Missed Opportunities

The Good

The Yankees jumped out on Friday and despite a not so sharp outing by Kuroda, were able to get the bats swinging and took the first game of the series 6-4 against the Blue Jays.  This was helped quite a bit by Ichiro Suzuki's first homerun of the year, as well as a homerun by Beltran.  Headley went 3-4 that game, and scored 2 runs. 

Also good, Capuano made his Yankees debut on Saturday and went a respectable 6 innings allowing just 2 runs. 

The Bad

The first game of the series made me have hope that the recent Yankee success was not just a matter of beating up on weaker teams.  But then the rest of the weekend happened, and I'm back to not being so sure.  Somehow the Yankees weren't able to capitalize on a recent power surge (we hit 6 homeruns this weekend), and we ended up losing games that were entirely winnable.

The Ugly

A pair of defensive lapses on Saturday made the difference for the Yankees loss.  One of them was understandable.  McCann was playing first base, a position he's not entirely accustomed to, and in his attempt to stop someone from going home from third, he forgot to get the out at first base.  Roberts misplayed a pop up and couldn't field it cleanly afterwards.  This is apart of what has been frustrating about watching this team this season: when we pitch we don't hit, when we hit we don't pitch, and when we hit and pitch we can't field.

Homeruns Make the Difference for the Children

Even if they don't make the difference for the team. Beltran (2), Ichiro, McCann, Headley, and Cervelli made sure the kids went home satisfied. 

Brett Gardner 10hr = $20
Alfonso Soriano 6hr = $12
Kelly Johnson 6hr = $12
Carlos Beltran 12hr = $24
Dean Anna 1hr = $2
Brian McCann 11hr = $22
Yangervis Solarte 6hr = $12
Mark Teixeira 17hr = $34
John Ryan Murphy 1hr = $2
Jacoby Ellsubry 8hr = $16
Brian Roberts 5hr = $10
Derek Jeter 2hr = $4
Zoilo Almonte 1hr = $2
Zelous Wheeler 2hr = $4
Ichiro Suzuki 1 hr = $2
Chase Headley 1hr = $2
Francisco Cervelli 1hr = $2

Total 91hr = $182