Bronx, N.Y., June 8, 2008 — Well, the Yankees are back over .500 again following their 6-3 victory over Kansas City Sunday afternoon in steamy Yankee Stadium. Newly recalled long man Dan Geise got the win following Joba Chamberlain, who left with one down in the fifth on the losing side of a 3-2 score.
Chamberlain showed marked improvement in his second start, opening with a 13-pitch first around a Mark Grudzielanek base hit, and setting down the Royals on just nine throws in the fourth. Joba notched five strike outs and walked no one until David DeJesus battled him for an eight-pitch free pass with one down in the fifth to finish his day. But the pesky Royals battled him for several hits, with the worst damage being inflicted by the same guy who ruined Andy Pettitte’s day Saturday.
Presumably sore after fouling a pitch off his leg in the previous game, Jose Guillen served as the DH, so he threw no one out from the outfield this time, but he did blast a full-count Chamberlain fastball for a two-run home run and the 3-2 lead with two down in the third. Chamberlain faced 19 batters, each KC batter twice, with leadoff batter DeJesus getting a third appearance with the aformentioned walk. With a 75-80 pitch target, he was economical in two frames, but the visitors battled him to 18 and 26 pitches, respectively, in the second and third innings. K.C. stroked two hits in each, and took the lead in the third after scoring one on a passed ball (that seemed more a wild pitch) in the second. Third baseman Alex Gordon forced 14 pitches during a single and fly out, and Joba had to throw Guillen 12 pitches during the home run at bat and a swinging strike out in the second.
The Yanks had given Chamberlain a quick lead in this one. Damon went down swinging against KC righty Zach Greinke, but Derek Jeter singled up the middle and Bobby Abreu homered deep to right on a 2-1 pitch for a 2-0 lead. New York threatened KC with two first-inning hits Friday night, then paid for it by netting just one run the rest of the game. The home team looked to be in the same bind when they didn’t add to the 2-0 score Sunday. Alex Rodriguez followed the homer with a single to left, and Hideki Matsui walked. Jason Giambi battled Greinke to a 3-1 count, and took a step toward first on a low inside breaking ball, but home plate ump Phil Cuzzi called it a strike. Jason then swung and missed at 96-mph high heat that looked to be ball four. Posada followed with a vicious liner toward the Yankee bullpen, but Royals center fielder Joey Gathright established himself as both a superb defender and a pest by making the first of three fine plays by flagging it down in full stride.
Robbie Cano led off the home second with a bullet hit even further to dead center. On this one, Gathright sprinted back, then leaped at the last second to snare the drive. Second baseman Grudzielanek flagged down a Melky Cabrera base-hit bid in the hole and Damon bounced to short. Following the Guillen home run, Jeter lined hard up the middle, but Greinke grabbed it, then struck out Abreu and Matsui around a Rodriguez walk. After the booming first Greinke was exerting control with hard fastballs and a killer curve. A Cano swinging bunt was the only hit the Yanks could muster in innings two through four following the three-hit first.
Geise, returned to the roster once Chris Britton was DL’d the other day, replaced Chamberlain after the DeJesus walk in the fifth. He moved the Kansas City left fielder to second on an errant pickoff throw before coaxing a fly out to center. Right fielder Mark Teahen made a bid to stretch the K.C. lead with a hard liner inside the first-base bag, but Giambi left his feet and made a stellar grab to rescue the day. The Yanks responded right away, and it was no surprise that Damon got it started, with a triple into the left field corner with no one out. Jeter struck out though, and the KC infield inexplicably played back against Abreu, who scored Damon to tie matters with a grounder to second. A-Rod drew his second four-pitch walk, but Gathright struck again when Matsui lifted a pop fly bid for a single into short right center. It seemed we were watching a special effects reel watching the ground the speedy center field covered before he snatched the ball on a full body dive.
Geise responded with a two-strike-out sixth, made much more difficult than it sounds because with two down Miguel Olivo swung at a wild pitch that eluded Posada. The Royals catcher outhustled his Yankee counterpart, burning his way to second before Jorge could retrieve the ball and get it to Jeter. But Geise retired Russ Gload on a foul fly to A-Rod, who grabbed the ball one pace from the KC dugout.
Despite the wasted chances in the Yanks’ two-run first, it had cost Greinke 24 pitches, and he threw 22 more while Damon was tying the score in the fifth. To start the home sixth he had to face Giambi, always a multi-pitch affair. Jason wasted two full-count attempts, and he was ready when Greinke tried to sneak by another fastball, homering into the upper deck in right for a 4-3 lead. An ensuing six-pitch walk to Posada ended Greinke’s day, but Ron Mahay prevailed in an eight-pitch duel with Cano, finally coaxing a 4-6-3 dp, and closed the frame by retiring Cabrera on a fly to left.
Undaunted by the need to post a four-out sixth, Geise set the Royals down 1-2-3 in the seventh. Cabrera ran down a Gload liner in deep center, and Geise outlasted DeJesus during a nine-pitch swinging strike out after an infield grounder. The Yanks pounded Mahay for a couple of insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh, keyed by a second hit from Damon. Abreu singled him to third with one down, and A-Rod knocked them both home on a line double off the left field wall. The omnipresent Gathright recovered the ball after the carom eluded DeJesus; Joey nailed A-Rod trying for third. Off his fine work in Saturday’s run-fest, Jose Veras apparently earned an eighth-inning shot. He struck out two and set down the side around a Guillen single. Mariano Rivera closed the game on a seven-pitch ninth, and the Yanks won this one 6-3 in three hours, five minutes. A little long in the brutal weather perhaps, but it was good to see the home team win one that did not take almost four hours or double-digit runs to finish.
A-Rod reached safely four times, and he shared hits honors at two with Damon and Abreu, though Bobby knocked three home to lead in rbi’s. Matsui walked twice and lost his base-hit bid to Gathright, a fate he shared with Posada and Cano. But the Yanks won this one because Giambi battled Greinke toe-to-toe two times, and beat him with an upper deck home run the second time.
On this day in 452, Attila the Hun and his army invaded Italy after having their way in much of France. More than 1500 years later, Joba, the Yankees’ very own “Hutt,” took the mound for his second start. He struck out five and allowed five hits and three runs into the fifth, with just the one walk. He featured a fastball that reached 99 mph, kept KC hitters off stride with his hard diving slider, and mixed in a few high 70’s curves. Joba threw 14 out of 19 first-pitch strikes, but the place where he almost totally turned his game around was in a 53/25 strikes/balls ratio, totally unlike his work five days ago where the two numbers were almost identical.
But if Joba made great strides Sunday afternoon (and he did), the Yankees won the game on the strength of righthander Dan Giese. He faced nine Royals batters and retired them all, the wild pitch strikeout notwithstanding, with a pretty good 26/15 strikes/balls ratio of his own. With an 89-90 mph fastball, a slider and a slow curve, Geise adopts the Kaat Manifesto, getting batters out by hitting bats. But he has some cunning too, and managed to make visiting hitters swing and miss at his curve three times. Dan wasted nothing, as those three pitches netted him his three strike outs. If the Chamberlain transition to starter is going to be a successful one, and if the Yanks are serious about winning games as this alteration takes place, we can all feel better that “The Geiser” will be around to help those twin needs take place.
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!