Royals - Yankees Series Recap

Seeing as Tampa's in the process of smashing us right now, I figure there's no better time to update the ol' blog with a series recap. We just left Kansas City, missing the 3-game sweep by a few horrid Phil Coke offerings. But more on that later.

Game 1 saw a vintage Andy Pettite performance. He was just brilliant going 7 innings, striking out 6, and allowing a lone run. He did a tremendous job mixing his pitches and utilizing the long shadows Kaufman Stadium provides the pitchers in the late afternoon sun.

In fact, both teams struck out 10 batters a piece and at one point, ex-Yank and new Royal Kyle Farnsworth came in and looked devestating by striking out the side. This was also a vintage Kyle Farnsworth performance. He looked very good while his team was down 3 runs. I don't know why he can't hold a lead, but he sure can hold a loss. Whatever, Yanks win 4-1.

Game 2 trumpeted the arrival of CC Sabathia. His fastball was on and he was lights out. The big man logged nearly 8 big innings, fanning a 6 big batters, and lowering his ERA to a big (but much smaller) 4.50 - sorry, he's a big dude.

This was also a big day for both Nick Swisher and Jorge Posada as both accounted for all 6 Yankee runs. Royals pitcher Horatio Ramirez had little to offer and was sent out after little over 4 innings. Yanks cruise to a 6-1 victory.

Which brings me to game 3. Really, everybody needs to get the kinks out early on and in the 8th inning, holding a 1 run lead, Joe Girardi completely overmanaged the situation and sent us to a heartbreaking loss when a big victory and 3 game sweep were all well within reach. It's April for managers too, I guess.

I really don't know what he was thinking. I mean it's the Kansas City Royals. It's not the Boston Red Sox circa 2003. There's no need to empty the bullpen and play the match-up game that way. There's one guy for the 8th and Brain Bruney's it. He deserves the ball. He's lost 40 pounds over the last two years and is ready for the mantle. Nah, it's Damaso Marte. Really, outside of Mo, Marte is making a ton of money. With that money comes expectation. The 8th should be his regardless of the situation. No, nix that, Jose Veras is the man. He's the longest tenured player and has the nasty stuff to do the job. I vote Veras.

The point I'm trying to make is any of the 3 is adequate. Hell, where's Edwar? Sending Phil Coke in, with the tying run at the plate made as little sense to me now as it does then. It was one of those, "Oh shit, he just lost us the game" moments I'm so very used to seeing. You know, whenever the manager takes one too many trips to the 'pen, and you can almost sense the disappointment coming around the corner. Apparently somebody else read Joe Torre's book. I just didn't think he had a chapter called "How to Misuse Your Bullpen".

The worst thing is that the press vultures seem to think they have enough evidence to thrust Joba back to the pen because we got "nobody" for the 8th. What they fail to realize is that Joba got us to the 7th and probably could have pitched into the 7th and beyond -- he looked that good. The 8th inning would be pretty much moot at that point. Stupid innings restrictions.

I still fail to realize why some people think a guy who can pitch until the 8th isn't nearly as good as a situational 8th inning pitcher. Yanks lose 6-4 and I'm pissed off.

Screw you Meatloaf, 2 out of 3 sucks!