Liveblog 13: The Yankees Are Mediocre

This team's pretty similar to last year's, not just in the players but in the results. Last season, they sucked for the first few months and didn't really get in a groove until the second half, where they played like men on fire and made it into the playoffs, where they promptly blew it again in the first round. Now, it's June 8th and they're still at .500, where they've probably been about 25 different times this season. The last three games are a good encapsulation of the problem - they had two huge come-from-behind victories won in the bottom of the ninth inning, but in between they lost 2-1 to the Royals, with a pitcher with a career ERA over 6 shutting them down. Last year they were scoring a ton of runs and just not getting any breaks, this year they're just not that good. They still have time to turn it around, and hopefully they're well out of last place by the time they're hosting the All-Star game in the Stadium's final year.

Today Joba makes his second start. The first didn't go too well, as he reached his pitch count quite early thanks to four walks, but he got no help from his defense or the umpires and still only gave up one hit. People still want him to stay in the bullpen, but right now his starts are the only thing I can really look forward to. The Yankees picked up some pretty good pitching talent in the draft and the offense has generally looked better lately with Alex Rodrgiuez and now Jorge Posada returning, and hopefully Phil Hughes can come back and pitch decently before the end of July. With the general underperformance of some other good teams in the league they still have a good shot at the wild card even if Boston takes the division again.

Top 1 - All right, here we go. Strike one to DeJesus. Nobody fucks with DeJesus. He flies out to Melky. The next batter, whose name I won't bother spelling, bloops a 1-2 pitch for a single. Teahen pops out to Abreu on the first pitch. He gets Guillen swinging on some high heat to end the inning. Much better first inning than his last start.

Bottom 1 - Zack Greinke is on the mound for the Royals. He's got a lot of talent but hasn't fully realized it yet. He saw some of it there easily striking out Damon after he went 6 for 6 yesterday. Jeter lines a single up the middle, tying Mickey Mantle for the second most hits at Yankee Stadium. While I was helping to bring in the groceries, Abreu hit a two run homer and A-Rod singled. He then reached second on a wild pitch. Greinke comes up and in on Matsui and almost hits him. Matsui then draws the walk. Giambi strikes out on a rare swing way out of the zone. Joey Gathright makes a nice play taking a run scoring double away from Posada to end the inning.

Top 2 - Joba's facing Alex Gordon, his old teammate from College. For the record, I typed that before Michael Kay said it. Gordon works a full count and then lines a single to left. The next batter pops out on the first pitch. Gload smacks another single. Joba seems to give up more hits than usual whenever he faces Kansas City. He strikes out the rookie Mike Aviles on four pitches. Gordon scores on a passed ball. Three runs have been charged to Joba since he became a starter and none scored on a hit. Gathright strikes out on another ball in the dirt.

Bottom 2 - Gathright makes a second great catch off a ball hit by Cano. Cabrera grounds out to second. Damon bounces a ground ball to the shortstop to end the inning. Much better job by Greinke.

Top 3 - DeJesus hits a double into the corner. I can't see what's happening now because of a thunderstorm warning, so I'm checking Gameday. The second baseman grounds out, moving the runner to third. Teahen pops out to Jeter. On a full count, Guillen hits his third home run in two days, and the Royals take the lead. These storm warnings are really annoying. Gordon flies out to end the inning but that wasn't a good job by Chamberlain.

Bottom 3 - Jeter leads off and takes two breaking ball strikes. He lines another ball up the middle but this time Greinke nabs it for an out. Abreu strikes out weakly to bring up A-Rod. He walks on four pitches to bring up Matsui, who strikes out.

Top 4 - Joba's gonna have to be stingy with his pitches to make it through five innings and have a chance at a win. His slider's really diving today. He strikes out Oliva staring at a low fastball, which I believe is his first looking strikeout in the last 17 he's gotten. First pitch line out to Giambi by Gload helps the pitch count issue. Next batter grounds out to Cano, and that was just what the doctor ordered.

Bottom 4 - Giambi grounds right into the shift for the first out. Posada watches six pitches go by and strikes out. Cano weakly nubs a groundball for an infield single. It's erased by Melky hacking at the first pitch and popping out to end the inning. Both pitchers look pretty good today.

Top 5 - Joba got another called strike out but then DeJesus worked a walk in a long at bat and that ended his day. Dan Geise relieved him again and got out of the inning on a nice diving catch by Giambi.

Bottom 5 - Damon works a full count and then hits a ball that DeJesus made an ill-advised dive for and booked it to third. Jeter fails to deliver and strikes out. Abreu grounds out, but that still gets the tying run in and Joba's off the hook. A-Rod again draws a four pitch walk. Matsui pops it up and Gathright makes another great play to catch it, but it looks like he hurt his wrist. That's a whole inning's worth of outs that Joey's handed to Greinke today.

Top 6 - Geise gets Guillen to ground out and strikes out Gordon. Olivo strikes out but the ball gets far away from Posada and he makes it all the way to second base. Ridiculous play. The next batter pops out though to end the threat which shouldn't have existed.

Bottom 6 - On a full count, Jason Giambi hits his third go-ahead home run in four games. He's having a terrific year after an unlucky April. Posada walks, and Greinke is not long for this game. Mahay's coming in to face Cano. Cano works the inning's third full count, but grounds into a double play. Cabrera pops out to left again to end the frame.

Top 7 - I wonder how many one-run games the Yankees can play in a row. Aviles flies out to center. Gathright, still in the game after appearing to get hurt on that diving catch, grounds out. I knew Geise was no spring chicken, but he turned 31 last month. That's a little wacky. DeJesus just barely hooks a home run foul. A couple pitches later Geise strikes him out, and he's still in line for his first career victory. At age 31.

Bottom 7 - Damon slices another hit to left, this time for a single. Jeter flies out harmlessly. With the hit and run on, Abreu hits a single through the hole and runners are on the corners for A-Rod. An insurance run here would be good with the Yankees' eighth inning relief questionable since Joba's transition. He hit one that looked like a homer off the bat but hit off the wall for a two run double. The fielders misplayed the ball and A-Rod went for third but got thrown out. If he ran hard the whole way he would have made it easily. Matsui walks. On yet another full count, Giambi pops out.

Top 8 - Jose Veras is getting a chance here instead of Kyle Farnsworth, which is a bit surprising. Maybe Girardi is learning. The weird-name guy pops out. Teahen gets to a full count (!!!) and then strikes out. Guillen grounds a single up the middle. Gordon gets punched out staring at a fastball middle down to end the mild threat.

Bottom 8 - Posada walks. Guess what the count was. Cano grounds into a fielder's choice. Cabrera swings and misses. He had a great April but really cooled down after that. Damon grounds out and we're on to what should be the last half inning.

Top 9 - Olivo pops up the first pitch to Abreu. Gload grounds out to Cano. Another ball to the same place to end the game.

Wrap-Up - Today we learned that these liveblogs are only cursed for the second game by a rookie pitcher, not the second start. So that's good to know. The Yankees are again over .500, but we'll see how long that really lasts. With any luck, they'll stay there this time. Joba pitched well, and by his next start should be more or less able to pitch a real game, and hopefully get the win.