Yankees Edge Indians 4-3

The Yankee’s hex over the Indians continues. After being obliterated on Monday, the Indians made it a game on Tuesday night but couldn’t quite pull it out in the end. The 4-3 loss to the Yankees was the Indians third in a row and pushed the once red-hot Indians’ record to 3-7 in their last 10 games.

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Scott Kazmir pitched well enough to keep the Tribe in the game, but the Indians offense once again had no answers for Yankees starter David Phelps. After pitching well in his last outing against the Indians, a game in which he was out dueled by Justin Masterson, Phelps turned in six innings of one-hit baseball in which he walked four and struck out seven. Kazmir, meanwhile, went six innings and allowed four runs, but again that is not an insurmountable deficit for a team that can score runs like the Indians can.

In the bottom of the third inning, the Yankees did their damage. Following a leadoff double by Lyle Overbay and a single by Chris Stewart (he was thrown out at second trying to stretch it into a double), Ichiro Suzuki delivered an RBI single. After a Jayson Nix single, Mark Teixeira homered for the second night in a row. The Yankees had a 4-0 lead and were well on their way until the top of the seventh inning.

With Carlos Santana and Mike Aviles on second and first respectively, Drew Stubbs delivered in a huge way. His three run home run to right field off of Joba Chamberlain pulled the Tribe back to within one at 4-3. On the down side, it opened the door for Mariano Rivera to come into the game two innings later for his second save in as many days. You win some, you lose some, and right now the Indians are losing more than they are winning.

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The Good: Drew Stubbs went 2 for 3 with a home run and three RBI. He was the lone offensive bright spot for the Indians on the night.

The Bad: The rest of the offense had no solution for David Phelps or the rest of the Yankees pitching staff. Stubbs had two of the Tribe’s four hits. On top of it, the Indians struck out 11 times on the night.

The “Huh?”: Mike Aviles got thrown out of the game… after he made the final out of the game. How often do you see that happen?