When you’re a Yankees fan, you hate losing. You’re just not used to it. Every year (at least over the last ten years), you expect the Yankees to win the World Series. Anything less is a disappointment. So that’s why the series loss to the Indians is such a drag. It was an important series because both teams are in the middle of the Wild Card race and the Yankees came up short.
On Tuesday, the Indians took a 6-2 lead after five innings. The Yanks made an attempt at a comeback, but they came up a run short. Alex Rodriguez hit his 29th homer of the season and Al Leiter reverted back to way he was pitching for the Marlins. Two innings, five walks and five runs.
Yesterday was even worse because the Yankees jumped out to a nice 4-0 lead only to see it go up in smoke when the Indians tagged Mike Mussina for six runs in the fifth. Jorge Posada went yard, but that was the only real excitement with regard to the offense.
Tonight was the way things should be. The Yanks were down 3-2 going into the ninth when Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi hit a pair of solo homers to win it. It was Giambi’s second homer of the night and his 21st of the season.
Boston won, so the Yanks are still 4 1/2 games back. They’re three games back of Oakland for the Wild Card. I’m indifferent as to how we get into the playoffs.
This weekend we play the Jays at the Skydome (or whatever it’s called these days). It will be a nice tuneup for next week when we face the White Sox. While I’m sure they’re proclaming themselves as the best team in the league because they have 70 wins, we all know the truth. And they’ll find out the truth when we squash them.
