Yankees 2, Angels 6: The offense is really bad

The Yankees' offensive woes continued on Saturday, as they fell to the Angels 6-2.

David Phelps started for the Yankees, and he wasn't at his best. Having said that, he still went 6 innings, allowing four runs on nine hits and two walks.

The offense started off poorly, as Tommy Hanson retired the first six Yankee hitters. Phelps didn't quite get off to as good a start. He escaped trouble in the first inning, despite allowing a lead off single to Mike Trout. He allowed another lead off single in the second inning, this one to Howie Kendrick. Phelps got Alberto Callaspo to ground into a double play, but he wouldn't get out of inning totally damage free. Erick Aybar homered in the next at bat to give the Angels a 1-0 lead.

Hanson retired the first two batters of the third, and looked like he was on his way to another easy inning. However, Chris Stewart managed to get a fly ball to drop into right field, keeping the inning alive. Brett Gardner was up next and he hit one deep to the right field wall. Stewart scored all the way from first, and Gardner went to third for a triple. There was some question of whether a fan touched the ball, or if it bounced off the top of the wall. Either way, Stewart probably would've scored, and with his speed Gardner probably would've made it to third. Next up, Jayson Nix smashed a ball right at Callaspo, which the third baseman couldn't handle. This allowed Gardner to score, and the Yankees took a 2-1 lead.

However, the Angels were able to tie the game back up in the bottom half of the inning. With one out, Trout drew a walk off of Phelps. With Josh Hamilton batting, Trout was able to steal second. Hamilton ended up grounding out, but Trout was able to move up another base on the ground out. Albert Pujols was up next and he singled home Trout to tie the game.

In the fourth inning, the Yankees had another chance to score when Ichiro Suzuki hit a one-out double. Ichiro attempted to steal third and was (incorrectly) called out. Thomas Neal could only strike out to end the fourth.

Mark Teixeira was pulled from the game mid-inning, and David Adams was put at first base. On the field, the Yankees got into another jam in the bottom half of the fourth. Howie Kendrick led off with a single. Callaspo reached on a infield single, putting two runners on with no outs. Aybar tried to bunt the runners over, but Nix made a nice throw to Reid Brignac at third to get the lead runner out. After that, Phelps struck out Hank Conger and got Peter Bourjos to weakly fly out to end that threat.

After that, Phelps settled for a bit, but so did the Yankees' offense. And eventually, the Angels' offense came back around and retook the lead.

Mark Trumbo led off the bottom of the sixth inning by drawing a walk against Phelps. Howie Kendrick continued his destruction of the Yankees' pitching by hitting another single. With two on and no outs, Callaspo grounded one back to Phelps, who threw to second for one out. Phelps probably should have gone to third to get the lead runner, and this came back to bite him when Aybar singled to give the Angels the lead again. Conger came up next and grounded into a double play, preventing the Angels from adding to the lead. But with the Yankees' offensive performances as of late, it felt like a one run lead might be enough.

Ichiro led off the top of the seventh inning by laying down a bunt. It was perfectly placed and was easily safe at first, with a throw not even attempted. Thomas Neal came to the plate next, but while that was happening, Ichiro was still working. He stole second and third base, putting the tying run 90 feet way. After Hanson struck out Neal, the Angels went to the bullpen. Scott Downs came into the game to face Brignac. He could only strike out, leaving the inning up to Chris Stewart. That ended with another strike out, and Ichiro was left stranded at third.

David Phelps came back out to pitch the bottom of the seventh, but was pulled after allowing a lead-off single to Bourjos. Shawn Kelley came in and immediately walked Trout. Josh Hamilton came up next and doubled down the right field line, scoring Bourjos to make it 4-2. With runners at second and third, Pujols was intentionally walked to load the bases. Kelley then issued a non-intentional walk to score Trout. Kelley got out of it after that, but enough damage was done. And it only got worse from there.

Joba Chamberlain was brought in for the eighth inning. With one out, Bourjos singled and Trout drew a walk against Joba. After Hamilton struck out, it looked like they might escape with just a three run deficit, but nope. Pujols singled to score another run, making it 6-2, putting the game well an truly out of reach.

The offense had no chance against Ernesto Frieri in the ninth inning and the Angels won 6-2.

The Yankees will look to salvage something from this series in the finale tomorrow. CC Sabathia will pitch, while the offense has to deal with Jered Weaver. That should be fun, and by fun I mean not fun at all. First pitch is at 3:35 eastern.

Box score. Graph thingy.