MLB

Yankees fall to Rangers as Joba ‘terrible’ again

Andy Pettitte, who was checked on after colliding with third baseman Jayson Nix in the third inning, wasn’t much better, allowing four runs, three earned, in six innings.

Andy Pettitte, who was checked on after colliding with third baseman Jayson Nix in the third inning, wasn’t much better, allowing four runs, three earned, in six innings. (Charles Wenzelberg)

PITCH POOR: Yankees reliever Joba Chamberlain grimaces after allowing a two-run homer in the seventh inning that secured an 8-5 victory for the Rangers last night at the Stadium. Andy Pettitte, who was checked on after colliding with third baseman Jayson Nix in the third inning (inset), wasn’t much better, allowing four runs, three earned, in six innings. (
)

Joba Chamberlain didn’t absorb the loss. That fell on Andy Pettitte’s head.

Nor did Chamberlain flush a late-inning lead.

Yet that didn’t stop the Yankee Stadium denizens from loudly booing him three times and sending a message regarding who they felt was responsible for an 8-5 loss to the Rangers last night in front of an announced crowd of 38,264.

If you were among those booing inside the muggy ballpark, through a television set or at a radio, the target of your scorn doesn’t have a gripe with you.

“Obviously, I would boo me, too. I am terrible right now. There is no getting around it,’’ said Chamberlain, who gave up four hits and two runs in the seventh when the Rangers stretched a one-run lead to 8-5. “Obviously, you spend money you want to see somebody do their job. It’s one of those things if you don’t do your job you expect to get booed. They have a right to, you can’t get mad at them.’’

Combined with the AL East-leading Red Sox winning, the loss dropped the Yankees 3 1/2 games off the pace.

Summoned into a one-run game in the seventh, Chamberlain gave up a one-out single to Elvis Andrus on a 96 mph fastball and watched Adrian Beltre crush a curveball for a two-run homer.

“You can’t be up in the zone. They are good hitters and make you pay for mistakes,’’ said Chamberlain, who has posted a 12.16 ERA in the last seven outings. In 6 2/3 innings Chamberlain has given up 14 hits.

Manager Joe Girardi, who has dropped Chamberlain in the bullpen pecking order and is using him in close games but when the Yankees are trailing, hasn’t given up on the hard-throwing reliever who was an overnight sensation six years ago because of a big arm and outsized personality. But he is now on the final lap of a Yankees career that was expected to produce more than it has. He is a free agent after the season and trade bait as the July 31 trade deadline approaches.

“He is making mistakes in the middle of the plate. Tonight it was a curveball,” Girardi said. “He is getting too much of the plate and they are not missing them.”

Chamberlain pointed to the possibility of drifting over the rubber too much as the reason his ball is in the middle of the dish and begging to get hit. Girardi didn’t have a reason, but is looking for answers.

“Somehow we need to find a way to get him going,” Girardi said. “This guy needs to help us. To me his stuff is too good not to help us. But right now he is making mistakes.’’

Chamberlain wasn’t the only culprit. Pettitte (5-6) gave up four runs in the third when Jayson Nix committed a throwing error and collided with Pettitte on a bunt.

“I made a bad pitch to Beltre,’’ Pettitte said of the 0-2, bases-loaded offering that was lined off the left-field wall for a two-run double. “I tried to elevate a fastball and didn’t get it quite high enough.’’

A.J. Pierzynski followed with another two-run double and the Yankees were in a three-run hole. Robinson Cano and Travis Hafner drove in runs in the sixth and the teams scored twice in the seventh. That’s when Chamberlain heard it from the crowd as he walked off.

Because of a Brett Gardner error — a questionable scoring decision since Gardner had a long way to go to get a glove on Pierzynksi’s fly to left center — the Rangers added two runs in the ninth.