The Yankees imploded last night with shoddy defense and poor relief pitching, falling to the A’s 9-4. Jaret Wright was the loser while Joe Kennedy got the win.

Things started well for the Yankees with Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui hitting home runs to give New York a 4-0 lead. In the fourth inning the Yankees’ defense sabotaged them. After giving up a one-out hit to Eric Chanvez, Wang got Frank Thomas to hit a double-play grounder. Derek Jeter booted it and though he managed to recover, Robinson Cano couldn’t handle his flip. Oakland got two runs in the inning.

After the A’s tied the game in the fifth, things remained that way until the 8th. Cano couldn’t make a play on a ground ball to let in a runand the floodgates were open. Kyle Farnsworth came in and failed in his first test as Tom Gordon’s replacement. Farnsworth gave up a hit, a walk and a wild pitch while the A’s added their final three runs of the game. The Yankees went out meekly in the ninth and their record dropped to 1-2.

So, the Yankees now head to Anaheim for three games leaving Oakland without using their best pitcher, Mariano Rivera, at all. Expect that to change quickly if they suffer more innings like last night’s eighth.