The Yankees lose their third straight

The New York Yankees lost their third straight game in Detroit this afternoon.  They lost 6-3, the game got away from them in the seventh inning.  A.J. Burnett pitched a really good game but lost it a little in the seventh inning, he wasn't helped by a huge error in that inning.  Eduardo Nunez who is known for his defense has been struggling and had a two run throwing error that made it a 5-2 game and it should of been the last out of the inning.  The Yankees bats once again were quiet, they got a lot of hits but couldn't score many runs.  The Yankees problem has been when they score runs it is with the homerun.  If they don't hit homeruns they don't usually score that much, they lead the league with 60 percent of their runs scored by the homerun.  Detroit is a really big ballpark and they don't play well there, it isn't a park that is good for them. 

The Yankees will now travel to Texas for a three game weekend series.  I would guess that the bats would wake up there, it is a place they usually play well in and it is a hitters park.  The Yankees will get a break for at least one game with Nelson Cruz sitting out today and tomorrow with an injury.  The Yankees will face a couple of lefties so expect to see Andruw Jones in left field.  The Yankees suffered a pretty significant injury today with Eric Chavez breaking his foot, he will be out a while and Ramiro Pena has been called up to take his spot.  Pena will be good defensively but he won't contribute much offensively, he has shown a knack for getting big hits though. 

Nunez came into this year with a reputation as a good defender with a big arm.  He has already made five errors this season.  As a guy who won't play every day and needs to spell Derek Jeter at shortstop that can't continue, he won't have a job if it does.  The Yankees don't believe this is the player that he is and they need to get him right.  He did make 33 errors in his breakout year of 2009 with the Double A Trenton Thunder.  He cut that number down to 14 with AAA Scranton last season.  He is hitting 385 and has some speed, he can steal a base when needed late in the game but the defense is really hurting them right now. 

The Yankees starters all pitched at least seven innings in this series but they only scored 10 runs.  They scored half of the runs in the first game.  Mark Teixeira said that they pitched well but didn't hit so well and didn't play defense when they needed too. 

Interesting little tidbit the last time that Arod was used as a pinch runner was in 1995 when with Seattle he pinch ran for Tino Martinez.  The YES Network had that one for you.  The Yankees knew when Girardi came out to third base to look at Chavez that he was coming out of the game.  the Yankees put on an act to give him more time to get loose.  Girardi said he didn't need another guy getting hurt. 

Derek Jeter will play tomorrow according to Girardi.  Girardi said that they hit balls hard all over the place today but they were caught, they did have a lot of hits today so maybe that is a good sign.  I didn't see the game today but from what I hear and see tonight it appears that they were just unlucky today with their offense.  It could be a good sign for them heading into Texas where they normally play well and are able to score a lot of runs.