ALCS Game 2, 'Kudos & Wet Willies'

No dramatic comeback this time for our New York Yankees in Game 2 of the American League Championship Series. A 7-2 loss to the Texas Rangers leaves the series knotted at 1-1, and makes this edition of 'Kudos & Wet Willies' not nearly as much fun as the last one.

Not much to be happy about today, but let's go ahead and go through these. Gotta get it over with.

Kudos to ...

• Robinson Cano: A double, a mammoth home run and a drive to the wall that ended the game. Saying Cano is 'dangerous' right now is probably an understatement. Every time he swings you expect the ball to be hit hard somewhere.
• The Yankee bullpen: Joba Chamberlain did give up a run-scoring seeing-eye single, and the performance overall was not as dominant as the night before. Four shutout innings overall, though, from Chamberlain, David Robertson, Boone Logan and Sergio Mitre. They gave the Yankees a chance to mount a comeback, it just didn't happen.
• Lance Berkman: An RBI hit when the Yankees still had a chance, a rocket out to right field and was robbed of a hit by Ian Kinsler while batting right-handed in the eighth inning. Maybe I am reaching a little for this one, but there aren't many praiseworthy performances on the Yankee side today.

Wet Willies to ...

• Phil Hughes: Seven run on 10 hit and three walks in four-plus innings. The second straight time a Yankee starting pitcher last only four innings. This is not a good trend. Saturday it seemed pretty obvious that Hughes was never comfortable, and that he could never settle in and put the ball where he wanted it.
• Derek Jeter: A dribbling single that went all of about 15 feet, and a trio of strikeouts. A pretty feeble evening at the plate for the Yankee captain.
• Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez: One bloop single in nine at-bats between the Yankees 3 and 4 hitters, with eight runners left on base. 
• Jorge Posada: A rock-headed play in the first inning that got Texas off to a good start. What was Jorge thinking, throwing to second base on a double-steal without even bothering to glance at the runner at third? He gift-wrapped a run for Elvis Andrus and the Rangers. Posada has been around way too long to make a play like that. He looked like a high school kid on the play.