Wow I'll never do this again (Angels 8, Yanks 4)

Top 1: Didn't see the top of the first. CC must have done all right.

Bottom1: I tuned in as Jeter was stealing second. Matsui drove him in. 1-0. Cano looked sluggish running to first.

T2: CC looks like he's in command. Hunter bounced weakly to 2nd, but CC nibbles around the plate to Napoli and walks him on 5 pitches. Continues to nibble and falls behind Morales, who singles up the middle. The next hitter singles but Napoli doesn't dare test Melkys arm. Bases loaded, 1 out. Strikeout! 2 gone. All he did this time was...throw strikes. He promptly returns to nibbling, falling behind. Line-out to Cano, the Angels are gone. 38 total pitches for CC.

B2: Girardi has Molina catching today, even though Posada had a monster night last night. You don't sit the hot bat, Girardi. Molina grounds out. Pena looks like he has never taken steroids. He strikes out. Gurerrero is having a blast in the dugout. Now it's Gardner the 9 hitter playing center field. He grounds out lamely and the Yanks are done. 33 Pitches total for Palmer

T3: Figgins is leading off, DHing, and batting .232. Seems silly to me. Figgins seems overmatched and pops out. CC is throwing swooping curves to Matthews. This time the pop out is to Molina, two down. Melky with a diving catch in right, fully extended near the wall. Brilliant. With Melky hitting now, the question is not "what does Melky bring to the table?", the question is "what does he NOT bring?" He has speed, he can field well, his arm is a cannon, and he switch hits. And if he keeps up this .300 average stuff with power, he's not only going to be an all star, but a superstar. CC has thrown 52 pitches

B3: Jeter is up. Worked a deep count but grounded out on a controversial call. Girardi comes out to complain, gesturing violently. Damon lines a bullet into right but Matthews makes a nice play. 2 out. Tex pops out to shallow center and hears a few boos. Stop it guys! Quick inning for Palmer, who may be settling down a bit.

T4: CC's pants fan out at the thighs like a colonial generals. Gets the first out but beans Napoli in the buttocks. He'd thrust his hips forward to avoid it but could not. CC looks uncomfortable, grimacing while wiping his brow after every pitch. Diving stop by Pena, who throws from his knees to get the lead runner at second. Nice play, two out. Grounded right back to CC, who stabs it nimbly. How nimbly the fat man catches! Angels are done, still 1-0.

B4: Latroy Hawkins was the answer but I don't know what the quiz question was. They just showed an old clip of Paul O'Neil, my favorite player after Mattingly retired. He was the best. Matsui smokes a ball but right at the first baseman. Cano is up, without a hit yet. Rolls one to the shortstop, two outs. Melky up batting .315 with a .390 OBP. Palmer is falling behind, Yankees are working deeper counts. Well he pitched uneventfully, getting the Yankees 1,2,3. Let's see if he reaches the 7th inning, because the Yankees really haven't figured him out yet.

T5: Hard hit ball glances off Pena's glove. Now CC is preoccupied with the runner at first. Molina catches the pitch and turns to the runner menacingly. Wow it's grounded back to CC, who boots it and the ball squirts towards second. But Cano is there to grab it, turn and throw a strike to Tex. He looked out but Izturis is called safe. Score it as...an error AND a fielder's choice? Figgins looks lost, popping out to Molina. Two gone, man on first. Figgins is in the dugout, looking ready to smack someone. CC periodically grabs the brim of his hat and wiggles it from side to side uncomfortably. Perhaps his head is too big for it. Fly out to Gardner, inning over.

B5: Murderer's row, Molina, Pena and Gardner are due up. No offense to these guys, but when richie rich rode in with his rolls royce to take his seat in the $600,000 per game "legends" section, did he expect to have to sit through watching these guys go down 1,2,3 every 3 innings? Molina pops out on the first pitch, and now Palmer has given up just one hit through 4.1 innings. Palmer gets ahead of Pena who gets a hold of one but it settles into Matthews' glove. Now it's Gardner, who hits the ball exactly in the same place he had before, a weak roller to second base. Palmer is dominating now (but the Yankees still lead 1-0).

