Evil Empire 9, KC 7

Well, we have our first game of '06 that can be listed under Bell's name on the blame list. The Royals had the Yankees down, 7-4, in Yankee Stadium in the 8th and couldn't finish them off today as Burgos gave up a crushing 3-run homer to Jeter. Since I mentioned Bell, there were some questionable managing calls in the game. After SP Joe Mays gave up his 4th run and got pulled in favor of Mike Wood in the 3rd, Wood got out of the 3rd unscathed and through the 4th. Meanwhile, the Royals tied the game on Sanders' 2nd homer and RBIs by Berroa and Buck. As a side note, Berroa actually got walked in the 8th, which is news in itself. Wood also got through the 5th before being pulled in favor of Dessens to start the 6th. The Royals built a 7-4 lead by the middle of the 7th as Costa homered and Sanders drove in another run. Dessens got through the 7th but was pulled in favor of Sisco for the 8th. Sisco promptly loaded the bases and gave up 2 runs with only 1 out to his credit before Burgos came in and sandwiched Ks of Damon and Sheff around the dinger by Jeter. I guess the bulk of the blame should go to Mays for blowing another start and walking 5 batters, but can't Wood or Dessens go more than 2 innings? Neither was struggling or getting hit extremely hard when pulled, then you had Sisco in at least two batters too long. To top it off, the Royals had the winning run at the plate and Bell let Mientkiewicz hit against Rivera with 2 out in the 9th instead of giving Stairs a shot. Again, why is Stairs on the roster, then? When you've got a team like the Yankees on the ropes, you have to knock them out, which the Royals didn't do today.

The good news is Teahen had 2 hits, as did Sanders, Grudz and Brown. The offense did it's job today but Mays and Sisco didn't step up. Sweeney is also hitting a robust .095 after going 0-4 and leaving after Rivera drilled him in the hand in the 9th. DeJesus also missed another game with his injured hammy. Costa led off and went 1-5, so didn't do a great job of getting on base. At 2-4, the Royals move on as Affeldt tries to improve on his first start tomorrow against Chacon, who is beatable. He can't get much worse than his first start, so there's not much room to go but up.