Mike Mussina (1-2) threw 71 pitches, 51 for strikes, today, and took the lose as the Yankees create a rubber game for themselves, tomorrow. With a win they could have guaranteed a win of the series and be looking at a sweep with a win tomorrow. Instead they slip to the same record as their heated rivals at (6-6). Mussina pitched 5 and 2/3 innings of sporadic baseball. Sometimes he even made pitches that made you shake your head, in a good way of course.
But the numbers aren’t entirely what they appear to be. A run was charged to him that reliever Bruney pitched to, and Youkalis took advantage of, and dinged a single up the gut to center. The late charge almost made those runs meaningless, but they ended up just short, falling by a score of 3-4.
The day was not a total wash, as the previously mentioned drive in the late innings proved to add some excitement to an already electric atmosphere. The Yankees scored Posada on a Robinson Cano double to left in the 7th, after getting 2 RBI’s in the 6th, and pulling within one swing from tying it up. Rodriguez was scheduled up next, ready and poised to take on the Red Sox closer Papelbon, and…
Rain Delay.
All the momentum that may or not have been with the Yankees was lost, or postponed due to rain. That was all the Red Sox needed to stop the rally, and end the game. Papelbon took the mound, and that was all she wrote for this one.
The Yankees lose a close one today, and look ahead to the rubber game, where Phil Highes tries to take this series from the Red Stockings, pitching against their $500 billion man, Dice-HR Matsuzaka.
