Stuck On A Hundred and Two

Andy Pettitte didn't pitch as poorly last night as CC Sabathia did the night before, but it certainly wasn't a positive note on which to head into the playoffs either. Andy gave up six hits and an uncharacteristic 4 walks and needed 95 pitches to complete 4 1/3 innings.

Most of the damage came with two outs in the second inning. Pettitte allowed a two run shot to Dioner Navarro which was followed by a double by Akinori Iwamura and an RBI single by Jason Bartlett.

When Pettitte was removed with one out in the fifth inning in favor of Alfredo Aceves, he left men on first and second. With Willy Aybar up, the Rays attempted a double steal and Aceves had Ben Zobrist caught between second and third. For some reason Eric Hinkse went directly towards the base instead of just getting between the runner and the bag since there was no potential for a force out. Aceves threw the ball slightly behind him and it glanced off Hinkse's glove rolling back into the large swath of foul territory northwest of third base, allowing Zobrist to score and B.J. Upton, who had already taken second, to come around as well.

Those were the last runs the Rays would score though, as Aceves pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings and Chad Gaudin added 1 1/3 of his own. Aceves had obviously already secured his spot on the postseason 25, and Gaudin made it even more difficult to leave him off with the way he pitched last night. He's excelled in every role he's been asked to fill and would be a valuable weapon to be able to deploy in the playoffs.

Not much to report of the offensive front for the Yanks. All of their runs were scored on two out RBI singles in the fifth and sixth innings by Johnny Damon, Mark Teixeira and Jerry Hairston, Jr. The Yanks had 9 hits but no player had more than one, partially due to the fact that Girardi used 5 position players, but mostly because Jeff Neimann and the Rays' pen pitched pretty darn well.

The full line line up, save for Jorge Posada, returns tomorrow as the Yanks close down the regular season and look for the elusive win number 103.