Mo innings Mo Porblems (Postgame Notes 13 May 2008)

Winning extra innings games on the road is one of the hardest things to do in baseball.

However, there is no statistic for games lost in extra innings, as there is in hockey, and thus when you have a game like the Yankees had tonight, the loss stings even more.

This game was, for the most part, an old-fashioned pitcher's duel, though, at times, it felt more like the product of good pitching and an anemic offense on the part of the Yankees. Chien Ming Wang did everything he was supposed to do and like his last start, it wasn't enough. In fact, in Wang's past two starts, the Yankees have given him literally no run support.

Hideki Matsui's home run in the ninth was a jolt of life, and it certainly gave the Yankees a chance, but when the Yankees failed to score another run in that inning, it greatly lessened their chances of winning because they were on the road.

Mariano Rivera's ERA was not going to remain at 0.00 for the course of the entire season, but the loss always hurts.


OPTIMIST TAKE: Alex Rodriguez may be back next Tuesday. Kyle Farnsworth had another strong outing and Jason Giambi is beginning to look like he belongs in the line up (if not on the field)