On the Yankees beat

The game ended late so we were not able to get a version of the Yankees game story with quotes in the paper. So I have posted it here. I have a quick turnaround and have to be back for tomorrow's game, but here's one more thing before I get out of here. The Yankees announced the signing of draft picks LHP Jeremy Bleich and SS Garrison Lassiter. That means they signed 33 of their picks and eight of their top 10.

Ok, here's the gamer with reax.

BY RODERICK BOONE
roderick.boone@newsday.com

The Yankees were back home Friday night, looking to shake off the remnants of a putrid road trip by starting off a mini three-game homestand in style.
Here they were, going up against the hapless Royals, a team that easily could have been the kindling to light a much-needed fire under them. But the Yankees’ offense was punchless for the better part of six innings and the Royals raced out to a three-run lead, making more than a few in the announced sellout crowd of 53,067 who waited through a rain delay of nearly an hour and a half probably wanting their money back.
However, the Yankees' comeback fell short.
Esteban German scored on a Mariano Rivera wild pitch with one out in the ninth inning and the Yankees lost for the sixth time in seven games, dropping a disappointing 4-3 decision at Yankee Stadium.
It’s the eighth time this season Rivera, who’s proven to be human in non-save situations, has allowed the go-ahead run. It was just his second wild pitch in the last six seasons.
“No,” Rivera said when asked if he ever remembered throwing a wild pitch in such a situation. “But like I said. That’s baseball. The way things are going for us, anything can happen.”
A few more games like this and the Yankees’ slim playoff hopes will slide further into oblivion. The Yankees (64-58) fell 10 ½ games behind the first-place Rays and seven off the pace of the wild-card leading Red Sox. The Yankees haven’t been this far out of the playoff chase at this point in the season since 1993, when they crossed the finish line seven games behind the Blue Jays.
”The fans came out to see a very good team,” Johnny Damon said, “and we didn’t show them that tonight.”
Still, the Yankees did have their chances in the bottom of the ninth. They loaded the bases with two outs. However, Jason Giambi flew out to center and Mitch Maier squeezed it in his glove for the final out, sending the Yankees to their second straight loss.
Rivera (4-5) entered in the top of the ninth in a 3-3 tie and after striking out John Buck, German doubled to right-centerfield. Maier then hit a bouncer up the middle that Robinson Cano backhanded on the outfield grass but his throw was not in time to get Maier. Rivera then threw a wild pitch in the dirt to score German with the go-ahead run. Rivera got out of the inning by getting Mike Aviles to ground out to third and Mark Teahen to strike out.
In the excruciating bottom of the ninth, the Yankees let a threat get away from them. Wilson Betemit led off with a dribbled infield single to third but pinch runner Justin Christian was picked off by Royals closer Joakim Soria with the count 3-and-2 on Johnny Damon.
”If I don’t get picked off there, who knows what happens?” Christian said.
Damon then grounded out to short for the second out. But the Yankees weren’t done yet.
Derek Jeter singled to rightfield, Bobby Abreu walked and Alex Rodriguez reached on a dribbler in front of the plate. But Giambi lined out and Soria got his 33rd save.
The Yankees didn’t execute again.
“It’s something everyone is capable of doing,” manager Joe Girardi said. “When you don’t do it, you lose ballgames.”
The Yankees tied it 3-3 in the seventh inning when lefty reliever Ron Mahay walked Damon and Jeter with one out. Then righthander Leo Nuñez came on and Abreu hit a run-scoring single to right-center. Rodriguez hit a very deep sacrifice fly to centerfield.
Andy Pettitte, who owns the Royals, breezed through the first inning, but the Royals touched him in the second inning on a Ross Gload sacrifice fly. They appeared to be poised to add to their lead in the third before the Yankees’ new starting centerfielder Brett Gardner left his stamp on things.
With German on second courtesy of a leadoff double and one out, Aviles singled to center. Just called up Friday to replace Melky Cabrera, who was demoted to Triple-A Scranton, Gardner fired a rope to the plate and gunned down German easily for the second out.
Gardner flashed his speed and glove one batter later when he went back on a line drive off the bat of Teahen, tracking it down for the inning’s final out to leave Aviles stranded at second.
The Royals scored two in the fifth, loading the bases behind Buck’s 0-for-30 skid-snapping ground-rule double, German’s walk and an intentional walk to Aviles. Teahen barely missed a homer, cracking an 0-and-1 pitch that bounced on the warning track in centerfield for a two-run ground-rule double and a 3-0 advantage.
Jeter singled in the first run in the bottom of the fifth for the Yankees, who's time is running out..
“We still have a lot of games left,” Jeter said. “Every game is a must win.”
Pettitte said: “It’s a mental battle. We’re just going to have to battle through it. Ain’t nobody going to feel sorry for us. We’ve won for an awful long time. We’ve got to figure out a way to mentally get through this and keep battling. No matter what happens, keep battling until they officially write us off. Hopefully, that’s going to be a ways away.”