Damon Proves to be a Royal Pain

If Thursday's come from behind win against the Toronto Blue Jays was improbable then yesterday's win against the Kansas Royals was improbable plus one. The Yankees rallied from 5-1, 10-6, and 11-10 deficits for a 12-11 win in the bottom of the 9th.

The Yankees fell behind 11-10 in the top of the 9th inning in another improbable fashion. Mariano Rivera surrendered a solo home run to New Jersey native David DeJesus, just the second run Rivera has allowed all season. Kansas City closer Joakim Soria was perfect in 13 save attempts this season, and 16 straight dating back to last season, but the Yankees had one more rally up their sleeves.

With one out, Jorge Posada drilled a pitch into the right field seats, for his first home run since his return from the DL, to tie the game once again. Soria retired Robinson Cano for the 2nd out, but walked Wilson Betemit and gave up a single to Melky Cabrera. That brought up Johnny Damon, who was already 5-5 on the day including a 2-run single in the 8th inning.

In his post-game comments, Damon said he wasn't thinking the odds of him getting another hit were not too good, but that's exactly what he did. He became the first Yankee to go 6-6 in Yankee Stadium when he ripped a pitch into the right field corner for a game winning single. It set off the second wild post-game celebration in three days and once again moved the Yankees back to the .500 mark (31-31).

The Royals had jumped on Yankees starter Andy Pettitte for a 5-1 lead when the Yankees made their first rally of the day in the 4th inning. Alex Rodriguez lead off with a single and Jason Giambi followed with a walk to set the wheels in motion. The Yankees scored consecutive runs on a double by Posada, a single by Cano, and Betemit's sacrifice fly. After a Melky Cabrera single, Damon singled home Cano to tie the game. The Yankees attempt to go ahead was thwarted when Cabrera was thrown out at home by Jose Guillen when he tried to score on Derek Jeter's fly ball to right.

Giambi finally gave the Yankees the lead in the 5th when he blasted his 13th home run of the season in the upper deck in right field, but Pettitte would not be able to hold it. Alberto Collaspo lead off the 7th with a double and Estaban German beat out a bunt to put runners on the corners with no one out. A Joey Gaithright single to left tied the game back up at 6-6. After Dejesus successfully sacrificed the runners up a base, the Yankees chose to intentionally walk Mike Aviles to load the bases. The move paid off when Pettitte struck out the left-handed hitting Mark Teahen, but Joe Girardi left his veteran pitcher in one batter too many.

Girardi said afterwards that it was Pettitte's game to win or lose. Considering his pitch count was well over 100 and the temperature was near 100, that was a mistake. Jose Guillen had already driven in 3 runs in the game, including a 2-run home run in the 1st inning. When Pettitte left a pitch up in the zone, Guillen jumped all over it for a grand slam and a seemingly insurmountable 10-6 lead.

But the Yankees came back again when A-Rod crushed a 2-run home run, his 9th, in the 7th and Damon's 5th hit tied in the 8th. Then it was just down to some more drama in the 9th. These days, nothing is cut and dried in the Bronx.

News and Notes

Alex Rodriguez's home run was the 527th of his career.

After his 14-game hitting streak ended on Friday night, Johnny Damon decided it was time to get rid of his mustache, which was both bad looking and itchy. After going 0-4 against the Mets on May 17, Damon was hitting .250. Since then he's gone 35-71 (.493) to raise his average to .326, 4th best in the American League.

Hideki Matsui completely sat out of a game for the first time since April 27th. He was 2-9 in his last 2 games, but is still hitting an AL 3rd best .332.

Jose Guillen's grand slam was the fourth of his career and his first since 2002. His 7 RBI matched a team record.

Home plate umpire Jerry Layne was forced to leave the game after a foul tip drilled him in the jaw. Jorge Posada had to grab on to him to keep him from tumbling over. Layne was diagnosed with a mild concussion and kept overnight for observation in a local hospital.

June 7, 2008

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Kansas City	2	0	3	0	0	0	5	0	1		11	12	0
NY Yankees	1	0	0	4	1	0	2	2	2		12	19	0

