Yankees vs. Angels Game 85

YANKEES
Damon DH
Cabrera CF
Jeter SS
Rodriguez 3B
Matsui LF
Posasa C
Abreu RF
Cano 2B
Cairo 1B
Clemens RHP (2-3, 4.26)

ANGELS
Willets LF
Figgins 3B
Cabrera SS
Guerrero RF
Matthews CF
Kotchman 1B
Anderson DH
Kendrick 2B
Mathis C
Lackey RHP (11-5, 3.04)

With the way Lackey has pitched, it'll be a tough one for the Yankees. This guy is always tough, especially against the Yankees. But this year it looks like he'll be making a push for the Cy Young Award. He beat the Yankees earlier this season at the Stadium when Mike Mussina was on the mound for the Yankees. As for Clemens, hopefully he can pull another Rocket-esque performance like he did last time out. Yankees will need it to win this one.

Hey, we won! Yankees 5, Twins 1

Rocket really came through tonight, he made his money. I mean, the guy is never going to be the 95 MPH fireballer anymore. I guess us fans are just going to have to accept that. But today he was hitting his spots, and had that split fingered fastball, his strikeout pitch, working the whole game. Two hits in eight innings of work, with one undeserved run for the Twins coming off of a wild pitch on a strikeout of Torii Hunter, that in my opinion should have been ruled a passed ball. That is Rocket's 350th career win, quite a milestone.

For the Yankees, this was a big win...but only if they can build on it. Too many times this season have I seen them come up with a potential building block win only to eventually fall on their faces. This win was good on both the offensive and pitching sides. Only setback may be a huge one. Alex Rodriguez strained his hamstring and if he has to miss any significant time you can just end the season for the Yankees officially.

Rocky Mountain Low: Rockies 4, Yankees 3

This one got to me. They came so close to victory, only to fall yet again to the Rockies. That wasn't what made me cringe about this game however. It was the horrid plays from the Yankees themselves that lost this game. They grasped defeat from the jaws of victory, a trademark of a mediocre ballclub. Right now where we stand, that's what this team is, an average one.

Early on the game looked promising for the Yankees. Hideki Matsui hit a two run homer to give the Yankees a 2-0 lead and Roger Clemens looked good in his first inning of work. But then in the bottom of the second the Rocket allowed solo homers to Garet Adkins and Troy Tulowitski, making it 2-2. After that, both teams were shut down in the third and fourth. Then came the fifth, Yankees don't score, followed by two runs for the Rockies off Clemens, who was pulled after four and one third innings. Bad outing for him, he let the team down.

After the debacle of a fifth, the Yankees squandered opportunities to score, and it cost them the game. It really got to me, because they should have been able to tie it. Really dissapointing. So now they head out to San Francisco to play the Giants and "Baroid" Barry Bonds. We'll see what happens with that.

WP: R. Lopez (4-0) S: B. Fuentes (20)
LP: R. Clemens (1-2)

Yankees (35-35)
Rockies (38-34)