Yanks Take Some Lumps, Hand Some Out

In the eight starts Sergio Mitre made for the Yankees since being called up from AAA, he gave up 4 home runs in 41 innings. Of the 61 hits he allowed, only 14 went for extra bases. As a result opponents were hitting .337 against him (insanely high), but slugging .486 (not as much).

The Serg had certainly done his fair share of sucking this year, but he did a decent job of keeping the ball in the park, mainly getting singled to death in his poorer starts.

Not tonight though. Mitre got pasted for 4 homers in 5 innings, allowing 6 runs and leaving men on 2nd and 3rd for Edwar Ramirez before getting yanked without getting an out in the 6th inning. Ramirez wriggled out of the jam, allowing only 1 run, but the shitshow raised Mitre's ERA to 7.93 and certainly didn't help his case to make the postseason roster.

Roy Halladay wasn't dominant as Yankees' bats actually accumulated 11 hits and a walk with him on the hill, but couldn't get him to break. They advanced at least one runner to second base in each of the six innings he pitched but only scored two runs off of Halladay, both in the 2nd. It was a frustrating night at the plate, something that could have contributed to what happened later in the game.

Things got a little heated in the bottom of the 8th inning when lefty reliever Jesse Carlson threw one well behind Jorge Posada's back, apparently in retaliation for Mark Melancon hitting Aaron Hill in the top of the frame. Melancon was clearly having control problems as he had walked a batter, thrown a wild pitch and another in the dirt. He hit Hill squarely in the back, but it didn't seem intentional at the time.

Carlson, on the other hand, had thrown 18 of 29 pitches for strikes and then threw one a foot or more behind Posada. Jorge didn't appreciate that and took a few steps toward Carlson saying "You don't want to do that". The dugouts emptied but the situation diffused quickly and the benches were warned. Posada ended up working a walk and advanced to second on a single by Robinson Cano.

Brett Gardner then doubled to right, scoring Posada. On his way back to the dugout, Jorge brushed up against Carlson, who turned around and yelled some choice words to Posada. The catcher, never one to back down from a confrontation, spun back and charged at Carlson, again emptying the benches but this time resulting in a full scale brawl.

Joe Girardi was ensnared in fight, walking away with a cut on his ear and a lump over his left eye. Posada and Carlson were the only two ejected although other players (ahemShelleyDuncancough) appeared to be heavily involved. We'll take a closer look at the ruckus first thing tomorrow morning, complete with a video clip. I can offer you this screenshot of the ugly lump on Carlson's head to hold you over, for now.

When the dust settled, the Jays and Yanks both added a run in the 9th inning and the final tally was 10-4 in favor of Toronto although the Yanks outhit them 15 to 13. It wasn't a good night for the Yanks, but things could get worse depending on the fall out resulting from the fracas.