A Royal Mess

Rain, wind, vermin, pestilence....okay, we got carried away, but the Yankees look like they're plagued with a lot of problems right now. Another night of no hitting, and not enough pitching, spelled a 4-0 loss to the Kansas Royals last night.

With heavy rains in the forecast, Joe Girardi decided to hold off on sending starter Ian Kennedy to the mound and instead opted for an emergency start from reliever Brian Bruney. The right-hander struck out 4 in 2 scoreless innings before turning things over to Billy Traber who blanked the Royals in the 3rd. With heavy rains falling, the teams played on and Girardi still held out Kennedy. Which meant Kyle Farnsworth was coming in.

Farnsworth manged to pitch a scoreless 4th, thanks in part to Jose Molina throwing out Alex Gordon attempting to steal 2nd Base. But John Buck greeted Farnsworth in the 5th will a drive to center that landed in the fountains, or perhaps it was the Missouri River. That's how far the ball went.

Joey Gathright singled stole 2nd and came home on Jose Guillen's single for a 2-0 lead. Farnsworth finally escaped the 2-out, 2-men on jam, retiring Billy Butler on a ground out.

Meanwhile the Yankees hitters continued to slump against Royals starter Zach Grienke. Molina lead off the 3rd inning with a double and was still standing there when the inning ended. The Yankees mounted a 2-out rally in the 4th on an Alex Rodriguez double and a walk to Hideki Matsui, but Jason Giambi popped out to end the inning.

Kennedy finally came into the game in the 6th and immediately gave up 2 runs to extend the Royals lead to 4-0. Ross Gload delivered an RBI double and Tony Pena Jr.'s fielder's choice scored another.

Grienke left the game after the 8th and the Yankees had one more chance against the Royals bullpen in the 9th. A-Rod singled with one away and Matsui drew his second walk of the game. With Giambi due up, Trey Hillman opted to bring left-hander Jimmy Gobble. Giambi promptly popped out to Gordon at third for the 2nd out, and Molina struck out swinging to end the game.

News and Notes

The Yankees didn't help their cause any by grounding into 3 double plays.

As expected, Alberto Gonzalez was recalled before the game and placed in the lineup at shortstop. The rookie doubled in 3 trips to the plate. Unexpectedly, Shelley Duncan was sent to Scranton to make room. It makes sense since Big Dunc wasn't getting any at-bats.

An MRI revealed that Jorge Posada's shoulder problem is just a strain, so he'll be evaluated on a day-to-day basis.

YES announcer David Cone is the buzz on blogs and media outlets this morning, because of a poor choice of words during last night's telecast. Speaking about the decision to hold off on bringing in Ian Kennedy, Cone said something to the effect of, "he was supposed to pitch, but then was jerked off." Oof.

Is there any reason to believe the Yankees won't get swept tonight? Yankees fans need to beat up on the schedule makers when they decide to schedule a series in Boston in April. This could be very ugly, even if the Sox aren't on top of their game either.

A-Rod bounced back from his Golden Sombrero with a 2-4 night. Robinson Cano has a modest 5-game hitting streak (6-21, .286) after going 1-4 last night.

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, DH	3	0	1	0	1	2	2	.212
Cano, 2B	4	0	1	0	0	0	2	.194
Abreu, RF	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	.333
Rodriguez, 3B	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	.303
Matsui, LF	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	.333
Giambi, 1B	4	0	0	0	0	0	4	.056
Molina, C	4	0	1	0	0	1	2	.278
Cabrera, CF	3	0	1	0	0	0	1	.300
Gonzalez, SS	3	0	1	0	0	0	2	.333
Totals	31	0	7	0	3	3	14
BATTING 2B: Molina (3, Greinke), Rodriguez (4, Greinke), Gonzalez (1, Greinke), Damon (2, Greinke). TB: Damon 2; Cano; Rodriguez 3; Molina 2; Cabrera; Gonzalez 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Damon 2; Giambi; Cano; Molina. GIDP: Cano; Abreu; Gonzalez. Team LOB: 7.

NY Yankees	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Bruney	2.0	1	0	0	1	4	0	0.00
Traber	1.0	1	0	0	1	1	0	0.00
Farnsworth (L, 0-1)	2.0	4	2	2	2	1	1	5.06
Kennedy	3.0	2	2	2	2	3	0	13.50

Kansas City	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Gathright, CF	4	0	1	0	0	1	1	.219
Grudzielanek, 2B	3	1	1	0	1	0	1	.407
Teahen, LF	1	0	0	0	3	1	0	.286
Guillen, RF	4	0	1	1	0	1	3	.152
Butler, DH	3	0	1	0	1	0	2	.406
Gordon, 3B	3	1	1	0	1	2	2	.303
Gload, 1B	4	1	1	1	0	2	1	.345
Buck, C	4	1	2	1	0	1	1	.250
Pena, SS	4	0	0	1	0	1	1	.040
Totals	30	4	8	4	6	9	12
BATTING 2B: Butler (4, Bruney), Gload (1, Kennedy). HR: Buck (1, 5th inning off Farnsworth, 0 on, 0 out). TB: Gathright; Grudzielanek; Guillen; Butler 2; Gordon; Gload 2; Buck 5. RBI: Buck (5), Guillen (4), Gload (3), Pena (2). 2-out RBI: Guillen. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Buck; Guillen; Butler. Team LOB: 8. BASERUNNING SB: Gathright (6, 2nd base off Farnsworth/Molina). CS: Gordon (1, 2nd base by Farnsworth/Molina), Gathright (1, 3rd base by Farnsworth/Molina). FIELDING DP: 3 (Pena-Grudzielanek-Gload 2, Grudzielanek-Gload).

Pitches-strikes: Bruney 36-21, Traber 19-9, Farnsworth 30-18, Kennedy 52-32, Greinke 107-73, Yabuta 16-7, Gobble 6-5. Ground outs-fly outs: Bruney 2-0, Traber 1-1, Farnsworth 3-0, Kennedy 4-2, Greinke 14-8, Yabuta 1-0, Gobble 0-1. Batters faced: Bruney 8, Traber 5, Farnsworth 10, Kennedy 13, Greinke 29, Yabuta 3, Gobble 2. Inherited runners-scored: Gobble 2-0. Umpires: HP: Chad Fairchild. 1B: Rick Reed. 2B: Jeff Kellogg. 3B: Mark Wegner. Weather: 52 degrees, cloudy. Wind: 10 mph, In from RF. T: 2:45. Att: 19,007.