Greene, Thornton Collapse in Sixth; Rangers Beat Yankees in Opener 4-2

Going into tonight's opener against the Rangers, there was no reason to believe that the Yankees would lose.

The then 50-47 team, coming off yesterday's walk-off, had just swept the Reds to begin the homestand, making 39-59 Texas look like an easy club to beat.

Still, due to one bad inning, the Yanks did fall in tough-to-watch fashion, with Shane Greene and Matt Thornton collapsing in the top of the sixth as the Rangers won easily 4-2.

During this one's first five frames, Greene committed three errors (yes, three), but thanks to five strikeouts and a few big plays from the offense he and the Bombers did have a 2-1 lead.

However, with two outs and nobody on in the aforementioned sixth, the Rangers began a ridiculous rally, causing a sac fly from Carlos Beltran and a solo home run from Jacoby Ellsbury to become worthless. 

Facing the red-hot Jake Smolinski with a 3-2 count, Greene allowed a routine single up the middle, followed immediately by a walk of Jim Adduci and a game tying knock just over the glove of Zealous Wheeler from the struggling Geovany Soto. 

After that disaster, and considering that he was at 113 pitches, Bombers Manager Joe Girardi finally decided to take the rookie out, replacing him with the rarely-reliable Matt Thornton.

Big mistake.

Entering the contest with two on, Thornton surrendered two more RBI hits to Rougner Odor and Shin-Soo Choo, putting Greene in line for the loss and eventually handing Miles Mikolas (7 1/3 IP, 2 ER) the W.

Subsequently, as expected, Thornton was removed without retiring anyone, capping off the action of one of the Pinstripes' most frustrating losses of the year, as Texas came into this one 4-24 in their last 28 and New York 4-1 in their last 5.

The Daily HALF Dozen - July 21, 2014

THE DAILY  1/2 DOZEN
(Twelve Six Takeaways from Tonight's Game - July 21st, 2014)

1. Shane Greene couldn't get past the 6th inning tonight.  It was bound to happen at some point because this season doesn't appear to have storybook endings.  He gave up 4 earned runs in 5-2/3 innings to "bloat" his ERA to 2.79 and had three errors.  Lucky for him, none of those errors cost him a run.  But one by Roberts in 3rd did to temporarily tie the game at 1 apiece.  He got the first two outs in the 6th and then couldn't get anyone else out giving up a single, walk, and game-tying single.  Of course he then got "Thorntoned" out of 2 more runs.

He may be a spy...just saying... (Source: CBS Sports)

2. Texas came into this game losing 16 of 18 games.  Of course the worst team in baseball would double up the Yankees by the time I got home from softball and mowed the lawn.  No 2-1 lead is ever safe with the Bronx Bombless!

3. Kelly Johnson proved tonight that Mark Teixeira has definitely won Derek Jeter two Gold Gloves.  Johnson pulled his foot on a low throw from Jeter in the 7th inning that Teix would have easily had.

4. FIVE ERRORS!?!  You have got to be freaking kidding me.  The Yankees had as many errors as hits.  The last time they had this many errors was on 7-7-07.  Not a very lucky number for them if you ask me.

Tell him what he's won Bob!  Another loss to a Cellar Dweller!

5. Jacoby Ellsbury continues on his latest tear.  With a 2 for 4 performance tonight including his 8th home run, the center fielder for the Yanks got his average up to .291 and knocked in his 46th RBI.  These aren't world-beater numbers but on an anemic offense like this one, they sure look it.  He also now has a .777 OPS (wait...there's that 777 again...) surpassing Gardner (.768) and Teixeira (.773) for the team lead.  I would sure love to see someone be in the .900 range...wouldn't you? Like an Adrian Beltre sort of player?

"You there! Brian Cashman! Bring me to the Bronx!"

6. Mikolas had a 10.05 ERA coming into the game.  He left with a 7.48 after only allowing 4 hits in 7-1/3 innings.  The Yankees have ALWAYS had problems with pitchers like this.  It's like a switch goes off in crappy pitchers' minds that says..."Hey! You're in Yankee Stadium...time to show up today!"

"Hi...my name is Miles Mikolas...I love long walks on the beach,
jazz music, and eating truffles by candlelight..."