This weekend’s series is a possible playoff preview and that could be bad news for the Yankees as it appears the Texas Rangers have their number lately after they picked up their second walk-off win in a row. This time the Rangers won the game after Ian Kinsler tied it in the bottom of the 9th with an RBI double and then Texas won the game when Mariano Rivera hit Jeff Francoeur with a pitch while the bases were loaded. The final score was 7-6.

Here are some highlights:

  • To make matters worse, the Tampa Bay Rays won last night and now sit just a half game back in the AL East.
  • The night after playing a 5:12 minute game with 19 pitchers, this game lasted 4:16, had a 59 minute rain delay, and required 14 pitchers.
  • The Yankees held the lead twice in this game, 2-1 in the 2nd and 6-5 in the 8th, but blew both leads.
  • A.J. Burnett started and went only 4 innings because of the rain delay, he allowed 2 earned runs.
  • Despite the fact that both Sergio Mitre and Dustin Moseley were more rested and have more consistent numbers, Chad Gaudin came out after the rain delay. He pitched 1 inning and allowed 2 runs. He was the loser the night before.
  • Derek Jeter sat this one out. Joe Girardi said he was giving him a rest after such a long affair the night before.
  • Jorge Posada sat out another game after suffering concussion symptoms the other day, but he went 0-for-1 as a pinch hitter.
  • Francisco Cervelli started in his place and went 1-for-1 with 3 walks.
  • The Yankees 3-7 hitters, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano, Lance Berkman, and Curtis Granderson, went a combined 9-for-20 with 5 walks.
  • Brett Gardner got an outfield assist. It is his 11th of the season and puts him in a tie for 2nd place. Only Shin-Soo Choo has more in all of baseball with 12.

This loss looks really bad, especially coming after the loss the night before. But Gaudin was a major contributor to both loses and is just a bad pitcher. He should even be getting into these games and at this point it’s hard to imagine him making the playoff roster. So the next time the Yankees face the Rangers people are going to be making a big deal about these games, but the Yankees aren’t likely to keep trusting Gaudin in these situations.

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