Tie game. (REUTERS/Ray Stubblebine)

And The Yankees Take The Lead

It had been 15 innings since the Yankees held a lead prior to the fifth inning of this game. Robinson Cano cut Kansas City’s two-run lead in half with a solo homer in the fourth before the club found itself in a dreaded bases loaded, nobody out situation in the fifth. Seriously, they’ve been brutal in those spots over the last few games. Dewayne Wise‘s gorgeous bunt single loaded the bases after Mark Teixeira‘s hustle double (scored a single and an error) and a ball grazed Russell Martin‘s jersey. I’m pretty sure Wise was attempted to sacrifice, but it was just perfect. Well done, Dewayne.

The Yankees were roughly zero for their last 10,259 with runners in scoring position (actually 0-for-15) before Derek Jeter dunked a single into shallow right to tie the game. Seriously, between Wise’s bunt and Jeter’s single, it felt like a minor miracle. Curtis Granderson plated the go-ahead and eventual game-winning run with a ground out one batter later, but the Yankees failed to tack-on because Alex Rodriguez and Raul Ibanez struck out following an intentional walk to Cano. Lineup protection means little over the course of 162 games but it can have a big impact in one individual game, and that intentional walk was a prime example.

(REUTERS/Ray Stubblebine)

Another Strong Start

You gotta hand it to Phil Hughes, he’s really turned his season around following that brutal start. The two runs he allowed came on a double into the right field corner by Humberto Quintero — he homered off Phil to end his day in Kansas City two weeks ago — and a solo homer by Jeff Francoeur. Hughes struck out seven and walk two in his six innings, escaping a bases loaded jam in the sixth to end his night. He even got more ground ball outs (six) than fly ball outs (five).

One thing I noticed was that Phil went with his full arsenal right out of the chute. Usually a pitcher will be fastball-heavy the first time through the order, incorporate some breaking balls next time through, then break out the changeup the third time through the order, but Hughes used all three pitches in the very first at-bat of the game by Jarrod Dyson. Given all the left-handed hitters in the Royals’ lineup, it was probably a good idea. It worked, obviously. Bravo kid, keep proving me wrong.

Poor Boone. (Nick Laham/Getty Images)

The Eighth

The eighth inning seems to have taken on a mind of its own in recent years, but on Tuesday we saw the Yankees preserve a one-run lead using three pitchers to get three outs, two of whom were plucked off the scrap heap in the last 12 months. Boone Logan started the inning by allowing an infield single to Eric Hosmer, in part because he didn’t cover first. Looking at the replay, I’m not sure he would have beat him to the bag anyway. Hosmer was hustling out of the box and Logan falls off to the third base side as a lefty.

Anyway, the mixing and matching was underway. Joe Girardi called for Cody Eppley to face Billy Butler because the side-arming righty is a ground ball machine* and Butler leads the big leagues in double play balls over the last five seasons (97). So, naturally, Butler fly out to right field. Go figure. On came Clay Rapada to face Mike Moustakas, who lined into a double play at first base. Chances are that ball would have gone foul had Mark Teixeira not snagged it out of the air, but the double play is better. Considering that the middle of the order batted, those three outs were the three biggest of the game as far as I’m concerned. Big ups to Eppley and Rapada, they got those three outs on four total pitches.

* Seriously, Eppley had an 82% ground ball rate in Triple-A this season and is well over 60% in his minor league career. He’s the go-to ground ball guy whenever there’s a right-hander at the plate.

Leftovers

(AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

Rafael Soriano slammed the door in the ninth, but not before allowing a ground rule double to Alex Gordon. We’re still waiting on that first 1-2-3 inning of the season. Alcides Escobar nearly tied the game on an infield single, but A-Rod showed off his arm to make the throw across the diamond just in time for the 27th out. This one really went down to the wire. Cory Wade (six pitches, two ground outs) and Logan (a strikeout to end the inning) did fine work in the seventh.

Not for nothing, but three runs in 6.2 innings against Luke Hochevar kinda stinks. That’s a guy the Yankees should pound into submission when things are going right, but they obviously aren’t at the moment. Jeter’s game-tying single was their final hit of the night and last eleven men they sent to the plate made outs. A win is a win, but sheesh. You gotta start somewhere though, and this game was definitely a positive step forward.

