The Yankees are looking to exact revenge against the Royals tonight when they begin their seven game road trip in Kansas City.
The last time the Yankees and Kansas City Royals faced off in April, the Royals took two of three for their first series win in the Bronx since 1999. Rookie Eric Hosmer went 4 for 12 with two homers and former Yankee Melky Cabrera also homered twice in his first games against his former team.
The Yankee have won 11 of 15 games and are awaiting the arrival of Alex Rodriguez back to the club – more on him later.
As for the guys playing for the team right now, A.J. Burnett (8-9, 4.60 ERA) is looking to snap an winless August streak as a Yankee. He is 0-8 with a 7.18 ERA in 13 August since joining the team. He is 3-3 in his career against the Royals with a 2.52 ERA in nine starts. His last start against the Royals was on May 11 and he pitched seven innings, gave up only one run on one hit. He also walked five and struck out six. Burnett did not get the decision as the Yankees lost the game in extra innings. Burnett actually has good numbers against the Royals batters and only Alex Gordon has been able to hit a home run off him while hitting a paltry .133 against him.
Burnett got the support of his GM Brian Cashman this weekend who said about his struggling starting pitcher, “I think he’s being treated differently publicly because he has money attached. The man can still pitch. The man is a starter. He can still help us significantly.” Cashman was referring to Burnett’s four year $82.5 million contract and the expectations that it brings.
Burnett’s opponent tonight is Felipe Paulino (1-4, 3.45 ERA). The Royals have lost all five of Paulino’s starts since the All-Star break. He is 0-2 with a 3.56 ERA during that span. He allowed only one run over five innings on Wednesday against Tampa but left the game with back stiffness and he did not get a decision in an 8-7 loss.
Paulino has never faced the Yankees and his teams have scored an average of 2.90 runs per nine innings of support for him which the second-lowest among pitchers with at least 45 starts since 1974. Jason Isringhausen leads that category with 2.83 runs per nine innings.
Derek Jeter has come back strong since his calf injury. Jeter is batting .313 and has 21 RBI in his last 33 games — that includes his 3,000th career hit/5 for 5 day against Tampa – since returning July 4 from the disabled list. Jeter worked with his former hitting coach Gary Denbo when he was down in Tampa rehabbing.
Joe Girardi spoke about how his club has done during Alex Rodriguez’s absence saying,
“As a club, we’ve had a lot of people step up and do some really, really good things. The injuries we’ve had in our bullpen, the uncertainty of our rotation when we left spring training, the injury to Phil Hughes, the injury to Derek, the injury to Alex, but this club has persevered. We’ve had some really tough losses, and our club has seemed to find a way to bounce back.”
The Yankees are 22-11 without Rodriguez thanks to Eduardo Nunez and Eric Chavez’s play at third base and Nick Swisher and Curtis Granderson stepping it up offensively – though Granderson has been great all season. He now has 33 home runs on the season and leads the AL with 94 RBI and 107 runs scored.
Rodriguez won’t be returning for this series against the Royals but he should be with the club when they begin their next series against the Twins. That’s something to look forward to.
Kansas City Here I Come
Royals rookie Mike Moustakas cannot buy a hit against the White Sox this season. So far he’s 0-for-34 and that includes an 0-for-11 in this weekend’s series at Chicago. Moustakas has now seen his average drop to .184. Moustakas got a vote of confidence from his manager Ned Yost who said the club is sticking with their third baseman for the rest of the season. He expects Moustakas to rebound and hit again. He also added that Hall of Famers George Brett and Robin Yount went through the same struggles early in their careers and were able to figure things out without having to take a trip to the minors. Wow, being compared to players like Brett and Youst is quite a compliment for a young player like Moustakas.
Going in the other direction is Melky Cabrera who has a seven-game hitting streak for the Royals. He went 13-for-29 and had five multi-hit games. He hit three doubles, two home runs, had eight RBI and stole two bases during the Royals 1-6 to Tampa and Chicago. Ned Yost had this to say about his outfielder “He really got himself refocused into being the player that he can be.” Cabrera is hitting .311 this season and has 51 multi-hit games.
Looking Ahead
Tomorrow’s starter for the Royals, Danny Duffy (3-6, 4.97 ERA), has never faced the Yankees – he was called up after the Yankees and Royals met earlier this season. In his last start on August 11 against Tampa, Duffy pitched seven innings, allowed three runs on five hits and picked up the loss. He also walked 6 and struck out five.
Going up against Duffy, is Ivan Nova (11-4, 3.85 REA) had a bad outing his last time against the Royals, lasting only three innings. He gave up ten hits, eight runs – four of them earned – and the Yankees lost the game 11-5. He hasn’t lost a decision since June 3 against Angels and in that start he pitched eight strong innings and only gave up three runs – two earned. The Yankees lost 3-2.
On Wednesday it’s Bartolo Colon (8-6, 3.31 ERA) against Bruce Chen (7-5, 4.15 ERA). Colon hasn’t lost a decision since July 19 against Tampa and had a strong six inning two run outing in his last start against the Angels. He is looking for his ninth win of the season. Bruce Chen picked up the lone win during the Royals’ seven game road trip. He only gave up one hit in six innings in a 5-1 victory over Chicago on Friday. He has not faced the Yankees this season and is 1-5 with a 6.71 ERA in his career against them.
Some of the Yankees hitters who have had success against Chen are Mark Teixeira (.545 with four home runs and and ten RBI), Jeter (.385 with one homerun), Jorge Posada (.425) and Swisher (.333).
Can we just have Tex bat against Chen in all nine spots on Wednesday night?
TV Schedule
Tonight – YES Network 8 p.m.
Tuesday – My9 8 p.m.
Wednesday – YES Network 8 p.m.
For more on what’s happening with the Royals visit Drinking The Royals Blue Aid. Say hi to Senior Writer Jen Nevius while you’re there. Tell her Spreadin’ the News sent ya.