T6: Howie Kendrick singles to start the inning, and CC continually throws to first to hold him. Ground ball to Pena, he gets the lead runner but Hunter is too fast. CC with his mouth hanging open is now fixated on Hunter. Napoli, who must be wondering where CC plans to hit him next, is up. Oh no ground ball to Jeter but his throw pulls Tex off the bag. Tex looked like a ballerina that time. First and Second, 1 down, Morales (whoever he is) up to bat. Oh this is bizarre. Hunter is somehow caught wandering between the bases. CC lumbers after him and tags him out near third, but for some reason the umpire orders him back to second. Probably something to do with a time-out. On the next pitch they double-steal. What an obnixious bunch. A ground-out to Jeter ties the game. That's Angels baseball. I'm gonna make a prediction right now. Jeter is going to lead off and he is going to score the go-ahead run next inning. Guaranteed. The next hitter flies out to Gardner.

B6: Jeter comes to bat looking annoyed. Ball one. The second is fouled away. So is the third, the count is 1-2. Wow Jeter goes WAY around on a check swing but it's called ball 2. Ball three. 6th pitch is fouled away. Oh he just CRUSHES the seventh pitch to deep center, WAY over the centerfielder, and it caroms over the wall for a ground-rule double. By far the hardest hit ball of the day for either team. Now Damon. 80 pitches now for Palmer. Damon grounds to first, moving Jeter to third. Now Tex. All he has to do is hit it out of the infield and the Yankees take the lead but more importantly, MY PREDICTION COMES TRUE! The cameras keep showing Scocia barking and cursing about Jeters check swing, but guess what, the Angels were just as lucky last inning, so he needs to stop. Oh no Tex pops out to shallow center and the boos rain down heavily. Jeter trots back to third, unable to score. Now Hideki. Jeter is standing at third with his hands on his hips unhappily. He can't believe Tex A-rodded that ball, and neither can I. Matsui takes a slow pitch for a strike on a 3-1 count, and then strikes out swinging. Jeter is stranded. I guess my predition was half-right. Damn.

T7: Leadoff single. Angels seem to have the momentum now. CC is over the 100 mark for pitches. The next hitter is hand-cuffed but dunks in a base hit. Now runners on first and second. Figgins makes himself useful and bunts the runners forward. 2nd and 3rd, 1 out. CC guns Matthews down with high heat, two out. Over 110 pitches now. And a slow infield single gives the Angels the lead. Somebody please get the bug-killer out, because this is getting ridiculous. First and third, two out, Hunter is up. This should be CCs last batter. 0-2 count but Hunter is fouling off pitch after pitch. A little chin music makes the count 1-2. And the first Angel to make good contact does it at the right time, as Hunter smashes a double to left, scoring both runners and putting the Angels up 4-1. That will end Sabathia's day, and Johnny A-ball will take over. Wouldn't have hurt to have brought in a right hander for Hunter. That's the second time recently that Girardi has left CC in for too long. He's learning, though. As the season progresses he'll probably get to know CC better and make better decisions. On the first pitch Napoli singles to center and here come the boos. 5-1, what a disasterous inning. Good thing the Yankees seem to know how to hit the Angels' bullpen. Oh Napoli tried to steal but that's a no-no against Molina. Time for some Yankee baseball.

