless outing. His peripherals are decent though, so I guess I shouldn’t be bitching.

There’s not much else to say, the Yanks had opportunities but committed many errors — mentally and physically. You have Cervelli’s two pick-off attempts that went into the outfield, Gardy not coming home on a wild pitch, Jeter’s GIDP with the bases loaded in the sixth and many other things that made this game a botched abortion. They were 4-for-14 with RISP and stranded seven runners as the Sox won their fifth straight game at The Stadium, their longest single-season streak since July 7-9, 1939.

The Yanks allowed a total of 14 runs on the final seven games of their road trip, but yielded 17 runs in the first two games of this series. Man, I miss playing the AL West.

Cervelli, who was only playing because Russell Martin’s back locked up, had one of the weirdest games. In addition to the aforementioned throwing errors, he went 3-for-3 with a double, two RBI, two runs scored, a walk and took a foul ball off his junk. It was his seventh — SEVENTH!!!!! — career three-hit game. However, since the start of 2010 he has thrown out just 10 of 78 base runners whereas he had caught 13 of 21 would-be base stealers in 2009.

You have to give props to Tex for playing one day after taking a Lester cutter off his knee, an injury that looked like it could sideline him for a while. He drove in a pair of runs on a sac fly and a single.

Fun Facts:

• A-Rod, who got the scoring started with a solo blast in the fourth, moved into sole possession of ninth place on the all-time RBI list with his 1,865th RBI.
• Jeter had his first strikeout in 58 plate appearances, a career-best streak, but also notched his eighth double of the year (an RBI jaunt) to move within 11 hits of 3,000. He also scored to tie “Wee” Willie Keeler for 22nd place on MLB’s all-time runs list. His GIDP was his sixth of the year; A-Rod (9), Martin (9) and Cano (7) all have more, which I think is weird. Since the start of the 2009 campaign, Jeet has hit into 46 double plays while Ichiro has 49 for his entire MLB career (11 seasons).
• Boone Logan threw 1 2/3 innings of relief and put up some deceiving stats. His line read one hit, no runs, three strikeouts and two walks. However, it was just an ugly outing for him. For a LOOGY he really can’t get lefties out; southpaws are 12-for-35 (.342) against him. When you have one job you should be able to do it. Just saying.
• The Yanks might have had a chance to tie it up in the ninth, as they were down only 8-5, but Lance Pendleton gave up three runs in the final frame. It was a fitting end to a craptacular game.
• For what it’s worth, HP umpire Bob Davidson was screwing up calls all night. Not so much only for AJ but also for Wakefield.

With the win, the Red Cox took a one-game lead in the division. That could change on Thursday though, as the finale of this debacle will be at 7:05 in a battle of aces — CC will take on Josh Beckett.

LET’S GO YANKS!!!!

Injury News:

Phil Hughes threw a bullpen session on Tuesday and could start a rehab assignment on Monday. He had today off and will throw 30 pitches or two innings on Thursday and then a bullpen session Saturday. Depending on how everything goes on Thursday, Philthy could begin the assignment on Monday, according to pitching coach Larry Rothschild.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Joba was placed on the 15-day DL today with a strained flexor muscle, which has apparently been bothering him for awhile. Corresponding moves include Hector Noesi being sent back to Scranton, where he’ll work as a starter, and Amauri Sanit being called up from Scranton. In addition, Jeff Marquez, who was sent to the ChiSox in the Swisher deal, was claimed off waivers from Chitown and added to the big league roster. Eric Chavez was moved to the 60-day DL to make room for Marquez. Supposedly, Chavez is eligible to be activated on July 5.