Woke Up This Morning

Yanks Lose ALDS Game 2

It's a drag when you wake up in the morning and the first news of the day is the Yankees went down 4-3 to the Tigers.

Granderson's run-scoring triple in the seventh inning proved to be the difference as Detroit edged New York, 4-3, in Game 2 of their American League Division Series at Yankee Stadium.

With the win, the Tigers evened the best-of-five set at one apiece with Game 3 of the series scheduled for Friday in Detroit.

Ex-Yankee Marcus Thames was 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored for the Tigers, who won their first playoff game since 1987. Carlos Guillen was 2- for-4 with a solo home run.

'Whenever my name is called, I just want to do something to help my club,' said Thames. 'I have been through a lot to get to this point and I am just glad I got an opportunity.'

Justin Verlander allowed three runs on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings for Detroit. Jamie Walker (1-0), Joel Zumaya and Todd Jones finished things with 3 2/3 combined innings of scoreless relief.

'The hitting conditions were tough and we caught a break with the shadows late in the game,' said Tigers manager Jim Leyland.

Walker earned the win while Jones notched the save.

Johnny Damon was 2-for-5 with a three-run home run for the Yankees while Hideki Matsui finished 3-for-4 with a run scored. Derek Jeter followed his 5-for-5 Game 1 with a 1-for-4 day.

'We had opportunities and we couldn't do anything,' said New York manager Joe Torre. 'Our game is swinging the bats and we just didn't get it done today.'

Mike Mussina (0-1) surrendered four runs on eight hits in seven innings of work en route to the loss. The right-hander has just one win in his last six ALDS starts for New York.

Mike Mussina used to be so reliable. Now he's become a bit hit-or-miss. I tell you it's a real drag; the fallout is worse. This loss means the Yankees winning the series comes down to starts by the Big Useless and Jaret-Two-Balls-And-A-Bat-Wright, both in Detroit. Johnson has been declared ready to go despite a herniated disc in his back.

"He threw 30-35 pitches and he's on his way," manager Joe Torre said before Wednesday's scheduled Game 2, which was called after a nearly two-hour rain delay and will be made up Thursday afternoon. "He felt fine. I'm going to give him the ball, and we'll have to see what happens."

I'm just not getting my hopes up. The Tigers are going to start Kenny Rogers, so it's likely to be a 10-8 kind of ballgame and the Tigers could easily win something like that. Wright is even less assured of being effective, being Jaret Wright and all. They could easily lose those.

*Ugh* I think I'll go smash a chair or something.