Saturday Wrapup

For the second straight day, things didn't go all that well for the top two teams in the AL East.

• The Yankees lost to the Angels, bringing their season mark to 3-6 against Los Angeles. The Yankee hitters did an admirable job of playing catchup all day but the New York pitching proved too abysmal to overcome. Cory Lidle had his first disaster as a Yankee, leaving in the 4th after allowing five across the plate. Aside from recent callup Brian Bruney, the New York relievers were miserable as well. Four Yankee pitchers allowed seven runs in four and a third innings, allowing twelve baserunners in the process. It looks like the Yankees' pen problems can be traced back to the lack of rest that last weekend's monster series in Boston allowed for. Normally accountable pitchers like Ron Villone and Mike Myers have been horrid of late, today being the most recent example. Matt Karstens is scheduled to start tomorrow for the Yankees, but I don't think the bleeding will stop until the team gets a day off to rest their weary arms.

•  Fortunately for the Yankees, the Red Sox are in a vessel in a similar state of disrepair. However, the Red Sox' boat has already taken on about five and a half games of water. For the second straight night, the Red Sox failed to defeat a fairly mediocre Seattle team. The Red Sox didn't crush the ball by any means today, picking up seven hits and three runs. It was the pitching that was most frustrating for the BoSox, however, as they surrendered the lead on three different occasions en route to a 4-3 loss. David Wells, who seems to be rounding (har har har) into playing shape, gave Boston seven good innings but Mike Timlin let the M's back into the picture on the shoulders of an Adrian Beltre home run and a sacrifice fly. The 40 year-old Timlin has looked weary of late, perhaps because of last weekend's marathon series. No matter how you slice it, the Red Sox and Yankees are both struggling. Thanks to a fairly plush cushion of five and a half games, however, the Yankees don't have nearly the cause for panic that the Sox do.
  

The Angels and the Mariners are most likely not playoff-bound. However, they aren't bad teams in any way, shape, or form. Teams with good bullpens and decent lineups can and will turn out to be pretty darn annoying to the contending teams as we move into the final month of the season.