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On Monday night the

New York Yankees fell o the Toronto Blue Jays, 3-1. The pinstripes opened the scoring in the second frame with a RBI single from Oswaldo Cabrera, but the home side quickly struck back. A walk with the bases loaded allowed the Blue Jays to tie things up in the bottom of the second, then a wild pitch gave them the lead. Alejandro Kirk smacked a double in the third to give Toronto a two-run cushion they’d never relinquish. There was not another run scored in the contest and the Yankees were handed their fifth loss of the young season.

The rest of the game was anything but boring, however. In the top of the fifth, fans were treated to the ump show.

Trent Grisham was up to bat for New York and faced a 3-1 count against Chris Bassit. The Blue Jays pitcher painted the outside corner with a gorgeous sinker and Grisham watched it fly by. The home plate umpire, Charlie Ramos, correctly called it a strike. He incorrectly rung Grisham up because he mistakenly thought it was strike three, not strike two. To Ramos’ credit, he realized this immediately and transitioned into calling it strike two without missing a beat.

He did it so quickly the broadcast didn’t even pick up on it. Which is quite rare! Any regular baseball viewer can tell you that umpire mistakes are usually drawn-out affairs that require lengthy discussion between all the umps and managers from both sides. It’s not a surprise if the delay hits 10 minutes or more. But Ramos wasted no time. For that, fans in the stands were assuredly grateful.

The Yankees have an opportunity to get back at the Blue Jays tonight as they play the second of their three-game series against Toronto at the Rogers Centre.

The Yankees won their first three series of the 1999 season, including a sweep against the Detroit Tigers in the home opening group of games. Now, following a loss in the final game of their second home series against the Baltimore Orioles, the Bombers hit the road to Detroit, where they would match up with the Tigers again.

The series started off as poorly as it would end.

April 16: Tigers 8, Yankees 1 (box score)

Record: 7-3 (1st, +0.5 GA)

The game started well for the Yankees, as they found themselves in the lead within the first two batters of the game. After the leadoff hitter Chuck Knoblauch flew out to center field, Derek Jeter stepped up to the plate, looking to provide some offense from the two-hole. And that he did, blasting a solo home run over the fence of Tiger Stadium, giving New York a 1-0 lead.

But from there, everything crumbled.

The Yankees’ right-handed starter Orlando Hernández, better known as El Duque, managed to get the first Tigers batter out on a strikeout — his first of five total on the day. But after that, it was anything but smooth sailing. El Duque hit the next batter, Greg Jefferies, and then walked Bobby Higginson to put two men on base at first and second. Then, the Tigers’ cleanup hitter, Tony Clark, hit a double and ended up advancing to third as the two runners came around to score.

Following the two RBI, Duque issued a walk, saw a sacrifice fly sent out to center field to score Clark, and then Jeter made an error on a pop-up in the odd spot between left field and the deep shortstop grass that saw another run score and the hitter reach second. It was scored an error. The Yankees got out of the inning on the next batter, but not without damage done.

Over the next eight innings, the Yankees hitters went down 1-2-3 five separate times. Outside of the first inning, there wasn’t much good to talk about when it came to the plate results. Justin Thompson, the Tigers starter, pitched a total of seven innings, struck out four batters, allowed the seven hits the Yankees would finish the day with, and his only blemish was the home run from Jeter in the first inning. The Tigers’ two pitchers after Thompson — Matt Anderson and Sean Runyan — did not allow any Yankees hitter to get on base by any means.

As for the Yankees hurlers, El Duque semi-settled in after the rough first inning. He finished the day with just five innings under his belt, eight runs allowed (seven of which were earned and two of which came on a home run by Jefferies), three walks, and, as previously mentioned, five strikeouts. Hideki Irabu was the only relief pitcher the Yankees used in the opening game of this series, and he performed very well, tossing three perfect innings with four strikeouts and only having to use 37 pitches to do so.

With this second loss in a row, the Yankees are about to start moving down a hill they don’t want to be tumbling down. It’s the first game of a three-game series where the offense, despite the absurd amount of talent in the lineup night in and night out, is about to begin a multi-game dry spell.