Man, did it look like Rick Helling was going to cruise to a no hitter. I haven’t seen him look so dominating in awhile, and he has been pitching pretty well lately. Unfortunately, he got done in by his old nemesis, the long ball. The Yankees led off with a double to start the game, but then Rick set down the next 17 in a row. However, NY scored three runs on two jacks in the 6th. They added another in the 7th, and Rick was pulled. I felt awful, as he really deserved the win, even though he didn’t get it (Crabtree did).
Our offense was in the first, when Denny Neagle pitched really wildly, and we were assisted by two errors, although all four runs in the first inning were earned. We batted around, and had the chance for more (we left two on). Still – I’ll take whatever we can get in the Bronx. Raffy put us back on top with a solo home run in the 8th – driving Neagle from the game.
From that point on, there wasn’t any more scoring, and John Wetteland had a moment of brilliance to get a save (his first in about a month).