It was the Home Opener in Kansas City and the Yanks played the part of hospitable guests.
Phil Hughes labored through three-plus innings, the offense continued to leave runners on base and the injuries are starting to mount as the
Royals turned back the Yankees 5-2 on a miserable afternoon in KC. The loss was the first for the Bombers in their road grays and drops them back to .500 on the young season at 4-4.
The Good:Billy Traber. The lone lefty in the pen continued his strong start with another solid effort. Traber struck out a lefty and a righty in his inning of work and actually should have picked off Ross Gload at first after he reached on a single. But the Yanks had their nervous nelly manning first base. Jason Giambi "double-clutched," but if you ask me, he had no intention of making the throw to second. I've never seen a player so afraid to throw a baseball, but that's another story. The threat was squashed, however, when Jose Molina erased Gload as he tried to swipe third. Traber's kooky motion could be a weapon for the Yanks as the season moves along. The southpaw's inning: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K.
The Bad:Phil Hughes. The Baby Bomber never found his rhythm on Tuesday and it resulted in a short outing. Hughes threw a ton of pitches and had problems throwing strikes. He also wasn't helped by his defense as Bobby Abreu made an error in right that led to a run in the second and Jorge Posada failed to throw out runners despite two pitchouts (more on that later), but the kid didn't have his good stuff. Outings like this are going to happen as Hughes suffers through growing pains. Let's just hope he learns from them. Hughes fell to 0-1 with this line: 3+ IP, 6 H, 3 R, 4 BB, 2 K, 1 hit batsman.
Alex Rodriguez. It's tough to strike out four times in a game, but that's exactly what the reigning MVP did on Tuesday. A-Rod was caught looking three times and then went down swinging in his final at-bat. But he wasn't alone as the Yanks went down 11 times as a team. It was an ugly day all around. Rodriguez went 0 for 4 with the 4 Ks.
The Ugly:Another one down.
Jorge Posada left in the sixth inning because of a "dead" arm. The Royals swiped four bases off Posada and Jorgie said after the game that he felt like he had "no strength" in his shoulder. The Yanks are lucky to have Jose Molina to hold the fort, but this could be trouble down the road. The Bombers have already said that
Derek Jeter will miss this series in Kansas City (and maybe more) and the loss of Posada for an extended period could weaken an already underachieving lineup. Posada plans to have an MRI on his shoulder Wednesday.
Ian Kennedy will try and bounce back from a terrible start against Tampa Bay last week. Kennedy made his second career start against the Royals last season and gave up two runs through five innings in a no decision. The Royals will send Zack Greinke to the mound. Greinke picked up a win in his first start this season, scattering six hits through seven innings, as Kansas City downed the Detroit Tigers. The young righty is 1-2 in seven career games against the Yanks with a 8.22 ERA.
The season is only a week old, but the Yanks already have to weather the storm.
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