Sloppiest Game Comes in First Half Finale

It is safe to say that the Yankees played their sloppiest game of the season this afternoon. CC Sabathia was having to get outs in innings where it should have been easy for him. He ended up going an uncharacteristic four innings and left because the game was essentially a blowout at the time and Sabathia was approaching 100 pitches after four innings of work. Errors in the field cost Sabathia a chance to go deeper into the game and have a chance to win. Although there were officially two errors on the Yankees defense during the time Sabathia was on the mound, they really made three errors. The costliest error came with two outs in the third inning when Nunez airmailed a throw to first baseman Lyle Overbay. The following pitch was crushed into the left field seats by Aaron Hicks who was hitting under .200 when he sent the ball into the stands. Sabathia could not overcome all of the errors committed by the Yankees. Of the eight runs Sabathia allowed, only three of them were earned. Murphy's Law came into full force today because every ball that could have taken a bad turn, did just that. Also, Sabathia had a chance to catch a pop up by Morneau behind the mound but came up empty. Sabathia is historically an awful fielder as he can't even cover first base most of the time. 

The offense did their best to come back into the game but were only able to score four runs to the Twins ten. Ichiro had a big day at the plate, getting two RBI and hitting a solo home run in the seventh inning. Cano continue to drive runners in after an RBI single in the third inning. The offense missing the spark they need to guide them to victories. With Jeter's quad injury and a day off given to Brett Gardner, the Yankees were really at a disadvantage at the plate. 

The Yankees end their first half seven games over .500 and after playing their sloppiest game of the season thus far, look to put the first half behind them and come back refreshed. Things won't get any easier for the Bombers as their first three opponents after the All-Star break are the Red Sox, the Rangers and finally Tampa Bay at home. Let the stretch run begin!