04/12: Coke's Rough Inning Leads to 6-4 Loss
Posted by: Seamus
The Yankees failed today to complete a sweep of the Royals in a game that had more twists and turns than the Crescent rolls I ate for dinner. Joba Chamberlain pitched well enough to put himself in position for his first win of the season, but a bad 8th inning by Phil Coke helped the Royals pull ahead for their first home win of the season.
The Yankees took the lead early on thanks mostly to Brett Gardner. Gardner led the game off (Damon was given the day off; Jeter batted second) with a base hit, and proceeded to steal second. After being moved to third via a Nick Swisher groundout, Gardner scored from third on a wild pitch from Gil Meche.
The Royals tied the game at 1 in the bottom of the 3rd, courtesy of a solo shot to left from John Buck. Kansas City tacked on a few more in the 4th, after Alberto Callaspo reached on a ball that should've been handled by Nick Swisher and could have been handled by Robinson Cano. The play was originally ruled a hit, but shows up on the MLB.com boxscore as an error, so I'm assuming it was changed. David DeJesus scored on the play, and the next batter, John Buck, brought Mark Teahen in from 3rd with a single to put the Royals up 3-1.
The Royals were victimized by some bad glove work of their own in the 7th when the Yankees jumped back ahead for three runs, thanks in part to an error by Mike Jacobs that allowed Hideki Matsui to score the tying run. Xavier Nady later scored the go-ahead run on a double play groundout by Melky Cabrera.
The game took its final turn in the 8th thanks to Phil Coke, who has been the lone weak link in the Yankee bullpen during the first week of this young season. Coke was brought into the game with the Yankees one out away from getting out of the inning unscathed, but gave up three straight hits as Kansas City went ahead by a score of 6-4 which would prove to be the final tally.
As an aside, my 13-year old brother had to mention that Joba Chamberlain had a perfect game going with one out in the third inning. About 20 seconds later, on the ensuing pitch, John Buck belted a game-tying home run to left. Somebody needs to teach this kid.
The Yankees will be in St. Petersburg tomorrow for yet another home opener, as they'll be taking on the Tampa Bay Rays for the first time this season. Scott Kazmir is slated to be the starter for Tampa Bay, and he'll be facing Chien-Ming Wang, who looks to bounce back from a disappointing 2009 debut this past Wednesday. Game starts at 7:08 ET (yeah 7:08, I guess the Rays needed to be different).
Game recap records: Patrick: 2-0, Andrew: 1-0, Seamus: 0-3. Yikes...
The Yankees took the lead early on thanks mostly to Brett Gardner. Gardner led the game off (Damon was given the day off; Jeter batted second) with a base hit, and proceeded to steal second. After being moved to third via a Nick Swisher groundout, Gardner scored from third on a wild pitch from Gil Meche.
The Royals tied the game at 1 in the bottom of the 3rd, courtesy of a solo shot to left from John Buck. Kansas City tacked on a few more in the 4th, after Alberto Callaspo reached on a ball that should've been handled by Nick Swisher and could have been handled by Robinson Cano. The play was originally ruled a hit, but shows up on the MLB.com boxscore as an error, so I'm assuming it was changed. David DeJesus scored on the play, and the next batter, John Buck, brought Mark Teahen in from 3rd with a single to put the Royals up 3-1.
The Royals were victimized by some bad glove work of their own in the 7th when the Yankees jumped back ahead for three runs, thanks in part to an error by Mike Jacobs that allowed Hideki Matsui to score the tying run. Xavier Nady later scored the go-ahead run on a double play groundout by Melky Cabrera.
The game took its final turn in the 8th thanks to Phil Coke, who has been the lone weak link in the Yankee bullpen during the first week of this young season. Coke was brought into the game with the Yankees one out away from getting out of the inning unscathed, but gave up three straight hits as Kansas City went ahead by a score of 6-4 which would prove to be the final tally.
As an aside, my 13-year old brother had to mention that Joba Chamberlain had a perfect game going with one out in the third inning. About 20 seconds later, on the ensuing pitch, John Buck belted a game-tying home run to left. Somebody needs to teach this kid.
The Yankees will be in St. Petersburg tomorrow for yet another home opener, as they'll be taking on the Tampa Bay Rays for the first time this season. Scott Kazmir is slated to be the starter for Tampa Bay, and he'll be facing Chien-Ming Wang, who looks to bounce back from a disappointing 2009 debut this past Wednesday. Game starts at 7:08 ET (yeah 7:08, I guess the Rays needed to be different).
Game recap records: Patrick: 2-0, Andrew: 1-0, Seamus: 0-3. Yikes...
