Talk about home field advantage

There was nothing like last night's 11-inning, game 2 of the Yankees/Indians series.

It was exciting game, yes, but when the camera zoomed in on Yankees rookie reliever Joba Chamberlain's faux mullet of midges in the 8th inning, Yankee fans had to know that this was going to sting.

The midges, a type of flying insect common to the Lake Erie region, made their presence known in the top of the inning when Doug Mientkiewicz had to step out of the box several times, apparently saying, "They're in my mouth."

Unfortunately, Mientkiewicz couldn't keep the inning going long enough and the normally dominant Chamberlain was stuck in the eye of the swarm. It was apparent the midges were affecting the rookie from his swatting and grimacing, but glaringly obvious when he blew his first save of the season. He walked Sizemore, who then advanced on Chamberlain's first wild pitch, and crossed the plate with a second.

Rivera came in to fight off the battling Indians, whose numerous scoring opportunities left you with a feeling that he was just delaying the inevitable. Again, poor pitching did the Yankees in as Luis Vizcaino came in, loaded the bases and served up a nice meatball to Travis Hafner with 2 outs and a full count. Who saw that coming?

It'd be easy to blame the pitching (minus Pettitte's great performance) or the midges, but the phenomenal pitching of Fausto Carmona allowed just three Yankee hits - unacceptable. If they start swatting some balls like they were swatting those bugs last night, maybe they have a shot at three in a row, but right now...looks like they'll just have a chance to get some golfing in during this Indian summer.