Melky Lights A Fire, Pettitte Cruises

The Yanks cruised to a 6-1 win to salvage one game of their three-game set in KC behind a very strong 6.2 innings from Andy Pettitte.

Early on it looked like the one run the Royals put up in the bottom of the first might just stand up, especially with the way the "Bombers" have been swinging the bat. Luckily, Girardi made a smart move inserting Melky into the two hole. The kid rewarded his skipper with a solo bomb to tie the game and wake the Yankee offense up in the top of the third.

Pettitte got the ball directly to Joba, who threw 1.1 innings and finished off the eighth with a 99 MPH heater to strike out Jose Guillen and extinguish the Royals last hope. The Yanks tacked on back-to-back bombs from A-Rod and Jorge in the top of the ninth to put the icing on the cake, but it really was Melky who breathed some life into this offense. They looked stagnant (as they have most of the year to this point), then Melky got one up in the jet stream, jogged around the bases like a little kid and came back to the dugout for a series of celebrations. We saw smiles for the first time in a while, we saw the rest of the team loosen up and right there I knew this game was a win.

We're now 10 games into the season and the Yankees have yet to steal a base. That's just horrible. I realize they're older, I realize Jeter's got a bum wheel. I realize they haven't exactly been putting a ton of runners on base, but when you're struggling to score runs you have to make something happen. There have been at least 4 opportunities for A-Rod to steal a base in the past week, Girardi never sent him. Once the bats wake up waiting for the three-run home run will probably be a prudent strategy, but Joey Jr. needs to start making things happen on the base paths until that happens.

Player of The Game: Andy Pettitte
Team Record: 5-5
Damon's Broken Bats: 0 (7 on the season). That black bat must be made of stone or something, he just cannot break it.

The Wanger vs. Buchholz tomorrow night in Bahston. For your Sox fix (although I have no idea why you'd need one considering ESPN devotes about 8 hours to the Sox every day) check out our excellent coverage at Who Made You Mirabelli? and Beantown West.