Sunday in the Park With Joba

The Yankees didn't need any heroic comebacks yesterday because of shoddy pitching or poor play. They went out and efficiently beat the Kansas City Royals 6-3 on a boiling hot day at Yankee Stadium.

Joba Chamberlain, making his second big league start, looked much better this time out. He lasted until one out in the 5th inning after throwing his 78th pitch. He left on the wrong end of a 3-2 score thanks to the newest Yankee killer Jose Guillen, who belted a 2-run home run in the 3rd inning.

But with the exception of Friday night's game, the Yankees offense has been clicking. Bobby Abreu, who had a 2-run home run in the 1st inning, tied things up in the 5th when his ground out brought home Johnny Damon who had tripled.

As he did in Joba's last start, Dan Giese came on to relieve the brand new starter. Giese, who pitched effectively in his prior appearance, was even better this time out, not allowing a hit over 2.2 innings to earn his first major league victory.

The Yankees went ahead for good in the 6th inning when Jason Giambi jumped on a Zack Grienke delivery for his 14th home run of the season. The Yankees tacked on two more in the 7th against Ron Mahay. Johnny Damon had another multiple hit game as he lead off the inning with a single. With one out, Bobby Abreu singled him over to 3rd, and both runners came home on Alex Rodriguez's drive off the base of the wall in left-center. A-Rod was thrown out trying to go to 3rd as he got caught watching his would be home run ball. But all was good on this day.

Jose Veras pitched a dominant 8th inning and Mariano Rivera came on in the 9th to easily retire the Royals in order. And just like that the Yankees moved back above .500 (32-31).

News and Notes

Umpire Jerry Layne, who sustained a mild concussion on Saturday, stopped by the ball park to thank the medical personnel who helped him. He'll sit out the next few games as he recovers.

Joey Gathright was a one man highlight reel yesterday. He made 2 great catches running back to the wall in center field and then topped it off by making a diving catch on a Hideki Matsui shallow fly ball to right-center. Gathright was temporarily shaken up, but stayed in the game.

June 8, 2008

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

Kansas City	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
DeJesus, LF	3	1	1	0	1	1	0	.305
Grudzielanek, 2B	4	0	1	0	0	0	2	.293
Teahen, RF	4	0	0	0	0	1	3	.253
Guillen, DH	4	1	2	2	0	1	1	.266
Gordon, 3B	4	1	1	0	0	2	1	.263
Olivo, C	4	0	0	0	0	2	1	.283
Gload, 1B	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	.246
Aviles, M, SS	4	0	0	0	0	1	2	.214
Gathright, CF	3	0	0	0	0	2	1	.242
Totals	34	3	6	2	1	10	12
BATTING 2B: DeJesus (7, Chamberlain). HR: Guillen (10, 3rd inning off Chamberlain, 1 on, 2 out). TB: DeJesus 2; Grudzielanek; Guillen 5; Gordon; Gload. RBI: Guillen 2 (47). 2-out RBI: Guillen 2. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Gathright; Teahen; Gload. Team LOB: 5. FIELDING Outfield assists: Gathright (Rodriguez at 3rd base). DP: (Grudzielanek-Aviles, M-Gload).

Kansas City	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Greinke (L, 5-4)	5.0	6	4	4	4	6	2	3.77
Mahay	1.2	3	2	2	1	0	0	2.67
Gobble	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0	5.94
Fulchino	1.0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0.00

NY Yankees	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, DH	5	2	2	0	0	1	1	.328
Jeter, SS	4	1	1	0	0	1	2	.279
Abreu, RF	4	2	2	3	0	1	0	.289
Rodriguez, 3B	2	0	2	2	2	0	0	.313
Matsui, LF	2	0	0	0	2	1	2	.329
Giambi, 1B	4	1	1	1	0	1	3	.259
Betemit, 1B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.240
Posada, C	2	0	0	0	2	1	2	.301
Cano, 2B	4	0	1	0	0	0	2	.231
Cabrera, CF	4	0	0	0	0	1	2	.274
Totals	31	6	9	6	6	7	14
BATTING 2B: Rodriguez (15, Mahay). 3B: Damon (3, Greinke). HR: Abreu (8, 1st inning off Greinke, 1 on, 1 out), Giambi (14, 6th inning off Greinke, 0 on, 0 out). TB: Damon 4; Jeter; Abreu 5; Rodriguez 3; Giambi 4; Cano. RBI: Abreu 3 (42), Giambi (34), Rodriguez 2 (29). Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Posada. GIDP: Cano. Team LOB: 7. FIELDING E: Giese (1, pickoff). PB: Posada (1).

NY Yankees	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Chamberlain	4.1	5	3	2	1	5	1	2.67
Giese (W, 1-1)	2.2	0	0	0	0	3	0	1.42
Veras (H, 2)	1.0	1	0	0	0	2	0	3.86
Rivera (S, 16)	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.64

Greinke pitched to 2 batters in the 6th.

WP: Greinke, Giese.
Pitches-strikes: Greinke 104-58, Mahay 36-21, Gobble 8-5,
Fulchino 14-8, Chamberlain 78-53, Giese 41-26, Veras 15-11, Rivera 7-6.
Ground outs-fly outs: Greinke 4-5, Mahay 2-2, Gobble 0-1,
Fulchino 2-0, Chamberlain 2-6, Giese 2-4, Veras 0-1, Rivera 2-1.
Batters faced: Greinke 25, Mahay 7, Gobble 1, Fulchino 4,
Chamberlain 19, Giese 9, Veras 4, Rivera 3.
Inherited runners-scored: Mahay 1-0, Gobble 1-0,
Giese 1-0.
Umpires: HP: Phil Cuzzi. 1B: Ed Montague. 2B: Mike Estabrook.
3B: Jim Wolf.
Weather: 95 degrees, sunny.
Wind: 5 mph, L to R.
T: 3:05.
Att: 54,213.