The Yankee offense hit a slump on Monday.

They only scored nine runs.

Roger Clemens pitched seven workman-like innings, Alex Rodriguez drove in his 100th run of the year and the Yanks scored five times in the ninth to dispose of the Royals 9-2 in Kansas City.

The Good:

Roger Clemens.  The Rocket continues to amaze in his second go-round with the Yanks.  Clemens has given the Yanks at least six innings in seven of his nine starts this season -- a feat I thought impossible before he rejoined the club.  Shows you how much I know.  Roger improved to 3-4 on the season with this: 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 3 K.

Johnny Damon.  Torre decided to start Damon instead of Bobby Abreu against Kansas City lefty Odalis Perez and the move worked out.  Damon's two-run double in the second gave Clemens and the Yanks a 4-0 lead.  Johnny always seems to put together a terrific ballgame when his back is against the wall.  If Damon starts to hit on a consistent basis, Torre will have many options for filling out the lineup card.  Damon finished 3 for 5 with a run scored and 2 RBI.

Hideki Matsui.  Godzilla didn't homer in Monday night's contest, but he did drive in two more runs and upped his season total to 65 ribbies.  His two-run single in the first gave the Yanks an early 2-0 advantage.  Matsui really should be working on a 19-game hitting streak, but a pop-fly he hit in Friday night's 14-4 loss to the Devil Rays was incorrectly scored an error and not a double.  Yeah, I said it.  The official scorer blew the call.  Hey, what can you do.  Matsui finished 1 for 4 with a walk, a run scored and 2 runs batted in.

The Bad:

Andy Phillips.  This really shows you how good things have been going for the Yanks.  Phillips finds himself in my "bad" section because he was the only Yankee who didn't score at least one run on Monday night.  Ouch!  Tough crowd.

The Ugly:

The Scarlet Letter.  Mike Sweeney carries the mark.  No, it's not 666, but a horrible letter "C" on his jersey.  Yeah, I get it -- Sweeney is the captain of the Royals.  Is it necessary to brand it on his chest?  I say absolutely no.  It looks so amateurish and ridiculous.  Well, I guess I should take into account that he plays in Kansas City.  Zing!

Chien-Ming Wang will try and push the Yankee streak to five on Tuesday and will go against Scott Elarton.  Elarton is having a tough season; he's 2-3 with a 9.17 ERA.  His evening ERA (yes, I'm breaking it down that way) is even worse -- 10.36.  Wang had one bad inning in his last start against the Blue Jays and it cost him.  Still, the Wanger sports a tiny 2.03 ERA during July.

Wang won't have to be that fine the way the Yanks are hitting.