First Inning Error Leads to Loss

The floodgates opened up against Kuroda and the Yankees in the first inning when Chris Stewart made a fatal error that essentially cost the Yankees this game and the series win against the lowly Toronto Blue Jays. If the Yankees miss the playoffs by one game this is one of the games that they will look back on and believe that they should have won it. The sloppiness in the first inning cannot stay with the team throughout the entire game. The game lasts for nine innings. The Yankees needed to mount some kind of comeback. They weren't facing Randy Johnson and Co. out there. They had their chances to drive runs home but Kuroda never gets any run support. If I'm Kuroda I strongly consider joining a different team next year if he continues to play in Major League Baseball and doesn't go home to pitch in Japan. Even so, Kuroda did not help his own cause tonight. He allowed five earned runs in five innings, which marks the third straight start in which he has surrendered at least four earned runs in a game. The last time Kuroda did this was in 2010 when he played for the Los Angeles Dodgers. His once tidy ERA has ballooned to a respectable 2.89 but when looking back three starts ago at the ERA he could have been sporting then this is a letdown. Last year Kuroda began to feel fatigued toward the end of the season. His September was not great and he ended up pitching very well in the postseason against the Orioles when he needed to. Kuroda will turn things around when he is called upon by the Yankees to be their savior if they are at the finish line, facing contention in postseason play.

The offense, again scratched out only two meager runs tonight. Robinson Cano was not in the lineup after getting hit by a pitch in the left hand last night so the middle of the order had to pick up the slack. Alex Rodriguez did the job, going 1-4 with an RBI. Mark Reynolds is also swinging a hot bat, going 3-4 with the other Yankee RBI in the game. Reynolds is a very streaky player who can explode at any moment. The display he put on against the Yankees last year when he was with Baltimore still blows my mind. He needs to go on one of those torrid runs in September. If he thrives under the pressure and has a monster month he will forever be in Yankees lore. Otherwise, he will end up being another Lance Berkman circa 2010.

The Yankees have a day off tomorrow which is just what they need after these three games. Losing two of three to the Blue Jays won't help the Yankees in their playoff chase which means they will have to sweep the Orioles at home this weekend. The chances of that happening are slim-to-none but I'm talking about things that would happen in a perfect world. Miguel Gonzalez will face off against CC Sabathia in the opening game at Yankee Stadium this weekend which should be a very fun series with playoff implications involved.