ANAHEIM -- Nothing is easy for the New York Yankees these days, not even when they take a six-run lead into the ninth inning with their ace on the mound and the greatest closer in history sitting in the bullpen.
ANAHEIM -- This Yankee season is turning into one long toothache, a dull throbbing pain that never seems to subside. First, the good news -- they snapped their scoreless streak at 21 1/3 innings, one that began with the final 17 2/3 of Thursday's loss to the Oakland Athletics.
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Where do you begin to write about a game that took nearly six hours, consumed 14 pitchers and saw Mariano Rivera enter a game in the 18th inning? With the final score 3-2, the Athletics beat the Yankees in a marathon that killed two bullpens and at least a half-dozen batting averages.
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Lots to be concerned with Wednesday night -- Phil Hughes' ineffectiveness, Joba Chamberlain's ineffectiveness, David Robertson's unexplained absence (so far) -- but maybe nothing more troubling than this: Over their past five games, the Yankees have scored a total of 12 runs.
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Toto, I don't think we're in Seattle anymore. The two cities bear no resemblance to one another, nor do their baseball teams. Seattle is picturesque and charming, Oakland industrial and homely.
SEATTLE -- As you might have expected, the Yankees got just one run off King Felix Hernandez. But as you might not have expected, Felix's Yankee counterpart David Phelps, pitched him to a standstill, allowing the Yankees to pull this one out against the Mariners bullpen in the top of the ninth.
SEATTLE -- Big day for the Pettitte family of Deer Park, Texas. Dad Andy wins an important game and son Josh gets drafted by the Yankees in the 37th round. What it means: That even with King Felix looming in tomorrow's series finale, the Yankees can do no worse than split this four-game series.
SEATTLE -- On paper it looked like a mismatch: Yanks vs. Mariners, Kuroda vs. Bonderman. But as sometimes happens, the cow got loose and beat up the butcher. The Yankees went down, 4-1, to a starter who hadn't won in nearly three years and hadn't beaten them in more than five.
SEATTLE -- Everytime you see Phil Hughes pitch in an opposing ballpark, the less you want to see him pitch at Yankee Stadium. Last night, Hughes pitched his second-best game of the year, smothering the Mariners over seven innings and only being charged with a run, albeit unearned, due to a Kevin Youkilis error and an RBI double allowed by Boone Logan in the eighth inning.
SEATTLE -- One down, nine to go. The Yankees began this grueling 11-day, 10-game, three-city West Coast trip with an effortless 6-1 victory over the punchless Seattle Mariners. What it means: That when you take Phil Hughes out of the Bronx, you get a different pitcher.
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