B7: Cano is up first and doesn't have a hit yet, with Melky up after him, both of whom are red hot. Let's see what happens. Can the Yankees come back for the second day in a row? Will Posada get a turn at the plate? Kendrick just robbed Cano of a hit, one out. 92 pitches for Palmer, who has pitched well against the weakest lineup the Yankees have assembled so far this year. Melky smokes it and this time Kendrick cannot save the day. Palmer should be done soon. Conference on the mound while the relief warms up. What's Molina doing showing bunt? Where's Posada? Ball 4, men on 1,2 one out and here comes the bullpen. Let's see what happens with Pena and Gardner due up. Posada will pinch-hit, which is not his forte. And he strikes out weakly. I don't like Posada not starting this game, but that's what Girardi wanted to do. Now Gardner. Ball 4, Jeter is up. The crowd rises to its feet, chanting. Ball 1. Jeter looks focused, slowing down the game. Oh and a horrendous call by the umpire, the ball was VERY low and it's called a strike. Jeter ignores him. Ball two, exactly in the same place. Jeter is forcing him to throw over the plate. And Jeter smokes a ball but the pitcher gets a piece of it and it caroms near the line, he grabs it and barely gets Jeter has he sprints down the line. Another hit stolen, the Angels dodge another bullet, and really, this is turning out to be a miserable game that has been agonizing to blog. I'll never do this again. But I'll finish it.

T8: Veras is in with his 8.00 ERA. Yeah, home run, here come the boos. The Yankee bullpen is quiet. Could this be the end for Mr. Veras? He has been...unaccaptably bad. One out, man on first, Eiland comes out for a chat, Veras doesn't look at him. Looked like a 3-6-3 but the runner is called safe at first. This first base umpire is having a lousy day. The whole crew has made obvious mistakes. They won't be around for the post-season, that's for sure. A steal and a walk, men on 1st and 2nd, and now someone is warming up in the pen. Veras has lost the strike zone. I think Girardi has had enough of him. Gardner almost booted a fly ball but managed to corral it. He just stood there after the catch, wondering about something.

B8: Well...what can one say about this game? Do the Yankees have another 5 run 8th inning comeback in them? I think not. Let's see if we get some good performances, and if Cano can extend his streak. Damon just flied out, with Shields in the game now (saddled with a +8.00 ERA). Tex just launched another one to the warning track, two gone. He seems to do that a lot. Matsui now. 3 pitches, 3 outs.

T9: Kendrick is really mean-mugging Robertson. What a searing expression on his face. So Robertson strikes him out swinging. Next up is Hunter, clearly a technological marvel, with the physique of a Joe Wieder spokesman. And he pops out. Now its Napoli, who walks on 4 pitches. Morales next, who adjusts his cup constantly. Another walk. Robertson can't find the zone. Rivera up next, and he hits a soft single to right that skips away from Melky somehow. Boos are heard while two runs score. The next hitter is out, I didn't see and really don't care how.

B9: Well I said the Angels could only really hope for a split, and they're about half way there. The Yankees did not get hits when it was important, Girardi left Sabathia in too long again, and the Angels got several breaks, both from the umpires and from the field, to manage a couple of runs before Veras and Robertson let it get out of reach. The Angels also fielded a little better than the Yankees, and Palmer, a total nobody, pitched his little heart out and the Yankees figured him out too late. My hope is that the Yankees take down the Angels tomorrow to seal the series win, 3-1. And I'm thinking it's going to be Joba tomorrow. Anyway, now its Cano, who grounds out softly to 2nd, ending the streak at 18 games. What a run for Cano, and lets see if he continues his hot hitting and gets himself into the all star game, and beyond. Melky gets on and now its Berroa, who strikes out. Here's Posada with two outs. And Posada crushes one into the bullpen in right, giving the crowd a little something to cheer about. 8-3. Like I said, Girardi needed Posada's bat today with Swisher out of the lineup. That was another issue with this game. Well here's Gardner and he has a long at bat, working a walk. This pitchers name is "F. Rodriguez" but he's not K-Rod. Here's Jeter. Ha ha now the Angels pen is active. Like little flies buzzing. LOL Jeter rocked a pitch into right and it hit Matthews in the face and bounced to the wall. 8-4, Jeter on third and now they're bringing in someone else to face Damon. Now Bulger and his 11.75 ERA is on the mound. The tying run isn't even on deck yet but this is good stuff. Oh well Damon strikes out, ballgame over.

Till next time...and I'm never doing this again (I wish I'd blogged LAST NIGHT'S game, not this disaster). But it was fun (video here).