KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Across four innings, Joe Girardi’s idea to hold Ian Kennedy back because of a downpour at Kauffman Stadium was brilliant. Brian Bruney, Billy Traber and Kyle Farnsworth blanked the Royals.
Girardi’s plan was to bring Kennedy in the game when it wouldn’t be delayed or stopped entirely. Girardi didn’t want to lose his young right-hander. The only part of the plan that could be second-guessed is begging Farnsworth for a second frame instead of summoning Kennedy in the fifth.
Farnsworth gave up two runs in the fifth and put the Yankees in a hole. But Kennedy didn’t give the second-guessers much fuel by allowing two more in the sixth.
Combined with the Yankees’ nightly gathering of the Dead Bat Society, the Royals danced through the significant raindrops to a 4-0 victory that was witnessed by a soaking-wet gathering of 19,007.
The rain started in the second and continued throughout the Yankees’ second straight loss that dropped their record to 4-5. It was so heavy that the grounds crew had to dust the puddle infield with a drying agent following every half inning. Nevertheless, foolishly, the umpires decided to play on.
Kennedy surrendering two runs in the sixth muted the voices of the second-guessers who believed Girardi outsmarted himself by holding Kennedy back until there was no chance of the game being halted.
Bruney and Traber were fine, holding the Royals without a run in their three frames of work. Farnsworth followed with a scoreless fourth but “The Mop” couldn’t sop up enough water in the fifth when the Royals scored twice. The first run was John Buck’s 439-foot homer to center and the second was driven in by Jose Guillen, who is awaiting word if he will be suspended or not by MLB for the use of performance enhancing drugs.
Girardi’s different pitching strategy had nothing to do with the Yankee bats remaining dead. Playing without Derek Jeter (strained left quadriceps) and Jorge Posada (strained right shoulder), right-hander Zack Greinke dominated the Yankees, throwing eight shutout innings and allowing six hits.
The Yankees started the night batting a pathetic .190 (11-for-58) with runners in scoring position and went 0-for-8 to lower the average to .167 for a team that was supposed to score near a 1,000 runs this season but has dented the plate 25 times in nine games.
The Yankees need a win tonight to avoid being swept by the improved Royals (6-2). Kansas City has greatly benefited from the direction provided by first-year manager Trey Hillman, a former Yankees minor league manager who had to go to Japan to prove he was worth a club taking a chance on him.
Kennedy, who was awful in his first outing, surfaced to start the sixth with the Yankees trailing, 2-0. He gave up an RBI double to Ross Gload and traded an out for a run to put the Yankees in a 4-0 ditch. He surrendered two runs in three innings.
It was a busy day for the Yankees. They promoted shortstop Alberto Gonzalez from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (Triple-A) to play short as long as Jeter remains tethered to the bench. They are hopeful he can return tomorrow night in Boston. Posada’s MRI exam on his right shoulder showed a strain, which is good news. To make room for Gonzalez, Shelley Duncan was optioned to SWB. Then shortly before the game started it was announced Bruney would replace Kennedy as the starter.
From the second inning on the rain fell hard and turned the dirt part of the infield into mud. Between innings grounds crew poured a drying agent on the dirt, but it didn’t help. Still, the umpires kept the teams on the field throughout the deluge.
Brian Bruney opened with two scoreless innings and recorded four strikeouts. Billy Traber followed with a scoreless third and Kyle Farnsworth followed with a scoreless fourth.
The Yankees weren’t able to break through against Greinke, who had just one perfect inning through the first five but didn’t allow a run.
Greinke erased the leadoff walk drawn by Johnny Damon by getting the ice-cold Robinson Cano to bang into a 6-4-3 double play in the first. After a perfect second, Jose Molina doubled to start the third but never moved off second since Melky Cabrera popped out, Alberto Gonzalez flied out and Damon was caught looking.
In the fourth, Alex Rodriguez’s hit a two-out double and was followed by a walk to Hideki Matsui, but Greinke stranded them by getting Jason Giambi to foul out. Gonzalez doubled to left with two outs in the fifth, but Damon struck out swinging.