Kansas City	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
DeJesus, LF	4	2	2	1	0	0	0	.304
Aviles, M, SS-3B	4	2	1	1	1	1	0	.300
Teahen, 1B-RF	4	2	1	0	0	1	3	.258
Guillen, RF	4	2	3	7	0	0	0	.262
Gload, 1B	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.246
Olivo, DH	4	0	0	0	0	2	2	.291
Buck, C	3	0	1	1	1	0	0	.252
Callaspo, 2B	4	1	2	0	0	0	1	.292
German, 3B	4	1	1	0	0	1	1	.161
Pena, SS	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.155
Gathright, CF	4	1	1	1	0	1	1	.247
Totals	36	11	12	11	2	6	8
BATTING 2B: Teahen (9, Pettitte), Callaspo (2, Pettitte). 3B: Aviles, M (1, Pettitte). HR: Guillen 2 (9, 1st inning off Pettitte, 1 on, 2 out; 7th inning off Pettitte, 3 on, 2 out), DeJesus (5, 9th inning off Rivera, 0 on, 0 out). TB: DeJesus 5; Aviles, M 3; Teahen 2; Guillen 9; Buck; Callaspo 3; German; Gathright. RBI: Guillen 7 (45), Aviles, M (1), Buck (17), Gathright (11), DeJesus (27). 2-out RBI: Guillen 6; Buck. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Gathright. S: DeJesus. GIDP: Callaspo. Team LOB: 2. BASERUNNING SB: Callaspo (1, 2nd base off Veras/Posada). FIELDING Outfield assists: Guillen 2 (Cabrera at home, Damon at 2nd base). DP: 2 (Aviles, M-Callaspo-Teahen, Guillen-Buck).

Kansas City	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Bannister	3.1	8	5	5	2	1	0	4.98
Peralta	1.1	1	1	1	1	1	1	5.64
Tomko	1.2	3	2	2	0	0	1	6.34
Ramirez (BS, 2)	1.0	3	2	2	0	2	0	3.49
Gobble	0.1	1	0	0	0	0	0	6.06
Yabuta	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0	4.97
Soria (BS, 1)(L, 0-1)	0.2	3	2	2	1	0	1	1.67

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, LF	6	1	6	4	0	0	0	.326
Jeter, SS	4	0	1	0	0	0	3	.280
Abreu, RF	5	1	1	0	0	0	3	.286
Rodriguez, 3B	4	2	2	2	1	1	2	.304
Giambi, DH	4	2	2	2	1	1	0	.259
Posada, C	4	2	2	2	1	0	2	.310
Cano, 2B	5	2	2	1	0	0	1	.230
Betemit, 1B	3	1	0	1	1	2	1	.240
Cabrera, CF	5	1	3	0	0	0	0	.279
Totals	40	12	19	12	4	4	12
BATTING 2B: Damon (19, Bannister), Posada (7, Bannister). HR: Giambi (13, 5th inning off Peralta, 0 on, 2 out), Rodriguez (9, 7th inning off Tomko, 1 on, 1 out), Posada (2, 9th inning off Soria, 0 on, 1 out). TB: Damon 7; Jeter; Abreu; Rodriguez 5; Giambi 5; Posada 6; Cano 2; Cabrera 3. RBI: Giambi 2 (33), Posada 2 (13), Cano (20), Betemit (7), Damon 4 (31), Rodriguez 2 (27). 2-out RBI: Giambi 2; Damon. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Posada; Rodriguez. S: Jeter. SF: Betemit. GIDP: Jeter. Team LOB: 8. BASERUNNING SB: Damon (10, 2nd base off Peralta/Buck). FIELDING Outfield assists: Cabrera (Buck at 2nd base). DP: (Cano-Jeter-Betemit).

NY Yankees IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Pettitte 6.2 10 10 10 2 3 2 4.99 Veras 1.1 1 0 0 0 2 0 4.11 Rivera (W, 2-1) 1.0 1 1 1 0 1 1 0.67

WP: Ramirez. IBB: Aviles, M (by Pettitte). HBP: Teahen (by Pettitte). Pitches-strikes: Bannister 71-43, Peralta 20-10, Tomko 26-18, Ramirez 28-18, Gobble 10-4, Yabuta 1-1, Soria 21-13, Pettitte 111-70, Veras 19-13, Rivera 10-9. Ground outs-fly outs: Bannister 5-4, Peralta 1-1, Tomko 2-2, Ramirez 0-1, Gobble 0-1, Yabuta 1-0, Soria 1-1, Pettitte 12-4, Veras 1-1, Rivera 1-1. Batters faced: Bannister 19, Peralta 5, Tomko 7, Ramirez 6, Gobble 2, Yabuta 1, Soria 6, Pettitte 31, Veras 5, Rivera 4. Inherited runners-scored: Peralta 2-0, Tomko 1-0, Gobble 1-0, Yabuta 2-0. Umpires: HP: Jerry Layne. 1B: Phil Cuzzi. 2B: Jim Wolf. 3B: Ed Montague. Weather: 90 degrees, partly cloudy. Wind: 7 mph, Out to CF. T: 3:50 (:11 delay). Att: 53,611.