Yanks fall in 10 innings

On John Starks’ 45th birthday, the Yanks lost a 10-inning heart breaker to the Rangers, 4-3.

You can’t blame this loss on AJ, though (7 IP, 6 H, 3 R). Nor Mo, who gave up the winning run on three hits (two BS grounders) and a questionable intentional walk while getting just one out in the 10th. It wasn’t even on home plate ump Mike Estabrook, who made some questionable calls all night. This loss falls solely on the offense, or lack thereof.

Tex wasn’t in the lineup because he was back in New York to be with his pregnant wife, who gave birth to the couple’s third child (William Charles Teixeira); Cano was not in the lineup because he was sick and felt like he had no energy (though he did pinch hit for Ramiro Pena in the sixth); and Posada wasn’t in the lineup due to a cranky shoulder.

Granted, it wasn’t the “A lineup” out there but they still had golden opportunities to score and didn’t get it done. The O was 3-for-11 with RISP, left nine men on base and struck out nine times. They had Grandy on third with one out in the eighth, but Cervelli hit some bullshit pop up to first and Gardner grounded out to end the inning.

Speaking of Gardner, he is 2 for his last 30, 10 for his last 66 and is hitting .233/.347/.315 over the last two months. In addition to the aforementioned inning-ending ground out, he also looked at a pair of strike threes down the heart of the plate.

Furthermore, I’ve been the biggest supporter of Cervelli all season, I really have, but enough might be enough after this last game. Yeah, he had a big RBI single on Monday but coming in he was hitting .172/.213/.190 over his last 20 games. I didn’t think he was going to hit .400 all season, but I think he’s finally getting exposed for the hitter he is. It might be time to call up Jesus Montero if Posada’s shoulder is indeed going to be an issue.

Kearns did his part, he went 2-for-3 with a walk and a double and scored once, while A-Rod chipped in with home run number 601.

The Yanks fell to 4-3 in extra innings this season…It was the Rangers’ seventh walk-off win of the year…It was Mo’s second loss of the year and his first earned run of 2010 that came in a non save situation…The Yanks have struck out a total of 41 times over the last four games.

With the setback, the Yanks’ lead in the AL East was trimmed to 1/2 game over the Rays. It won’t get any easier tomorrow, as the Yanks will face Cliff Lee with Javy going for them.

LET’S GO YANKS!!!!!!!!