Lost Weekend.

Friday

Clippard pitching again and not having as easy a time of it this time. He's throwing a lot of pitches, scuffling a bit. After four innings, though, we're only down 3-2. Weaver doesn't look all that great -- we're getting some hits and making him throw a lot of pitches, too. We're by no means dead here.

Then a strange thing happens. Clippard doesn't come out for the fifth. What the . . . ? He hadn't thrown that many pitches. He must've hurt himself. Damn. Another starter hurt? When will it end? But of course he's not hurt -- 4 innings, 76 pitches, 6 hits, 3 runs, no walks, 1 strikeout. But he's lifted. I stare at the TV, mystified, as the fifth inning starts.

Matt DeSalvo, who was passed over for this start in favor of the guy he's relieving, retires no one. He's in long enough to pitch to four guys, two of whom he walks and two of whom get hits. Vizcaino comes in and all the inherited runners score and before you know it it's 6-2 and suddenly this game seems a lot less winnable.

We actually score a run in the bottom of the fifth, improving the score to a better-feeling 6-3. Weaver is over 100 pitches after five innings . . . maybe this game isn't over all. I mean . . . hey, you never know, right?

Vizcaino comes back out for the sixth and gets no one out. Single homer walk double. Enter Villone. Strikeout single intentional walk sac fly groundout and it's 10-3. And now -- hey, you know. I mean you know. I could easily stop watching but I stick with it out of pure masochism.

We score three in the eighth to bring it to a non-blowout looking 10-6. But make no mistake -- this was a blowout.

Meanwhile, Boston wins.


Saturday

Terrible first inning for Wang and we're down 3-0 before I'm even settled in to watch. But come on, it's Kelvim Escobar, for goodness' sake. He's been pitching well but we can hit this guy.

Wang, bless his heart settles right down. We scratch out a run thanks to Mientkiewicz's two-out hit.

But basically . . . no, we can't hit Escobar.

Great. Wang actually lasts eight innings and it's still 3-1.

And that's exactly where it ends. Shields pitches the eighth, and K-Rod pitches the ninth. The highlight of that inning was Abreu being called out to end the game on a pitch that was, charitably, eight inches outside.

Bur, as horrible as the call was, and a as putrid as the umps have been all season so far (not just in Yankees' games, trust Me -- having MLB Extra Innings allows me to see all the out-of-market atrocious calls, too), the most important thing about Abreu's at-bat is this: You can't be the last out and strike out without taking the bat off your shoulder. The 1-1 pitch might have been a little low. Might have. But, um, don't lefties like the ball down? Isn't the low pitch a good one for a lefty to drop the bat on and jerk out over the short porch?

Never mind. I'm just a dumb fan.

And Boston wins.


Sunday

This is the one that really sticks in me. Maybe because it's the freshest, or maybe it's because it was the most unnecessary of the three losses.

Mike "Goldfish Guts" Mussina is actually pitching pretty well. Going into the seventh we're up 2-1 and what's scaring me most is looking ahead to the eighth and hoping we tack on plenty bottom seven so that Farnsworth has a big margin for error.

Mussina gets an out then walks a guy. Then . . .

I'm seeing it. I'm hearing it. But I don't want to believe it.

Of course I have no choice but to acknowledge it, because it's happening. Mussina out after 6.1 innings, Scott Proctor in.

95 pitches. 95. Not 125, not 115. 95. Is this a veteran major league pitcher or not? 95 pitches?

Has Joe Torre never seen a starter pitch out of trouble after the sixth inning? Is the only way a Yankee starter can stay in the game after the sixth inning to allow absolutely no base runners at all?

Well, you konw how this story goes already. Double walk walk walk sac fly. And I do not want to hear that the long at bat by Aybar culminating in a walk unnerved Proctor -- what about the doudble Proctor gave up before that walk?

It's 4-2 but it might as well be 14-2. We are not winning this game.

We put up a rally against a sub par K-Rod but it's not quite enough, Jeter flying out after a 10-pitch battle, the tying run 90 feet away. (Torre messed up a little with how he used pinch-hitters in the ninth today but compared to the egregious error of taking Mussina out it barely rates a mention.)

This is the game that was really just tossed away, because Torre couldn't wait to use Proctor.

When Torre came out to go get Proctor, the crowd, seeing and feeling the game having just been torched by the Dr. Frankenstein of the bullpen, let Torre hear some of their frustration. Michael. Kay seemed shocked. "Wow, this is quite the change from the reception Joe Torre would normally get," Kay said, or words to that effect.

Well, two points there.

1. It's about time.
2. I think Kay must not listen to his own radio show. As iris pointed out to me (and which at the time I was too obstinate to see), a lot of his callers have to be saying what the fans today "said" about Torre with their reaction.

OK, our starters aren't as good as they were back in the Championship days. I grant that.

But neither is our bullpen. Joe looks out there and instead of Farnsworth and Proctor and Vizcaino it's as if he sees Stanton, Nelson, and Mendoza in their dominating primes. When you have a veteran starter, who's under 100 pitches, who's pitching well, and craftily, getting people out with a mid-80s fastball, you have to allow him to work around one friggin' base runner with one out in the seventh inning when your bullpen is overworked and wildly inconsistent.

Oh, and by the way. Boston won. I think we are 27 1/2 games behind. I can't wait for the "blockbuster" trade for a "name" first baseman. Future? What future?