The Mighty Royals

Another day, another loss to an upstart team in the American League. This script is getting a little old. Tonight it was righty Zach Grienke who shut down the Bombers with 8 shutout innings en route to a 4-0 win. Unacceptable, again.

It played absolutely no role in the loss, but I have to say I'm extremely disappointed in Joe Girardi tonight. He decided to tell Ian Kennedy minutes before warming up that he wasn't starting, instead he went with Brian Bruney because the forecast was for rain. I saw another Joe make this exact same move about a week ago out in L.A., and he got the exact same result, a loss. The Royals, on the other hand, sent Grienke out there and he pitched right through.

It's just stupid to ask a kid to prepare all day for a start, then have him sit on a bench and wait. It did rain, but play was never halted. Girardi outsmarted himself into 5 innings of pointless wear and tear on a bullpen that's already taxed. A stupid move as far as I'm concerned, and the first one I've really disagreed with in his short tenure (I don't malingering with the flu as a decision).

When Kennedy came in he gave up two runs immediately, then showed us what we've been waiting for over his final two innings. It sure would've been nice to see him go maybe 7 and give the pen a rest, but such is life.

Anemic isn't an apt description of the offense. Non-existent would be more accurate. I'd love to be able to point out a bright spot, but it just isn't there. They aren't getting hits, clutch or otherwise. Cold weather, rainy weather, injuries. Use whatever excuse you want. The fact of the matter is that the other team is playing in this weather too. They're going to bounce back, but come on. How much of this do we have to suffer through before the Yankee hitters decide to wake up?

Andy Pettitte will take the hill tomorrow and look to go deep into the game and get the ball to the pen with the lead. That's what he's here for, he needs to get the job done.

I have one more bone to pick, this one with Brian Cashman. Coming out of Spring Training there was absolutely no reason to have Morgan Ensberg on the roster. None. He's redundant beyond belief. Shelley Duncan proved himself last year, especially against lefties. Yet, for some reason, Cashman kept him. The Yanks paid for it today when they had to send Shelley down to make room for Alberto Gonzalez. I think bringing Gonzalez up was absolutely the right move, it's just a shame that Shelley had to be sent down to make room for him. It makes no sense to weaken your team to make room for him. Ensberg is superfluous and the only reason he's still here is his ridiculous $1.75M contract. If they'd carried Brett Gardner, or even Gonzalez himself (both would've given the Yanks more flexibility and actually served a purpose on the bench) it would've been much easier to make this move without taking a weapon away from Joe Girardi. Very disappointing.

Player of The Game: Brian Bruney (a solid 2 innings with 4 K's in his first spot start in the bigs)
Team Record: 4-5
Silver Lining: Boston lost again.
Damon's Broken Bats: 0 today, 7 on the season in 8 games.