Yanks frustratingly lose again

Consistency, thy name is not the Yankees.

Tonight’s game was one that, on paper, the Yanks win. They had Andy Pettitte — who, before tonight, was something like 71-33 when pitching the day after a Yankee loss — facing off against the maddeningly frustrating Paul Byrd. I can’t stand watching Byrd pitch against the Yankees; they just can’t get to him despite his array of 82 mile-per-hour fastballs.

Well, tonight seemed a bit different. The Yanks seemed to have overcome an early unearned run and were up 3-1 when Pettitte ran out of gas in a four-run fifth. He exited the game after that inning with a Hughesian 99 pitches — only 56 were strikes. Tonight’s outing was not one of Andy Pettitte’s finest.

Meanwhile, in came Billy Traber, and he did what Billy Traber does best: one inning pitched, one run on one hit and two walks. It would matter little as the Yanks lost 6-4. I have to believe at this point, if the Yankees feel they can survive without a token lefty in the bullpen, they will send down Traber when Shelley Duncan is activated later today. To those of you flipping out at this idea, ask yourself this: Haven’t the Yankees survived so far without an effective lefty? They haven’t been killed by lefties, and they don’t need to waste the roster space.

But all the harping on pitching is moot. The Yankees bats were once again largely silent. Take Jason Giambi’s 2-for-3 performance out of the equation, and the Yanks were 4 for 29 (.138 BA) with only Hideki Matsui mustering much in the way of offense. It was just one of those nights when consistency from this maddeningly inconsistent Yankee team was nowhere to be found.

Game Notes:

• The Yanks are 1-12 when trailing after six innings this season. Wake up, folks. Game’s not over until the 9th.
• Jason Giambi is 6 for his last 13 with 3 home runs. He’s been on base 9 times over his last 16 plate appearances, and his ISO power — a measure of his extra-base hit prowess — is an off-the-charts .306. While his fielding is terrible, we can’t write off his offense yet at all.
• Derek Jeter is 2 for his last 18. Look no further than Derek for a reason why the Yanks have been struggling offensively recently. He’ll snap out of it.
• Congrats to former Yankee and one-time RAB whipping boy Wil Nieves. He hit his first Big League home run last night, and it was of the walk-off variety. Wil will be forever remembered as going 10 for 71 in three seasons in the Bronx and for being a completely inadequate backup catcher last year. He’s doing well with the Nationals in limited duty while Paul LoDuca is injured.
• As the Indians did tonight, teams that are not the White Sox will run off of Jorge Posada until he starts throwing guys out. It’s tough to blame his shoulder for tonight’s stolen bases; Sizemore is a legitimate threat. But Jamey Carroll had no steals prior to tonight, and both runners scored after their stolen-base attempts.