Evil Yankees Just Too Much

Denny Bautista's line wasn't exactly stellar today (4 ER in 5 IP), but he really didn't pitch as bad as the numbers indicate. He threw strikes—striking out seven guys. And the only inning in which the Yankees got to him, they hit 49-hoppers up in the middle that found their way into the outfield—well, that's not entirely true. One ball almost knocked Bautista off the mound, but the others just found a hole. Four successive singles in the second inning, which led to three runs, was all the evil Yankees really needed to win this game. But Bautista hung tough, and when he left the game after five innings (which I thought was a little odd—his pitch count was at 90, but he clearly had more left), the Royals were down 4-1.

Sisco wasn't exactly impressive in the sixth, but after throwing 23 pitches, he got out of the inning without any more damage. Stemle got us through the seventh. And when Graffanino hit a solo home run in the top half of the eighth, we pulled to within two runs. Then Bell put in Jimmy Gobble. The evil Yankees batted around and scored five runs off of him. Gobble took us completely out of the game. And it wouldn't have been so tough to take if he hadn't walked the number nine hitter, former Royal Kelly Stinnett, with two outs—to set the table for Johnny Damon to go deep. Although, in Gobble's defense, he was completely robbed on a pitch that was clearly strike three. Damon hit the next pitch out of the park.

We definitely had a couple of good things happen in this game though. Doug Mientkiewicz was 3-for-4 on a day in which he probably thought he wouldn't even play because of the lefty-lefty match up with Johnson. And Esteban German really looked good at the plate in his first start of the year at third base. He got two hits off Johnson, and another later in the game. He's fast, appears to have great bat control and he was patient at the plate (he saw 22 total pitches and ran the count full one time before hitting a double).

After eight games, we're already 3.5 games out. But it could be worse—especially given the way we've pitched. Redman will be back soon. Unfortunately, he won't solve all of our pitching problems. But it would be nice not to see nine or ten runs scored against us during his turn in the rotation.

We're off to Tampa to open a new series against the Devil Rays tomorrow night. Scott Elarton (0-2, 3.29) gets his third start. He goes against Scott Kazmir (1-1, 5.68).