Sloppy Second Game

Man, what an ugly game. It looked absolutely horrible in the Bronx. It looked freezing, definitely not ideal playing conditions. I couldn't tell if the Yankees were playing the D-Rays or a team of ninjas.
The Yankee defense was again less than stellar. 2 errors by the Captain. I didn't expect to see that. Surprisingly though, the crowd didn't boo him. I wonder what the reaction would have been if it were A-Rod that made the blunders.
Pettitte looked OK in his return to the Bronx. I think the weather was making it tough for him. He was definitely a little wild and it looked like he and Posada weren't connecting. At one point they flashed to Posada in the dugout getting a white-out manicure. That was pretty funny. When I heard Pettitte was on an 80 pitch limit, I knew he'd be lucky to make it through 5 considering the weather. The defense didn't help him out much and Proctor didn't pick him up when he left with runners on base.
Proctor looked a little shaky in his debut. My thought was possibly because he hadn't pitched in a while. We saw the same thing from him last year when the Yanks opened in Oakland. He came along and got stronger with each outing. That shot that Dukes hit off him was a rope. That dude is a monster.
I lost count of all the wild pitches and passed balls and how many runs scored because of them. I think it was 6 or 7 balls that got away from Jorge. It definitely wasn't Jorge's night behind the plate.
The bullpen was a little shaky. It seemed like nobody could get anyone out with the exception of Bruney and Farnsworth. The top of the 8th lasted for what seemed like an eternity. Vizcaino getting Crawford to pop out with 2 on and no out was huge. Props to A-Rod for not messing that one up.
Melky, Melky, Melky. Work on the bunting. If Mientkiewicz gets to 2nd, Cano brings him home. Tie game.
Alex, Alex, Alex. That was your spot bro. Down a run and the based juiced. You've got to make that happen. Popping out isn't going to get the haters to change their mind.
Pitching and defense wins championships. Tonight, the pitching and the defense (and maybe the weather) cost the Yankees the game. You definitely can't put this one on the offense. Any time the Yankees score 6 runs and rack up 14 hits, they should win the ball game.
This was a tough game to judge. Second game of the season. A day after a rainout. It's their second game in 5 days. Horrible weather. It's tough for me to put much stock in the loss and in the Yankees performance. David Justice made an interesting point in the post game, and I'll paraphrase: "They're pros. They're veterans. They've played in these conditions before. It's surprising they played so sloppy. Blaming it on the weather would be an excuse." I agree with Justice. But, I definitely think in better weather conditions this game ends differently. Jeter is a Gold Glove shortstop. You rarely, if ever, see him make 2 errors in a game, and 3 errors in his first 2 games. But alas, that's the way it goes. A loss is a loss. It is what it is. They can't win 'em all, but they'll definitely win enough to make it to October. Hakuna Matata.
J-Boog