Where's the run support? Yankees fail Hughes in 2-1 loss

"Oh my god!" was my reaction upon seeing Marcus Thames' double hit the very top of the right-centerfield wall and bounce back into play. An inch further and it ties the game. Wow, was that frustrating.

Anyway, the next batter (Austin Kearns) was hit by a pitch to set up a bases-loaded, no-one out situation. So what did the next three batters do? They all struck out, failing to scratch across even one run.

Curtis Granderson continued to look lost against lefties (and a righties too, for that matter), striking out against Jon Lester while Dan Bard entered and K'd Derek Jeter and Nick Swisher on high 90's heat.

The offense went 0-9 with RISP. Boston only went 1-8, but that difference was all they needed. The only run came on Mark Teixeira's 26th homer, a solo shot off Bard (whom he owns: 4-11 with three HR).

Swisher picked a bad day to stop hitting - his 0-5 in the two spot really hurt the team. Not one Yankee batter had more than one hit.

Phil Hughes had one bad inning, the second, when he let up the two runs and threw 38 pitches. After that, he didn't look long for the game but battled through six.

Play of the Game: Another POG that came from the losing team - today it was Thames' double in the seventh that put runners on second and third with no outs (+19%). A measly single ties the game there. In fact, the top two plays in terms of Win Probability were Yankee hits. That's how unlucky they were to lose. From the victorious team it was Ellsbury's single in the second that moved Bill Hall to third (-6%).

Comment of the Game: lololol, for actually looking up Berkman's, Gardner's and Pena's BA against LHP.

The strikezone was awful all day. It started off tiny, with home-plate ump Hunter Wendelstedt not giving anything close to the pitchers while it expanded later on (but still saw clear strikes called balls). It sure seemed to favor Boston's hurlers, especially later on when it expanded and the Yankees were forced to come back.

Can you remember a catcher making two worse throws than Posada did? The first one went off toward right-centerfield, allowing Ellsbury to reach third, then on a pitch-out, he fired a one-hopper that nearly skipped past Robbie Cano.

Girardi made the right choice letting Grandy hit with the bases-full against Lester. The only righties on the bench were Cervelli and the switch-hitters Berkman and Pena (and the lefty Gardner, who is slumping). So let's say you did pinch-hit for him - it would mean Gardner would enter to play CF, then you lose him as a pinch-runner, which he was used for in the ninth. And would you really trust any of the other options significantly more than Grandy? I don't. Grandy's speed also prevents grounding into a GDP there.

And is there any pitcher who takes longer between pitches than Jon Papelbon? It's painful to watch him. Throw the damn ball already! Stop putting on your 'angry-10-year-old-kid' face and pitch.

I'm going to choose to look at this series in a positive light. The Yankees could have easily swept the Sox if a few breaks go there way (Cervelli's drop, Thames' near-homer, etc.). The two wins were solid wins in which the Yanks pretty much dominated, but the losses really could've gone either way. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.