Yanks and their odd lineup fall to O’s

When the Yankees released their lineup this afternoon, I think the collective response was, “Huh?” It featured DHing, with Chris Stewart catching, while and Eduardo Nunez were assigned right and left field respectively. Everything else was pretty normal, but the Yanks’ effort to get as many RHB in against Baltimore starter was for not, as the Yankees could muster just seven hits and one run against Matusz and the bullpen. In fact, only the top three hitters in the lineup– (3), (2), and (2…though one was a bunt single)–had hits. Everyone else was a combined 0-21 with two walks.

There really isn’t much to say about this game. Yankee starter was “meh” (more on him at 9:30 tomorrow morning!) and the Yankees didn’t cash in on the few opportunities they had, most notably in the 7th inning when Rodriguez popped up the first pitch he saw with the bases loaded.

The inning that really did the Yanks in was the 6th. After Hughes was lifted, gave up a single to Chris Davis that moved Matt Weiters, who was on after hit by Hughes’s last pitch of the night, to second base. Next, singled and scored the Baltimore catcher and Davis moved to second. This made it 4-1 with two outs in the seventh, hardly an insurmountable lead for the Yankees. Then, Eduardo Nunez happened. hit a ball to left and Nunez played it horribly at first, then didn’t catch it and was charged with an error. Both Davis and Betemit scored on the error, making it 6-1 Orioles. The O’s added a run in the 8th on a Nick Johnson double, his first hit of the year. In other firsts, D.J. Mitchell made his first big league appearance tonight, so that was cool. Other than that, this is definitely one to forget. Move on from a crappy game and win tomorrow night.