No one in the lineup had multiple hits and only Cano (homer and the intentional walk) and Martin (walk and hit-by-pitch) reached base twice. Jeter, A-Rod, Ibanez, Teixeira, and Wise all have some kind of single. Alex also stole a base, his team-leading fifth of the season. Well, technically Eduardo Nunez leads the club with six steals, but he’s in Triple-A (and on the DL).

The homer by Francoeur means Hughes has allowed at least one dinger in all nine starts this season, the longest season-opening homer-per-start streak since Runelvys Hernandez in 2006. It’s the longest streak by a Yankee since Jack McDowell allowed a homer in ten straight in 1995. That’s just who Phil is, he’s going to give up a bunch of long balls and we just have to hope they’re solo shots.

Raul Ibanez was left in to face a left-handed pitcher in the late innings yet again. I understand that he’s been crushing the ball this year, but that doesn’t change the fact that he can’t hit lefties. Andruw Jones has to be given a chance to run into one in that spot, a one-run lead with two outs in the eighth.

The win coupled with the Red Sox’s loss to the Orioles — big ups to former Yankee Wilson Betemit, he’s still fightin’ the good fight by hitting a big two-run homer late in that game — means the Yankees are no longer in last place. Hooray for that.

Box Score, WPA Graph & Standings

Finally, one where the green line ends up on the good side of the graph. MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs some additional statistics, and ESPN the updated standings.

Source: FanGraphs

Up Next

Ready for some bad news? The Royals are likely to call up 22-year-old left-hander Will Smith to start tomorrow instead of Luis Mendoza. It will be Smith’s big league debut. They might as well be facing Cliff Lee. Ivan Nova Andy Pettitte will be on the bump for New York. Check out RAB Tickets if you want to catch the game before the Yankees head to the West Coast as part of a nine-game road trip later this week.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Jeter & Hughes carry Yanks to win over Royals

• RHP Jose Campos is still dealing with his “elbow discomfort” and doesn’t appear to be close to returning. An MRI showed no structural damage earlier this month. [Josh Norris]
• RHP Dellin Betances has been pitching with a cracked fingernail and it is has contributed in part to his control problems. I’m not sure we would have been able to tell anyway given his usual walk problems. [Norris]
• LHP Jeremy Bleich has resumed pitching in Extended Spring Training and is likely to come back as a reliever. The team’s highest signed draft pick in 2008 hasn’t pitched since mid-2010 due to major shoulder surgery. [Norris]
• RHP Conor Mullee threw live batting practice today for the first since having Tommy John surgery last June and everything went well. Mullee has thrown just 22 IP since being the club’s 24th round pick in 2010, but he’s one of the hardest throwers in the organization and is part of that relief pipeline the Yankees have built out of late-round draft picks in recent years. [Mullee's Twitter]
• RHP Danny Burawa was scheduled to appear in an ExST game today, his first game action since suffering an oblique tear in camp. He impressed this spring and should head to Double-A Trenton once fully rehabbed. [Burawa's Twitter]
• In case you missed it earlier, LHP Manny Banuelos‘ had an MRI on his sore elbow and it came back clean. The DL stint is precautionary.

Triple-A Empire State (6-2 win over Columbus)
CF Kevin Russo: 2-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 SB — five straight two-hit games
2B Matt Antonelli: 0-5
1B Steve Pearce & RF Brandon Laird: both 2-4, 1 R — Pearce drew a walk … Laird doubled
3B Ronnie Mustelier: 1-3, 1 2B, 1 RBI — .337/.387/.568 in 42 games this year
C Frankie Cervelli & LF Cole Garner: both 1-3, 1 RBI, 1 K — Cervelli walked twice and got hit by a pitch … Garner walked once
DH Gus Molina & SS Ramiro Pena: both 1-4, 1 RBI — Molina doubled and struck out twice … Pena whiffed once
RHP Ramon Ortiz: 8 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 7/4 GB/FB — 66 of 91 pitches were strikes (72.5%) … two runs or less in three of his last four starts
LHP Juan Cedeno: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 1/1 GB/FB — 11 of 21 pitches were strikes

