Fathers And Sons: Yanks-Royals Gamer IX

The touching story of Joba Chamberlain and his father Harlan has a nice dovetail this season in the other dugout as Brian Bannister, son of former Royal and all-star Floyd Bannister, gets the ball for Kansas City.  The Yankees have yet to face the two-time AL-Rookie-Of-The-Month, whom after coming over from the Mets has been the star of the Royals rotation this season as the only starting pitcher with a record (12-7) significantly over .500; also, his 3.16/1.15/.242/151 ERA/WHIP/BAA/ERA+ each lead the Royals starting rotation.  He's been vicotorious in each of his last four starts, allowing seven runs over 29.2 innings.  Should the Royals win today, they are guaranteed that for the first time since 2003, they won't lose 100 games in a season, a sobering thought about the sort of guff some people have to take in order to be a fan of their team.

Andy Pettitte took the loss in his last start when he was tagged for five runs by Tampa Bay after he was arguably left out on the field one inning too long.  He looks to bounce back from his second loss since the break while facing a Royals battery that he has yet to see this season.

Beginning Friday August 3rd, the Yankees hosted Kansas City for three games, sweeping the Royals by a combined score of 31-14.  Last night's game was a horse race of a different color as Ian Kennedy and Gil Meche both pitched well enough, and neither recorded a decision.  Most of the offense came in the second inning as ARod (who went 3-4 on the night) and Jorge hit solo shots in the top half, while Alex Gordon and Jason Smith scored in the bottom half on singles to knot the game at deuces.  Abreu doubled with mustard off Musser to muster the game-winning run by scoring Jeter in the seventh, while Kyle Farnsworth's perfect inning netted him the win, combining with six outs from Joba and three from Mo to finish the game for the Yankees.

Back to that sweep over the Royals early last month.  Since then, the Yankees have lost series to Baltimore, Anaheim, Detroit, and Tampa Bay, while winning sets against Cleveland, Detroit, Boston and Seattle.  The resulting 20-12 record over that stretch has netted them one-half of a game in the standings in the east, but Seattle has played 14-18 over that same stretch and plummeted to 9 games out in the west after being as close as one game back just over two weeks ago.  The Mariners also find themselves four back of New York in the wild-card race after being in a virtual tie for the WC with Detroit and 2.5 up on New York back on that arbitrary date.  The Tigers and Seattle continue their set at Comerica five minutes before the Yankees tee off against the Royals.

NY Yankees
J. Damon	dh	.256
D. Jeter	ss	.320
B. Abreu	rf	.288
A. Rodriguez	3b	.315
H. Matsui	lf	.294
J. Posada	c	.336
R. Cano	2b	.299
W. Betemit	1b	.204
M. Cabrera	cf	.294
A. Pettitte	lhp	3.82
Kansas City
E. German	3b	.265
M. Grudzielanek	2b	.306
B. Butler	1b	.299
M. Sweeney	dh	.256
M. Teahen	rf	.288
E. Brown	lf	.245
T. Pena Jr.	ss	.257
J. LaRue	c	.145
J. Gathright	cf	.317
B. Bannister	rhp	3.16

Comments

[attackgerbil]

ARod has 12 hits in 22 ABs with 5 home runs in his last six games. He's hitting .381/.478/.779 with 14 homers (8.0 ab/hr), 31 RBIs, and 30 runs since in the 32 games since August 3rd.

[YF]

Yes, Gerb, he's in one of those streaks again. It's like April again. Hope it last through the playoffs!

[attackgerbil]

Damon with the two run shot.

[attackgerbil]

ARod knocks his 50th to center with Abreu on board. My word.

[Sam-YF]

speaking of arod, how about another one...
4-0 yankees

[YF]

Wow. Have been getting the kid to bed, but saw the dinger out of the corner of my eye. He's just unbelievable. Not sure why he sees anything to hit at this point.

[YF]

Holy Crap! Again!!! Why are they pitching to him at 3-1???

WOW!!!!!!!!! ALEX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MVP MVP MVP

[YF]

I just can't believe it. 51. This is some crazy season.

Looks like Joba caught the last one in the pen.

[YF]

6 dingers in the last 4 games. Unreal. He should be getting Bonds treatment at this point.

[SF]

23 games left in A-Rod's career as a Yankee. I hope.

Enjoy it, it certainly is something to behold.

[doug YF]

A-ROD = MVP
F*K U IF U DISAGREE

"23 games left in A-Rod's career as a Yankee. I hope."

And 23 games left until A-Rod comes 2 the Red Sox, AMIRITE?? Come on. You hope and you wish and you pray but there's no way we're letting him go.

[YF]

YOU BETA YOU BETA YOU BETAMIT!!!!!!

8-2!

And the Sox are getting crushed. A good night.

[YF]

And the Yanks get a cheapie, too. Melkster with an infield hit.

[YF]

Damon gapper puts Melky to third, and then Melky comes home on a squibber from Jeets! RBI and a single for the disgraced AG, in for DJ, who's out with a stiff knee (gulp--nothing serious, we hope).

9-2

[doug YF]

RBI for the Attorney General!!

[YF]

More runs. 2 score on the double to the opposite field from Abreu.

11-2

[attackgerbil]

Now it's a rout as Abreu doubles in two more. With one away, don't you have to IBB ARod here?

[doug YF]

Bobby clears the bases, 11-2~!!

[YF]

ALEX ALMOST GOES DEEP AGAIN!!!!

Just missed a hanging curve. Sent it to the warning track. Wow.

[attackgerbil]

GameChannel says fly out to deep right center. Was it close to gone?

[attackgerbil]

Can't believe they pitched to him, but I guess what does it matter when you are already down 9. Still. Kinda wish he "padded" there a bit.

[doug YF]

LINEUP TURNS OVER... I love that so much. Yanks on a rampage.

[YF]

Matsui reaches on the Pena E. Can't anyone on KC play this game? Christ. AP been on the bench for about 54 minutes.

[YF]

Gerb: i thought it might go. went to the deep part of the alley, and reached the track. it was a high, long shot.

7 run inning. yowzah.

[attackgerbil]

It must be one of the hardest sports jobs on earth, being a KC fan for a season.

[doug YF]

Pettitte K's Butler after a 7 pitch AB. Nice.

[SF]

Football starts tomorrow, at least the NFL's parity gives hope to a city of sports fans with a pigskin franchise every September.

Royals/KC fans breathe a sigh of relief at kickoff.

[YF]

Hey. Welcome to the bigs Luke Hochevar.

[YF]

Man. He is ALL legs. And long arms. He's a giant spider.

And as a welcome to the bigs, his infield tosses one wide of first. Cano safe leading off. They give him an infield hit. Generous.

Betemit puts one to the wall. But he's out.

[attackgerbil]

Question: Should ARod get to lead of the eighth, or should his night be done? The selfish side of me wants him to be able to come out and look first pitch fastball.

[attackgerbil]

Mientkiewicz singles to center. You can only hope to contain The Doug.

[attackgerbil]

ARod gets hit. I'm not watching, but I HAVE to wonder.

[attackgerbil]

I'm bit-watching unfortunately. Anybody see the pitch? Duncan is running for ARod now..did they throw at his leg?

[YF]

Alex is fine. It was a high curve that got loose. It didn't look intentional to me, and it didn't seem it was received with malice. Alex is fine. Replacement was purely a calling off the dogs/resting the regulars/getting the backups time measure.

[dc]

"...a high curve that got loose. It didn't look intentional..."

...not disputing your take on it yf, but it is frustrating that our pitchers don't seem to get the benefit of the doubt...our guys actually get hit, not simply buzzed...