Yanks Win Screamer in Bottom of the 9th

The Yankees topped the Royals 12-11 behind Jonny Damon’s blistering hot bat.  Jonny Damon went 6-for-6 with four RBI, one run, one stolen base, and provided the game winning hit with two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning driving in Wilson Betemit.  Damon recorded the third 6-for-6 day in Yankee history and is now batting .326.  The Yankees trailed on three separate occasions and fought back with all of their offensive might and will.  The Yankees logged a season high 19 hits and Betemit was the lone Yankee not to record a hit.  Also, Jorge Posada belted a clutch home-run in the 9th inning to tie the game with the Yankees trailing by one, and the offense seemed to fire on all cylinder through-out today’s slugfest.  Andy Pettitte set the tone for the game allowing a season-high ten hits during 6.2 innings of work yielding ten hits.  Joe Girardi made a poor managerial decision allowing Pettitte to pitch into the 7th inning surrendering a grand-slam to Jose Guillen.  Jose Veras undoubtedly stopped the bleeding, allowing the rolling offense to continue their comeback bid, pitching 1.1 scoreless innings striking out two.  Mariano Rivera earned the win but, surrendered a shocking home-run to David DeJesus via his first pitch, then proceeded to retire the side.  Jose Veras was clearly the lone bright pitching spot during a game filled with turmoil for the Yankee pitchers, and is earning praise from his manager and teammates.  The Yankees backed up their pitchers and played as an opportunistic unit striking when necessary.  The Yankees have won three of their lost four games and have had two walk-off hits five games into their seven game homestand.  The Yankees look to continue winning, while moving forward with the Joba Chamberlain project when he faces Zach Greinke tomorrow afternoon.

Jonny Damon played an intergral part in today’s victory, logging a historic game going 6-for-6, including the game winning single deep to right field.

Video clip of Jonny Damon’s game winning hit curtesy of MLB.com:

http://mlb.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200806072862055

Yankee Offense Fizzles vs. Royals

The Yankee offense deteriorated to the Royals resulting in a 2-1 loss.  A spectacular two-run effort by Darrell Rasner was squandered because the Yankee offense couldn’t provide him with protection.  Rasner pitched eight strong innings, escaping several jams, allowing nine hits while striking out four.  Rasner threw a season high 118 pitches and has thrived as the number four pitcher sporting a 2.58 ERA, but several of his starts have gone to waste due to the Yankees inconsistent offense.  The Yankees had ten hits but only one run to show for it, failing to deliver the big hits with runners in scoring position.  Melky Cabrera drove in the lone run with Robinson Cano on second with two outs in the seventh inning prompting a short-lived comeback.  The following inning Jason Giambi was punched out on strikes with a 3-2 count with runners on first and second base, which was an extremely debatable check swing strike called by umpire Ed Montague.  Although the strike was most likely ball four, the Yankees shouldn’t have put themselves in that position as the continuously failed to drive in runners in scoring position through-out the game.  The Yankees have had a myriad of up and downs this season, but must find a groove and play as a team consistently, clicking in all facets of the game.  Today the Yankees look to bounce back as Andy Pettitte squares off vs. Brian Bannister.

Unfortunately, another stellar effort by Darrell Rasner was washed away due to a lack of run support.