Holding a team to two runs, with this offense, should be enough to win on most nights.

Monday wasn't one of those nights.

Mike Mussina was a strikeout machine, Alex Rodriguez hit one of the longest home runs you'll ever see from a right-handed batter at The Stadium and Jason Giambi legged out his first triple of the year, but Scott Feldman and friends put the clamps on as the Rangers squeezed by the Yanks 2-1 in the Bronx.  The closest the Yanks came to an honest-to-goodness rally came in the second when they put runners on first and second with nobody out.  But Jorge Posada flew out and Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera grounded out to end the threat.

Baseball is a game of numbers and here are some to chew on.  In the past three games, the Bombers:

• have scored five runs
• have a team average of .138
• have four extra-base hits
• are hitting .167 with runners in scoring position

Add it up and they Yanks are lucky to be 1-2 in those games.

On a side note: the Yanks sent outfielder Justin Christian to Scranton and called up the speedy Brett Gardner.  Brian has been high on Gardner for a while and even though he went 0 for 3, he swiped his first Major League base in the fifth inning.

The Good:

Alex Rodriguez.  Yankee Stadium isn't really conducive to right-handed power hitters, but A-Rod is no ordinary power hitter.  Rodriguez blasted a shot that bounced deep into Monument Park and went into the left-center field bleachers.  The only player that I can remember actually hitting a ball into those bleachers was Juan Encarnacion (off Ramiro Mendoza in, I believe, 1998).  I was watching that game with my brother and our jaws nearly hit the floor after his tater.  But what was most impressive about A-Rod's shot was that it came on a 74-mile-an-hour curveball.  The power generated was all No. 13.  Anyway, the dinger was No. 534 for A-Rod, tying him with Jimmie Foxx for 14th place on the all-time home run list.  It was also all the offense the Yanks would muster on the night.  Rodriguez finished 1 for 3 with a walk, a stolen base, a run scored and an RBI.

The Bad:

1 through 8.  The Rangers came into Monday's action with the American League's worst ERA (4.89), the highest batting average against (.280) and tied for the most hits allowed (822).  And what did the Yanks do against this staff?  They managed four hits and scored one run for the second straight game.  Unacceptable!  A-Rod gets a pass since he provided the run, but I'm holding everyone else in the lineup accountable for this loss.

The Ugly:

Always wear a cup.  Jose Veras entered the game in the eighth and gave up a leadoff double to Michael Young.  Josh Hamilton was up next for the Rangers and Jose Molina flashed the signs behind the plate.  Nothing out of the ordinary, right?  Well, someone didn't remember the progression with a runner on second.  Veras threw a fastball and Molina was expecting, well, he was expecting something else.  The heater hit him square in the nads.  Molina fell like a sack of potatoes as Young advanced to third.  But give Molina credit, he went after the ball even though he was in obvious pain.  I'm sure he'll be pissing blood tonight.

Joba Chamberlain (2-2, 2.03) will try and put the brakes on this mini two-game skid Tuesday night and will battle Kevin Millwood (5-4, 5.08 ERA).  Millwood was a disaster in June, giving up 44 hits in 31 innings with a 6.10 ERA, but somehow finished 2-1.  But I suppose that's an improvement since his ERA in May was 7.45.  Millwood is 1-4 in six career starts against the Yanks.  Chamberlain earned his first win as a stater in his last game against the Pirates in Pittsburgh.  Joba is 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA in his five starts this season and is holding righties to a .194 average.

Time to get that first win in front of the home folks.
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