I know games started by Sergio Mitre are not generally considered winnable, but tonight’s game was.

In the eighth inning, especially, when the Yankees had the bases loaded with no one out, they looked poised to at least tie the game, if not take the lead.

No, your pitching staff giving up five earned runs is not a good thing, but that said, it’s not the abhorrent blowout that last night was. When you have an offense like the Yankees, and you’re facing an emergency starter and the rest of that team’s bullpen, five runs should not be Mt. Olympus.

There is one glaring stat from tonight, however:

Randy Winn left seven men on base.

I know Randy Winn is not Curtis Granderson, and until he returns the Yankees are in a bit of a spot, but anyone who’s played on San Francisco’s offense (except, perhaps Pablo Sandoval) in the past three seasons can’t really be expected to put up tremendous numbers.

That said, in the eighth inning, Winn didn’t have to get a hit. All he had to do for the Yankees to tie the game was hit the ball out of the infield–or even to the right spot on the ground.

He did not do that. Instead, he popped out and advanced no runner.

****

However, some happy thoughts:

David Robertson easily had his best outing in a long time–if not all season. Let’s hope that this is the beginning of him being able to turn it around, and be something like the pitcher he was last season.

The gun had Joba Chamberlain hitting 98–98!–and while it’s tempting to say that the gun was on some sort of juice, the way the Tigers struck out in the bottom of the 8th reminds one of the phenom that burst on the scene in 2007.

(I’m too tired to mention anything about Joba and rotation, but if Javy Vazquez continues tomorrow, I might have to).