truebluefan

Alex Rodriguez flipped his bat end-over-end in the eighth inning last night before reaching up and smacking it against his helmet. Once, twice, three times he conked himself as he walked back to the dugout and boos filtered down from above.

His was a quiet display of aggravation, but the louder example came one inning later. That was when Kyle Farnsworth turned away in apparent disgust after he and Jorge Posada had a seemingly-intense mound conversation following a passed ball. The scene appeared combustible enough for Joe Torre to quickly send pitching coach Ron Guidry to the mound because "it may be a little heated out there."

Afterward, both Farnsworth and Posada downplayed any animosity. Farnsworth said, "That's not accurate," when told of Torre's read on the situation. But the emotion from them, and from all the Yankees, was obvious.

What else could there be but frustration? On a night in which they got an excellent start from Jaret Wright, the Bombers' bats were silent and their bullpen broke down in a 5-2 loss to the Braves before an irritated sellout crowd of 53,763 at the Stadium. The defeat dropped the Yanks to 3-1/2games behind the Red Sox in the AL East, the biggest gap they've faced since April 19.

"The first six innings was one of those good old-fashioned battles," Torre said. "Then it got ugly."

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