Jobu reviews the Yankees’ terrible series against the Toronto Blue Jays.

If you couldn’t tell by the title, or the summary line, the Yankees played a pretty terrible series against the Blue jays. While they managed to win a game against the last place, minor-league-line-upped Jays, they dropped two. The losses happened because of bad hitting, defense and pitching, so at least the collapse was consistent.

Game 1: Blue Jays 8, Yankees 7

I had the pleasure of being at the stadium to witness the Yankees snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in this game. They sent young David Phelps to the mound against Henderson Alvarez (I dubbed him “Hendu”). The Game started out great, but in the end, no untucked shirts.

Thank You David

The Yankees’ starting pitching has been pretty crappy of late. As we wait for Andy Pettitte to come back, and hope that Iván Nova doesn’t, it’s nice that Phelps has really provided some solid pitching for us at a key time. He pitched well enough to win this game, giving up a couple of homers but mostly getting the Jays out easily. He also had a bunch of PC Richards, which is always great to see. (If you don’t know what that is, go to a game and find out). His final line looked like this: 6.1 Ip, 5 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 7 Ks, 88 pitches and a no-decision. (note: the fourth run was allowed by Cody Eppley in relief).

The real culprits in this game were Rafael Soriano, who blew the save by allowing a two-out, three-run homer to Colby Rasmus to give the Jays a 7-6 lead in the ninth, and Derek Lowe, whose pickoff throw error gave the Jays the win in the top of the eleventh. Thanks everyone.

Not Much You Can Do
The Yankees put up seven runs in a game in which their starter only allowed four. That should be enough to win every time out. There really wasn’t much they could have done. Canó homered twice, Swisher hit a two-run homer and The Captain tied the game with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the tenth. In all, the Yankees had seven runs on eight hits. They left seven men on base, and only went 1-5 with runners in scoring position, but come on. That’s good enough to win.

Notable Offense: HR – Canó 2 (27), Swisher (20), Jeter (14), RBI – Canó 2 (70), Martin (35), Ibañez (52), Swisher 2 (75), Jeter (45), 3 hits for Chavez, 2 for Canó

Boxscore – 8/27/2012

Game 2: Yankees 2, Blue Jays 1

The Yankees sent Phil Hughes to the mound against Rick Romero in game two. They didn’t get much offense, but got some great pitching and a game two win.

Hughesy Poo

There really isn’t much to write about here. Hughes was pretty great. He did give up a solo home run to Adeiny Hechavarria, but homers are best when they’re solo, and the run didn’t really make a difference in the game anyway. Hughes’ final line looked like this: 7 Ip, 4 H, 1 R, 3 BBs, 5 Ks, 110 pitches and his thirteenth win of the season (13-11). Robertson pitched a solid eighth and a notably surly Soriano rebounded wonderfully with a 123 ninth inning for his 34th save of the year.

Just Enough

Sometimes you’re gonna get shut down. Sure, Ricky Romero hadn’t won in his last eleven starts, and he hadn’t come particularly close, but he’s still Ricky Romero. You know he has the talent to shut offenses down, and he did in this one. It didn’t help that, for some reason, Steve Pearce was hitting cleanup and Russell Martin was hitting fifth. I mean really? That’s all we have left? Anywho, the Yankees scored single runs in the third (on an RBI single by Swisher_ and in the fourth (on a sac fly by Curtis Granderson). That’s all they would need on this night.

Notable Offense: RBI – Swisher (76), Granderson (75), SB – Nix (5), 2 hits for Nix

Boxscore – 8/28/2012

Game 3: Blue Jays 8, Yankees 5

What can I say about game three that I haven’t said all season long? The Yankees had their “Ace” on the mound against J.A. Happ, held two different leads, and still lost the game and the series. Can’t wait for the Orioles to come to town if we’re playing like this.

Bad CC Again

As good as Sabathia was against the Indians, he was once again brutal against the Jays, who are equally terrible. For some reason, CC hasn’t been able to consistently put together good starts this season. It solidifies Kuroda’s status as the new ace and it is very frustrating. The Yankees led 2-0 before CC and the defense let up three in the third, and 4-3 until CC gave the lead up again in the sixth. How can you hand your ace two separate leads and not win? CC’s final line looked like this: 7 Ip, 9 H, 5 R (2 earned), 0 BBs, 8 Ks, 99 pitches and his fourth loss of the season (13-4).

Girardi somehow used five pitchers to get through the last two innings, and none of them pitched particularly well. They ended up letting the Jays tack on a couple of back=breaking runs late. Oh by the way, Yunel Escobar went 4-5 with three doubles and a home run… I think I’ve had enough.

Terrible Offense

I know the Yankees scored five runs in this game, which should pretty much always be enough with CC on the mound, but they weren’t very good. The real story in this game wasn’t the five runs the Yankees didn’t score. It was the ten other ones they probably could have and should have scored but didn’t. The Yankees had eight hits and five walks, but slumped terribly with men on base. They left eight guys on and only went 3-17 with RISP. 3-17! This is how they played in April/May when everyone thought they would end up sitting at home in October like the Sox. It’s despicable.

Notable Offense: RBI – Jones (31), Granderson 3 (78), Martin (36), at least no one strained anything in this game. yikes.

Boxscore – 8/29/2012

Final Thoughts

I didn’t realize the Yankees were just keeping first place warm for the Orioles or Rays this entire season. They’ve played .500 ball since the break and both of those teams are breathing down their necks. Now that Tex is hurt, and the Yankees have refused to DL him, they’ll have to survive a few games with Steve Pearce manning first base against lefties and (I guess?) Nick Swisher against righties. The bullpen, other than Robertson and Soriano, has been awful of late, and they can’t seem to get consistent starting pitching out of anyone other than Kuroda and Phelps…. Is it time to panic? Not yet, but the Yankees will host the Orioles this weekend, and still have six games left against the Rays, so that time might come soon.

Featured image courtesy of: Rich Schultz/AP