Double-A Trenton (3-2 win over Akron)
CF Abe Almonte & 1B Luke Murton: both 1-4, 1 R — Murton doubled, drove in a run, and struck out twice
2B Corban Joseph & DH David Adams: both 1-3, 1 BB — Adams scored a run and struck out
LF Cody Johnson: 2-3, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K — really hope he’s putting it together
3B Kevin Mahoney: 1-2, 1 RBI
C Jose Gil & SS Yadil Mujica: both 0-3, 1 K
RF Dan Brewer: 1-3, 1 K – left the game in obvious pain after colliding with Murton in the outfield … update: he dislocated his finger in the collision
LHP Vidal Nuno: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 6/1 GB/FB — 40 of 60 pitches were strikes (66.7%), and he was limited to five innings or 60 pitches after working out of the bullpen all year … was sitting 88 with the fastball early on
LHP Francisco Rondon: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 1/0 GB/FB — just 11 of 24 pitches were strikes (45.8%) … picked a runner off first
RHP Preston Claiborne: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 1/3 GB/FB — only 18 of 37 pitches were strikes (48.6%)
LHP Lee Hyde: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1 WP, 1/0 GB/FB – 17 of 22 pitches were strikes (77.3%)
RHP Ryan Flannery: 0.2 IP, zeroes, 2 K – six strikes out of nine pitches

High-A Tampa (3-2 win over Palm Beach in ten innings) they turned a 9-2-6-3-2 double play to end the bottom of the ninth, with both runners being thrown out at home … I dunno either
LF Ramon Flores: 1-4, 1 K, 1 CS
C J.R. Murphy: 1-5, 3 K – just a brutal year so far, I wonder if he’ll go to Charleston when Gary Sanchez gets promoted (probably not)
3B Rob Segedin: 1-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 BB — hitting streak up to 11 games
RF Neil Medchill: 2-4, 1 RBI, 2 K — was pinch-run for late, but then Jose Toussen came to the plate in the ninth and singled in the winning run … Toussen also contributed to that weird double play in the ninth
DH Kyle Higashioka: 0-4, 1 R
1B Tyson Blaser: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 K
2B Kelvin Castro & SS Jose Mojica: both 1-4, 1 R, 1 K — Castro stole two bases … Mojica doubled and drove in a run
CF Eduardo Sosa: 0-3, 1 BB, 2 K — threw a runner out the plate
RHP Caleb Cotham: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 10/3 GB/FB — first start since the promotion
RHP Manny Barreda: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 2/0 GB/FB
LHP Rigoberto Arrebato: 1.2 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 HB, 2/0 GB/FB
RHP Mark Montgomery: 1 IP, zeroes, 3/0 GB/FB — no strikeouts? lame

Low-A Charleston (5-3 loss to Savannah)
CF Mason Williams: 1-4, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 E (fielding)
SS Cito Culver: 1-3, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K — got picked off first … 23 walks in 37 games after 30 walks in 69 games last year
3B Dante Bichette Jr., 2B Angelo Gumbs & RF Kelvin DeLeon: all 1-4 — DBJ walked and whiffed … Gumbs doubled, scored a run, and struck out
DH Tyler Austin: 1-5, 3 K — coming into the day second in all of minor league baseball with 30 extra-base hits
C Gary Sanchez & LF Ben Gamel: both 2-4 — Gamel struck out
1B Rey Nunez: 2-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 K
RHP Bryan Mitchell: 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K, 4 WP, 8/2 GB/FB — pretty sure four wild pitches is a DotF record
RHP Wilton Rodriguez: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 0/2 GB/FB
RHP Joel DeLaCruz: 1 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 1 Balk, 1/1 GB/FB

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Mustelier & Ortiz lead Triple-A team to win

(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

The Yankees have scored double-digit runs just three times in 42 games this season (7.1%), down from 11.1% last season and 11.7% the year before. The first time was the win over the Angels on Sunday Night Baseball (when Raul Ibanez nearly hit a ball into the upper deck), the second time was the huge Fenway Park comeback win over the Red Sox, and the third time was in Kansas City against Luke Hochevar two weeks ago. Hochevar is on the mound again tonight, and boy if there was ever a time for him to repeat that 2.2 IP, 7 R showing, it’s right now. Here’s the lineup…

