Milestone Day For Derek Jeter Can't Propel The Yankees to Victory

With one out in the top of the first inning, Derek Jeter blasted a ball deep into the left field seats at Safeco Field to give the Yankees an early 1-0 lead over the Seattle Mariners.

The homer was Jeter's tenth of the season, but more importantly, the solo shot gave Jeter his 1,000th career run-batted-in. Yankees TV commentator Ken Singleton said, "He did it in fashion," referring to Jeter's 1,000th rbi coming off of a home run.

Jeter's shot left him one hit shy of Babe Ruth's 2,518 for second place on the all-time Yankees hit list, however, the shortstop singled to left center in the top of the third inning, tying Babe Ruth. 

The Yankees led 2-0 at that point in the game, but things slowly began to unravel for the Bombers.

With Yuniesky Betancourt on first base, Adrian Beltre connected on a two out pitch from Mike Mussina, sending the ball over the right field fence. The 2-run homer tied the game at two a piece in the third inning.

Jose Lopez led off the Mariners' half of the fourth with a solo home run, which barely cleared the left field fence. Seattle led 3-2. 

The Yankees failed to regain that run in the top of the fifth when Alex Rodriguez fell asleep on first base with two outs, Jason Giambi at bat, and Jeter on second. Mariners left-handed starter Ryan Feierabend threw over to first base, A-Rod froze on the move and starting running towards second, forcing Jeter to head to third. The Mariners nailed Jeter to end the inning. 

After reaching on Mussina's throwing error, Ichiro Suzuki came around to score on a single off the bat of Raul Ibanez. The run extended the Mariners lead to 4-2 in the fifth. Ibanez came into the game batting .379 against Mussina, so the veteran right-hander did not want to face Ibanez with two outs and a man in scoring position. 

Mussina and rookie Phil Coke cooled the Mariners off until Jose Veras gave up a solo home run to Lopez in the eighth. Lopez's second homer of the contest put the Mariners ahead 5-2.

J.J. Putz came in to close out the Yanks in the ninth. Putz blew a save against the Yankees in May, and put runners on first and second with one out today. 

However, the right-hander was able to strike out Robinson Cano and Wilson Betemit to finish off the inconsistent bombers.

The loss was handed to Mussina, who is pursuing a 20-win season. Mussina is now 17-8, and he could have used a win against a feeble team like the Mariners. Looking at the Yankees schedule, Baltimore is the only team below .500 on the Yankees path to the end of September. Moose will not have an easy time picking up wins against the Rays, the Jays, and the Red Sox. 

Boston beat Texas today, so the Yankees have fallen back to 8.5 games out of the wild card race. 

Toronto completed a sweep of Tampa Bay this afternoon, and with the Yankees loss, the Blue Jays now control third place in the AL East. 

Yes, that means that the Yankees are in fourth place. 

The Yankees will travel to Anaheim to face the Angels tomorrow night at 10:05 PM. Carl Pavano is scheduled to make his 4th start of the season, going against Jon Garland. 

In three starts, Pavano is 2-0 with a 4.20 ERA. Garland, coming off two rough starts, is 12-8 with an ERA of 4.64. 

The Yankees will throw Alfredo Aceves against Jered Weaver in game two of the series. Aceves, who will be making his first major league start, gave up one run in five innings against the Rays in his second major league relief appearance on Thursday. 

Weaver is 10-10 with a 4.42 ERA.

Wednesday afternoon, Andy Pettite will oppose Ervin Santana. Pettite is 13-12 with a 4.49 ERA. Santana posts an impressive 15-5 record and a solid ERA of 3.23. 

At this point, the Yankees really cannot afford to lose. Winning won't come easily against the Angels who post baseball's best record of 86-56, however, the Yankees have the ability to take at least two out of the three games. 

Postseason hopes are dwindling for the Yankees, as they are running out of time to gain ground on the Red Sox, so a series win against the Angels would certainly help their cause. 

The Red Sox host the Rays in a three game set this week. Yankees fans should root for a Rays sweep of Boston, so that if the Yankees can put some wins together against the Angels, wild card ground will be gained.