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Thursday, August 18, 2011

KC Star: Royals hold on for 5-4 victory over Yankees

The Royals avoided a three-game sweep Wednesday night by escaping with a 5-4 victory over the New York Yankees at Kauffman Stadium.

Make that ESCAPE. Capital letters.

Joakim Soria concluded a 40-pitch ninth inning by striking out Jorge Posada with the bases loaded after nearly — but not quite — blowing a two-run lead.
...
“He got up to 40 pitches,” manager Ned Yost said, “and you start to worry if he’s getting gassed. But the thing about Jack is you know he has that ability to make that pitch when he needs to. And he did against Posada. As long as he gets the save, I’m happy.”

Mike Moustakas had three of the Royals’ eight hits, including a leadoff double that ignited the four-run third.

NTNgod Posted: August 18, 2011 at 04:59 AM | 8 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
Tags: royals, yankees

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1. Tom Cervo, backup catcher Posted: August 18, 2011 at 05:14 AM (#3902880)

It's moot now, but could Girardi have protested the game because of the Butler HR call? It certainly sounds like the ump was wrong on KC's ground rules.

If they had reversed it, where does Butler end up? The ball was never out of play and they tagged Butler just before 3B, but he was trotting around the bases since the ump had signaled a HR. I guess just give him 2B?

2. Jolly Old St. Nick Done Jumped The Ship

Posted: August 18, 2011 at 12:15 PM (#3902914)

I could only get the KC version of the game, and all the KC announcers were saying that the umpire blew the call. After watching the replays, I still wasn't 100% sure either way. And anyway, the Yanks had a million chances to score before and after that. Besides Posada's brain freeze in the ninth after Soria looked like he was trying to throw the game, they also lost a run in the first inning when Jeter got picked off first right before Granderson's home run. The umps may have blown the call on Butler, but the Yanks lost the game fair and square.

3. ??'s Biggest Fan! Posted: August 18, 2011 at 01:09 PM (#3902935)

The umps may have blown the call on Butler, but the Yanks lost the game fair and square.

Too true. It's hard to complain about a blown call when your opponent presents you with the opportunity to at least tie the game at the top of the ninth. Posada appeared to me like he was protesting that first strike the ump gave Soria. He struck out on the same exact pitch, in the same exact location and appeared to have had no inclination to at least protectively take a swing. If the umpire is calling that pitch a strike earlier in the AB, Jorge, it's gonna be a strike later in the AB.

4. Greg (U)K Posted: August 18, 2011 at 01:22 PM (#3902937)

Posada appeared to me like he was protesting that first strike the ump gave Soria. He struck out on the same exact pitch, in the same exact location and appeared to have had no inclination to at least protectively take a swing. If the umpire is calling that pitch a strike earlier in the AB, Jorge, it's gonna be a strike later in the AB.

Edwin Encarnacion did the exact same thing last night (except the 2nd pitch in the exact same location was called a ball...and then he hit the 3rd pitch for a homerun)

Really the only point of this anecdote was to get a chance to say that E5 is hitting .325/.407/.578 in the past 45 games. And hardly any errors thanks to the Jays keeping him the #### away from 3B.

This concludes your Jays hi-jack for the day.

5. The Yankee Clapper Posted: August 18, 2011 at 01:24 PM (#3902938)

. . . could Girardi have protested the game because of the Butler HR call?

Sounds like the Yankees could have had a successful protest. It appears that there wasn't a judgement call about where the ball hit, but a misinterpretation of the ground rules - resulting in a ball that hit the padding below the top of the fence being incorrectly ruled a HR. The excerpt in #1 indicates that the umpires explained the ground rule correctly during the exchange of line-up cards but explained it differently after making their call. Not their finest day.

6. Weekly Journalist_ Posted: August 18, 2011 at 01:25 PM (#3902940)

I thought the strike 3 if anything was marginally more of a strike than the strike 1, which was clearly a ball. Jorge had no business taking it...he just was guessing breaking ball all the way and got frozen.

7. The Long Arm of Rudy Law Posted: August 18, 2011 at 03:23 PM (#3903011)

The Royals avoided a three-game sweep Wednesday night by escaping with a 5-4 victory over the New York Yankees at Kauffman Stadium.
Make that ESCAPE. Capital letters.

OK.

The Royals avoided a three-game sweep Wednesday night by ESCAPE with a 5-4 victory over the New York Yankees at Kauffman Stadium.

8. Ray (RDP)

Posted: August 18, 2011 at 03:43 PM (#3903032)

Too true. It's hard to complain about a blown call when your opponent presents you with the opportunity to at least tie the game at the top of the ninth.

I don't see why it's hard at all. So what if you had missed opportunities? It doesn't mean the umpire didn't screw you. (Assuming the umps did blow the call -- I didn't see the play.)

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Thursday, August 18, 2011

KC Star: Royals hold on for 5-4 victory over Yankees

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