Where's the luck?

The Yanks had the bases full with one out and lined hard to first-base. No runs. The A's had the bases loaded with one out and grounded softly to first-base. One run. Game over. And it happens to be Friday the 13th (or was when the game started). But the Yanks were the only ones who broke mirrors, walked under ladders and in front of black cats.

Cano drew his first walk of the season - on four pitches with the bases loaded. And then drew another one (albeit intentional) later in the game. No walks through eight games, and two tonight... funny.

Igawa pitched a very good game, and had just one bad inning (his last). For some reason, he threw four consecutive fastballs to Mike Piazza who drilled the fourth one into left-center for a double. The HR that followed by Chavez wasn't that bad a pitch (it was high and inside), he just guessed fastball and was right.

Kyle Farnsworth is single-handedly sucking the life from this team. He's blown each of the last two games. He pitched one inning tonight and fell behind the first three hitters, until he finally had to give in on 2-0 to Nick Swisher who drilled his (low 90s) inside fastball over the wall to tie the game. The only reason Farnsworth is in the majors is his velocity, not his control (which is often piss poor). If he continues to pitch in the low 90s, he's got to be demoted or traded.

Bruney had another stellar outing. Despite taking the loss, he was mostly dominant. Oakland hit the ball hard just once off him; how long before he takes the ball in close and late innings instead of Farns? It can't be too soon.

I'm also taking exception to Torre's blunder of inserting Kevin Thompson to pinch-run for Jason Giambi in the 8th inning. He represented the second go-ahead run. Arod on 3rd was the actual go-ahead run. That second run means almost nothing, especially when you're removing a great hitter like Giambi (when Thompson came around to hit for Giambi in the 10th, he struck out).

On the bright side, Igawa was much improved and Robbie Cano walked twice and stole a base. Perhaps signs of his all-around game maturing.

5-4 Oakland (a fuckin heartbreaker, with quaruple-A star Darrell Rasner going tomorrow. Not looking good for this series.)