Game 89 Wrap-Up: KC 5 NYY 1

(Courtesy of the AP)

It was strange to think that the Yankee lineup would be worse with the newly acquired Travis Ishikawa included, but that was the case heading into last night's game.  With Joe deciding to give a handful of guys the night off, the lineup took on another strange, pathetic appearance with Zoilo Almonte batting 2nd, Vernon Wells 5th against a righty, and a 7-9 of Cruz, Gonzalez, and Romine.  There wasn't a lot of support on paper for Phil Hughes, and there wasn't much for him on the field for the short amount of time he spent on it.

Game Notes:

-Not a good 2nd inning for Hughes.  He grooved a fastball to Billy Butler for a solo HR to lead off the inning and served up 2 doubles to score another.  3 XBH in 1 inning is never a good thing.

- It ended up being a short night for him thanks to the weather.  An hour plus rain delay was too long to bring Phil back and Joe went to Adam Warren in the 5th.  Tough break too.  Phil looked like he was starting to find it in the 3rd and 4th.

- It wouldn't have helped him because the lineup did nothing at all.  Like just 3 singles from Vernon Wells and Robinson Cano through 6 innings type of nothing.  Jeremy Guthrie, and the hour plus he waited before returning to the mound in the bottom of the 4th, shut them the hell out.

- It was a tough night for Travis Ishikawa, who went 0-2 for 2 strikeouts in his first 2 Yankee plate appearances and then had to watch Lyle Overbay hit a pinch hit HR in his place in the 7th.  But hey, it got the Yanks on the board.

- They couldn't capitalize on another good scoring chance in the 8th, and then the game got out of hand for Preston Claiborne as the sacrificial bullpen lamb in the 9th.  The Yankees' bottom half rally was perfectly representative of their offensive strength all night: bases loaded, no outs, no runs.


F*ck Yeahs:

- Overbay: 1-1, 1 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB.  2 PA, 2 times on base, and the only XBH hit the team managed out of their 9 for the game.  When the bar is set that low, even Overbay can leap over it.

Oh Nos:

- Ishikawa: 0-2, 2 K, 2 LOB.  Got booed hard at The Stadium after just 2 plate appearances.  That can't be a good sign for you, guy.

- Eduardo Nunez: 0-2, 2 K, 5 LOB.  Pinch hit for Austin Romine in the 7th and struck out with 2 runners on.  Came up again with the bases juiced in the 9th and struck out again.  You gotta love the advanced baseball art of pinch stranding.

Next Up:

Yanks will look to bounce back and avoid a new losing streak tonight with their ace on the mound.  It's CC Sabathia vs. James Shields.