SS Derek Jeter
CF Curtis Granderson
2B Robinson Cano
3B Alex Rodriguez
DH Raul Ibanez
RF Nick Swisher
1B Mark Teixeira
C  Russell Martin
LF Dewayne Wise

RHP Phil Hughes

The weather in New York isn’t great again but it looks like they’ll get a full nine innings in tonight. The game is scheduled to start a little after 7pm ET and can be seen on My9 locally and MLB Network nationally. Enjoy.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Game 43: A Friendly Face

2:30pm: Via Josh Norris, left-hander Manny Banuelos was placed on the Triple-A disabled list for precautionary reasons and his sore left elbow is not considered serious. Banuelos and Eduardo Nunez (sore thumb) both hit the shelf just yesterday. It’s been a pretty brutal season for pitching injuries, so this is welcome news. Hopefully it remains nothing serious and Manny can get back on the mound relatively soon.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Update: Banuelos’ sore elbow not considered serious

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Still no date for Mariano Rivera’s knee surgery

Daniel Robertson | SS/3B

Background
A California kid from the Los Angeles suburbs, Robertson (no relation to David as far as I know) stars at Upland High School and is committed to UCLA. He was also heavily recruited by Georgia and Arizona, so some of the biggest baseball programs in the country had their eye on him.

Scouting Report
Robertson is listed at 6-foot-0 and 190 lbs. and although the consensus is that he won’t have the mobility to remain at shortstop, he has all the tools to develop into a standout defender at the hot corner thanks to his arm, instincts, and soft hands. He’s projected to be a high-average hitter from the right side thanks to his quick bat and innate ability to get the barrel on the ball. Most of his power is into the gaps but Robertson has hinted at future power potential, so there’s a chance he’ll turn into a complete all-around hitter. He’s earned the “gamer” tag for his all-out style of play and has drawn raves for his advanced approach, baseball acumen, and polish.

Miscellany
Both Baseball America (35th overall) and Keith Law (38th) recently ranked Robertson and a fringe first round talent while MLB.com has him a little further down the list at #58 overall. Chances are someone will like him enough to grab him before the Yankees’ two second round picks (#89 and #94 overall) come around, so they’d have to grab Robertson in the first round (#30 overall) if they want him. The Yankees have had no trouble bucking the consensus and reaching for players the last few years, and Robertson fits their mold as a polished high school player with strong makeup and two-way skills.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

2012 Draft: Daniel Robertson

$80k in 2004. (Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

The amateur draft begins in less than two weeks and a few weeks after that, the international signing period will open on July 2nd. The new Collective Bargaining Agreement limits each team to $2.9M in international spending this summer, though clubs can exceed that amount if they’re willing to deal with the harsh penalties. Start next season, international spending restrictions will be on a sliding scale based on winning percentage. The more you win, the less you have to spend.

The very best prospect on the international market this summer is Cuban outfielder Jorge Soler, who still has yet to establish residency outside of Cuba and be declared a free agent by MLB. He will be subject to the spending restrictions come July 2nd but can sign for any amount prior to that date, so he better hope they speed up the process. The kid is looking at a bonus in the $20M range at the moment and will get maybe one-tenth of that after July 2nd.

Baseball America’s Ben Badler previewed this summer market today (subs. req’d), looking at nine non-Soler players who are among the best prospects available. Two of the nine have been connected to the Yankees…

Luis Torrens, C, Venezuela (video)
A former shortstop and third baseman, the 6-foot-0, 170 lbs. Torrens is rough behind the plate because of his inexperience. He has the athleticism and tools and stick at catcher, though his right-handed bat is the main attraction. Torrens has doubles power to all fields and figures to start driving balls over the fence as he matures, and his approach is very advanced for a kid who turned 16 just three weeks ago. He trains with and is represented by Carlos Rios, the Yankees’ former director of international scouting, and Badler says New York is the club “most strongly linked” to Torrens at the moment.

Alex Palma, OF, Venezuela (video)
One of the most advanced hitters in this year’s international class, Palma has a right-handed swing geared for hard contact. He’s hit high-quality pitching in showcase events but like everyone else his age, he’s still developing his power stroke. Palma is listed at 6-foot-0 and 200 lbs. and is limited to a corner outfield spot because he’s not the best runner in the world. He does have an arm suited for right field, however. Badler says the Yankees are “making the strongest push” to sign Palma, and his bonus could approach seven figures.

