Andy Pettitte really didn't pitch that badly. He essentially made two mistakes all night: a two-run homer by Albert Pujols and a solo shot by Mark Trumbo. Other than that, he was rather good, inducing 12 groundballs. But if your offense can't score more than once, the loss can hardly fall on the starting pitcher.
Dan Haren was just better, pitching backwards most of the night (offspeed pitches to get ahead, fastballs to get outs). The Yankees couldn't lay off his splitter, and when they did manage to drive the ball, it seemed an Angel was always there to catch it.
Nick Swisher can attest to that; he must've been the most frustrated man in the ballpark tonight. He hits three rockets, and on many other nights would've had two, maybe three extra-base hits. He had none tonight, as phenom Mike Trout robbed him of a potential home run in left field, and Peter Bourjos ran down two potential doubles in the right-center field gap. All Nick could do after the last one was smile.
The Yanks had another chance in the ninth, but Trout ran down a potential Curtis Granderson gapper in left center, and Robinson Cano struck out with the bases loaded.
They did have nine hits, but all but one were singles. We saw a rarity tonight as the clubs combined for 16.1 IP before issuing a walk. For the Yanks, it was Pettitte and Cody Eppley. For Anaheim, it was Haren and Scott Downs (Ernesto Frieri walked two).
Play of the Game: Pujols' two-run bomb in the third that gave Anaheim a 3-0 lead (-19%).