YOU TALKIN’ TO ME? It was a rough night for the Yankees, with manager Joe Girardi going face-to-face with umpire Mike Everitt after Brett Gardner was ejected in the fifth inning, and Andy Pettitte looking dejected in the 4-2 loss to the Red Sox last night. (Anthony J. Causi (2))
BOSTON — On a day the Yankees lost two players to the disabled list, another to an ejection in a critical spot and fell a season-high seven games off the pace in the AL East, Andy Pettitte admitted he is wrestling with his thoughts as well as hitters.
“It’s a serious mental battle right now,’’ the veteran lefty said after absorbing a 4-2 loss to the first-place Red Sox last night in front of 38,130 at Fenway Park.
After giving up a solo homer to Jacoby Ellsbury in the first and a two-run blast to Jonny Gomes in the second, Pettitte found a groove across the following four frames before the runner he left Shawn Kelley scored in the seventh.
“I felt like I got into a real good rhythm and rhythm comes with outs,’’ said Pettitte, who allowed four runs and six hits in 6 1/3 innings and fell to 7-7. “It’s good that I gave us innings but it’s a moot point when you are not able to win the game.’’
The loss was the Yankees’ third straight and was bracketed around Derek Jeter (right quadriceps) going on the DL before the loss and Zoilo Almonte (sprained left ankle) joining him after it was over. Almonte suffered the injury running to first base in the second inning when his foot hit the bag.
Then in the fifth inning with the Yankees trailing 3-2 with a runner on second and two outs, Brett Gardner got tossed by umpire Mike Everitt for slamming his helmet to the dirt after being called out on a 3-2 pitch that appeared low.
While manager Joe Girardi disagreed with Everitt running Gardner — he argued the umpire simply should have written Gardner up for throwing equipment because he didn’t say a word to Everitt — Gardner shouldered the blame.
“I have to have better control of my emotions,’’ said Gardner, who walked, stole second and third and scored on catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia’s throwing error in the fourth. “It is what is and what I did was wrong.’’
Gardner getting ejected certainly didn’t help a Yankees lineup that scored a run before getting a hit off Sox lefty Felix Doubront. That first hit came in the fifth when Lyle Overbay opened with a double and scored on Chris Stewart’s two-out double. Stewart was on second when Gardner snapped.
The Yankees went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and stranded six.
“You just deal with it. No one is going to feel sorry for us. You have to find a way,’’ Girardi said of putting Jeter back on the DL, as well as losing his starting left fielder and the game. “It’s one night, you can’t make too much of it. Obviously, it’s an important stretch. The three teams we are playing are in front of us. It’s important.’’
Nobody is more important than the 41-year-old Pettitte, who is 2-4 with a 5.53 ERA in the last seven starts.
“I don’t know how to explain it,’’ Pettitte said. “The first homer I was trying to get back in the count with a fastball. [Stewart] said the second one was a good pitch, a change-up down and away. Obviously, it’s disappointing. It’s not the way you want to start the second half. It’s going to change.’’