Other top prospects include Venezuelan SS/OF Franklin Barreto (linked to Blue Jays), Dominican OF Gustavo Cabrera (Royals), Venezuelan LHP Jose Castillo (Padres and Red Sox), Venezuelan SS Luis Castro (Rockies), Brazilian LHP Luiz Gohara (Mariners), Venezuelan RHP Jose Mujica (Jays), and Dominican SS Amed Rosario (no team). Seems like a pretty strong year for Venezuela.

Earlier this month Badler speculated about some ways teams could essentially circumvent the spending limitations this summer, including shady under-the-table deals. The Yankees spent just about $3M on international players last summer — or what they gave Gary Sanchez alone a few years ago — but have historically been among the biggest spenders in Latin America. Every team is on an even playing field now, so it’s going to come down to scouting ability. Hopefully the lure of the Yankees brand helps as well.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Baseball America’s Int’l Free Agency Preview

(Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

Yesterday I wrote about the Yankees and their increasingly impatient offense, showing that they haven’t been working the count this season like we’ve seen in the past. It’s unlikely that seeing fewer pitches per plate appearance is the root cause of the team’s recent offensive woes, but I do think it’s a contributing factor. Not getting in favorable counts and swinging at the pitches pitchers want you to swing at will drag down anyone’s numbers.

Plate discipline isn’t just swinging at strikes and laying off balls though, it’s also about swinging at quality strikes. Not every strike is one you can drive. Here’s a PitchFX breakdown of the team’s plate discipline tendencies — swing and contact rates on pitches both in and out of the strike zone — over the last four seasons…

Notice the in-zone stats I’ve highlighted in yellow. Starting with 2009, the Yankees have swung at more pitches in the strike zone each season but have made less contact. We’re talking about a three percentage point difference in each category over a four-year span so it’s not a huge change, but it is a change for the worse. The Yankees have become more aggressive within the strike zone in recent years but have less to show for it. Simply put, their swing-and-miss rate within the zone is climbing.

As a whole, pitchers around the league have not changed their overall approach against the Yankees since 2009…

Other than the expected year-to-year fluctuations, the Yankees have seen the same percentage of fastballs and offspeed pitches over the last few years. They’ve also seen the exact same number of first pitch strikes, so it’s not like they’re falling behind in the count more often. Pitchers may be pitching them differently in different counts and in specific situations (men on base, etc.), but that’s beyond my PitchFX capabilities at the moment. That would help explain the in-zone plate discipline issues, however.

The Yankees are anything but an offensive powerhouse these days and there are many reasons why. Missing more hittable pitches in the strike zone could be one of those reasons, though the little bit of data above hardly confirms that. The team is trending in the wrong direction when it comes to making contact on pitches in the strike zone, and some of those misses very likely came on pitches they should have hit hard somewhere.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

The Yankees and pitches in the strike zone

(Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

I can’t remember the last time the Yankees played this poorly for an extended period of time like they are right now. It wasn’t 2008, so you have to go back to the early-1990s and I don’t want to think back that far. Yes we’ve been spoiled and yes, the Yankees have been terrible for the last three weeks or so. They’ve scored two or fewer runs in five of their last seven and 11 of their last 21 games. Impossible to win like that.

Back in the day, George Steinbrenner probably would have fired someone by now. Or at least I think he would have, that’s what everyone else is telling me. I wasn’t really old enough to appreciate his heyday. Anyway, the Yankees need some kind of shake-up right now, but I don’t mean firing Joe Girardi or a coach or anything like that. More like … drop Tony Womack and Jaret Wright and recall Robinson Cano and Chien-Ming Wang. That type of thing. You know, inject a little youth into a team that seems to be sleepwalking for 27 outs a night.

Unfortunately, the Yankees can’t make a move like that. The current roster is completely inflexible, with big contracts all of the place and nowhere to move these guys. I mean, I suppose they could bench Russell Martin and insert Frankie Cervelli into the lineup, but that’s not exactly what I have in mind when I talk about a shake-up. Brandon Laird isn’t doing to replace Alex Rodriguez, Colin Curtis isn’t going to replace Nick Swisher, there’s nothing to do. The Yankees made their bed with these guys and now they have to sleep in it.

