Struggling Yankees Drop 2 of 3 to Marlins / Big Day for BJ Upton/Rays take rubber game from Mets

6/21--Miam,FL. A late rally was not enough for the New York Yankees to get past the Florida Marlins. A solo home run in the 6th inning by Cody Ross off of Brett Tomko put the Marlins ahead in the game for good. This came after Hanley Ramirez' home run had tied the game in the previous inning.

The loss was a big blow to the Yankees as Josh Johnson looked dominant in game 2 of the series, a 2-1 Marlins win. The loss in game 3 made it four losses in the last five games - to the Nationals and Marlins.

Yankees starter CC Sabathia had to leave the game in the second inning due to tightness in his left biceps. He does, however, expect to make his next scheduled start. “It wasn’t a sharp pain or anything,” Sabathia said. “It just felt a little tight. It’s something I felt before, between starts or something. It’s nothing major (Source: Antonio Gonzalez, AP writer - http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap;_ylt=Ar9p_eWGlf81OALErvmPzkM5nYcB?gid=290621128&prov=ap).”

Florida starter, Chirs Volstad, pitched 6 innings allowing 3 runs on 5 hits. He struck out 4 and walked 1. The win was his 5th of the year. Matt Lindstrom closed the game to earn his 14th save.

Thoughts: For the Yankees, it seems like a normally potent offense needs to wake up and start producing like they know they can. Losing 4 of 5 to the Marlins and Nationals came as a complete shock as both of those teams are on the bottom of the NL east standings. While the Marlins do have a pretty good lineup, there is no excuse for the Yankees pitching staff to allow the Nationals to outscore them. Maybe a trade to sure up the 6th and 7th innings would be in their best interest. That still depends on who is out there as there is no reason to trade and not have it benefit the team.

6/21---Flushing,NY. BJ Upton went 4/6 with a home run and 4 RBIs as the Tampa Bay Rays won the rubber game from the struggling New York Mets.

Mets starter Mike Pelfrey seemed to be cruising along until an offensive explosion in the 5th inning gave the Rays the lead for good. He allowed 4 runs on 8 hits in his 5 innings of work. Bobby Parnell also continued to struggle, allowing 4 runs without retiring a batter in the 7th.

The Mets offensive star was Brian Schneider who hit his second 3 run homer in the last 2 games.

Thoughts: The Cardinals come into Citi Field for a 4 game series starting tonight. The Mets can ill afford to have streaky pitching against a team like St. Louis has. Any mistakes by Mets pitching will mst likely be jumped on by Albert Pujols and company. The Mets need to score runs against some of the more inexperienced Cardinals starters before running into Chris Carpenter in the series finale. Bottom line is the Mets need at least a series split to keep above water until hopefullt the team gets healthy again.