Tip your cap to Jake Arrieta. It must be every pitchers nightmare to make his major league debut and the defending World Series champs, face a pair of first ballot Hall of Famers, plus another 5 All Stars. And your opponent on the mound has a couple World Series rings and a no-hitter on his resume. And your team has lost 10 straight matchups. And your team is on base to redefine a lousy season.
So 6 IP, 6K and 3ER is a dream come true, even if the command wasn't great. Nice work Arrieta.
Wag your finger at the Yankee offense, which never seemed to get rolling, missing big chances in the second, sixth and seventh. They couldn't seem to lay off the close stuff, and they couldn't come up with the big hit. It doesn't help when your cleanup hitter leaves in the first inning with an undisclosed injury.
Tip your cap to AJ Burnett. He wasn't great, but it wasn't bad AJ- he allowed 4 runs but pitched into the 7th inning. Marte did his job, too, and CHoP looked great (striking out 2 in the scoreless 8th).
Wag your finger at the umpires, who blew a second call down the left field line in as many days. Yesterday, they gave an undeserved double to Arod; today, they took a clear double away from Tex. When it goes against you, apparently, it all goes against you.
Try not to get too worked up. The Yanks took 2 of 3 on the road and lost the 3rd by a run. It happens.
Play of the Game: This I haven't seen before. Jeter's double to score Moeller swung the odds 15.9% in favor of the Yankees. The go ahead run was the 4th most valuable play (9.9%).
Comment of the Game: I'm a corny guy, so the puns that follow Niese's one hitter are my pick.