Pretty much the only move the club can realistically make right now is dumping Freddy Garcia, but no one cares about the 12th man on the staff. Adding a new long reliever isn’t exactly the kind the move that will light a fire under the team. That’s not a shake-up, that’s a pretty typical roster move. Other than getting Brett Gardner back at some point in the next two weeks (hopefully), there’s no change coming and that’s a problem. The guys already in the clubhouse are responsible for turning things around and that’s not easy to do.

The Yankees fell into last place last night and are lucky no one is running away with the AL East. They’re still only five back in the loss column with 120 games to play, many of them intra-division games. We’ve seen them go on huge second half runs before and after 42 games, we have to hope they have another one in them. Different doesn’t always mean better, but a roster shake-up of some kind is something we’d probably see when things got this bad. There just aren’t any moves that can be made, so instead we get Mark Teixeira batting seventh. That’s the only shake-up they can make because the roster is so inflexible.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Yanks in need of a shake-up (that isn’t coming)

(AP Photo/Bill Kostroun)

Pitching

Hiroki Kuroda wasn’t terrible but he wasn’t great. Three runs in 5.1 IP — two on a Mike Moustakas homer that would have sailed foul in a normal-sized stadium — shouldn’t result in an automatic loss but that’s life for a pitcher on the Yankees these days. Kuroda allowed seven hits and three walks (one intentional), giving up the first run(s) of the game for the eighth time in his nine starts. For once it would be nice if they didn’t have to play catch-up with their supposed number two starter on the mound. Hiroki’s performance continued a recent trend of starts that rate anywhere from “awful” to “meh.”

Cody Eppley and Clay Rapada pitched well enough in their short relief appearances (not gonna ding Rapada for walking a right-handed batter) but Freddy Garcia got hammered, specifically by Jeff Francoeur. Frenchy launched a two-run homer and Garcia went on to allow five hits and a walk in 2.1 IP, striking out no one. He’s quite useless, even for the 12th man on the staff.

That's the face you make when you have a .305 OBP. (Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

Hitting

Another night, another 13 (thir-friggin’-teen!) at-bats without a hit with runners in scoring position. That includes another bases loaded, no outs situation that yielded zero runs — Robinson Cano struck out looking, Alex Rodriguez struck out swinging, and Raul Ibanez flew out to deep left-center. That’s the second time they’ve failed to convert a bases loaded, no outs situation into even one run in what, the last four games? They did it Friday as well, right? Gross.

Aside from A-Rod, who singled and doubled, the two through six hitters went a combined 0-for-13 with three walks and seven strikeouts. Curtis Granderson drew two of the walks, Cano the other. Russell Martin chipped in a pair of hits, then Mark Teixeira and Eric Chavez had one each to recap the offense. The Yankees have some serious offensive problems at the moment and they can’t wait around for things to fix themselves much longer. These games count.

(Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

Leftovers

We have two candidates for stupid play of the nigth. First, why was A-Rod tagging up with one out in the sixth? He was on second and made it into third safely, but Alex Gordon’s throw beat him to the bag and most of the time he’d have been out. I understand they’re struggling to score runs, but forcing things and making stupid mistakes won’t bring the bats back to life.

Secondly, what in the world was that play by Teixeira in the sixth? The Royals had a man on third and one out, but he got caught between looking the runner back to third and stepping on first after fielding a chopper. He ended up making a poor throw across the diamond and everyone was safe. Again, let’s get back to smart baseball please. Look the runner back and step on the base for the sure out.

That’s really it, I have nothing else to add. Monday’s loss was the Yankees’ third straight, sixth in seven games, eighth in ten games, and 14th in 24 games. Coupled with the Red Sox’s win over the Orioles, the Yankees are now in last place in the AL East. They deserve every bit of it as well.

Box Score, WPA Graph & Standings

MLB.com has the box score and video highlights, FanGraphs the nerd score, and ESPN the updated standings.

Source: FanGraphs

Up Next

Game two of this three-game series will be played Tuesday night, though yet again the forecast looks ugly. If they do play, it’ll be Phil Hughes and Luke Hochevar on the bump.

Post from: River Ave. Blues A New York Yankees blog

Last Place: Yanks go out like wimps in loss to KC