All season, the Yankees bullpen has been a source of strength and confidence. Over the past two weeks, when the Yankees needed it most as they try to stay in the AL wild-card race, it was even more. It was simply the best bullpen in the majors.
But yesterday, the bullpen performed like a cast of who-are-they call-ups.
"Just a bad day," said Boone Logan, one of three seventh-inning bullpen culprits in the Yankees' stinging 7-3 loss to Baltimore. "It's kind of weird. We feed off each other and it seems like when someone does good, we all do good. When someone [stinks] we all [stink]. It was just one of those days where everybody had a bad game."
Bill Kostroun/New York Post
FUEL TO THE FIRE: Joba Chamberlain reacts after giving up a three-run homer in the seventh inning, after Shawn Kelley and Boone Logan had also imploded in the inning.
Suffice it to say, all the relievers who pitched [stunk] in the seventh inning.
With two inherited runners, Shawn Kelley faced two batters, yielding an RBI single to Matt Wieters, a three-run homer to J.J. Hardy and the lead.
"Both pitches just right on the middle and I didn't execute them." Kelley said.
Logan followed, surrendering a bunt hit and a walk. Joba Chamberlain was next on the assembly line. After a foul-out bunt, Adam Jones drove a 1-1 slider over the wall in center for the second three-run home run of the inning.
"We needed a double play," Chamberlain said. "So I threw him the two sliders and as aggressive as Adam is, I throw one in a good spot, hopefully get him to roll over and get us out of that inning and keep us within one.
"[The pitch] just kind of didn't do anything."
Except exit the stadium at the speed of light.
So the Yankees wasted a strong effort by Andy Pettitte, yanked by manager Joe Girardi after surrendering back-to-back singles to open the seventh. Still, he was up, 3-0.
"Anytime you turn it over to our bullpen, you feel good about it," said Pettitte, who used "league's best" to label the Yankees' pen. "You can't fault [Girardi]. It just didn't work out."
So of the first six batters the bullpen faced, five of them scored, two on home runs. Plus, the two guys left on base by Pettitte scored. All of a sudden that spiffy 1.05 ERA since Aug. 16 went into the "so what?" file.
"The bullpen has been so good for us all year long. They're not going to be perfect, but it is surprising because they've been so good," Girardi said. "They've been put in tough situations a lot. Today they just didn't come through."
The nightmare began with Kelley, who seconded Girardi's motion that he threw "mistakes" to Wieters and Hardy, whose three-run homer just cleared the wall in right, making it 4-3.
"I knew they were going to be aggressive and I just didn't make the pitches," said Kelley. "It was tough obviously, three-run lead going to the seventh, a chance for a sweep against a team that we're right there neck-and-neck with. It's a tough one to swallow and it's completely on me for those pitches."
It didn't help that Hardy's shot eluded Curtis Granderson at the wall, clearing it with centimeters to spare.
"Hardy's got power," catcher Chris Stewart said. "But that was definitely a Yankee Stadium home run."
fred.kerber@nypost.com
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