GAME THREAD: GAME THREAD: AL: KANSAS CITY (48-61) at NY YANKEES (60-50)

AL: KANSAS CITY at NY YANKEES

<div class="pre">AL FINAL
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
- - - - - - - - - - - -
KANSAS CITY 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 1 0 5 12 0
NY YANKEES 0 4 1 1 0 2 0 0 x 8 8 1 (FINAL)

BATTERIES: KAN - GIL MECHE, LEO NUNEZ (5TH) AND JOHN BUCK

NYY - MIKE MUSSINA, BRIAN BRUNEY (7TH), MIKE MYERS
(7TH), MARIANO RIVERA (8TH) AND JORGE POSADA


WP - MIKE MUSSINA (7-7)
LP - GIL MECHE (7-9)
SAVE - MARIANO RIVERA (17)

HOME RUNS: KAN - ROSS GLOAD (4) OFF MIKE MUSSINA IN THE 6TH, 1 ON

NYY - HIDEKI MATSUI (22) OFF GIL MECHE IN THE 3RD, 0 ON
MELKY CABRERA (7) OFF LEO NUNEZ IN THE 6TH, 0 ON


TIME: 3:15 ATT: 54,525

PROBABLES: NYY - ANDY PETTITTE (7-7, 3.97)
TOR - JESSE LITSCH (4-4, 3.47)

PROBABLES: MIN - BOOF BONSER (5-7, 4.61)
KAN - BRIAN BANNISTER (7-6, 3.45)</div>

 

AL: KANSAS CITY at NY YANKEES

<div class="pre">KANSAS CITY (5) VS NY YANKEES (8) - FINAL

KANSAS CITY ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
D DeJesus cf 4 1 0 0 1 0 0 .283
E German 2b 5 1 3 0 0 1 0 .286
M Teahen rf 5 0 2 1 0 0 3 .284
E Brown dh 3 1 0 0 0 0 2 .233
R Gload 1b 4 1 2 2 0 0 0 .295
A Gordon 3b 4 0 1 0 0 1 1 .240
J Buck c 3 1 0 0 1 2 2 .231
J Gathright lf 4 0 4 1 0 0 0 .352
T Pena Jr ss 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 .277
a-J Smith ph-ss 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 .219

Totals 36 5 12 4 2 4 12

a-flied out to center for T Pena Jr in the 8th.

BATTING: 2B - R Gload (15, M Mussina). HR - R Gload (4, 6th inning off M
Mussina 1 on, 2 Out). RBI - R Gload 2 (36), M Teahen (47), J Gathright (10).
2-out RBI - R Gload 2, M Teahen, J Gathright. Runners left in scoring position,
2 out - E Brown 1, J Buck 1, M Teahen 1. GIDP - T Pena Jr 2, M Teahen. Team LOB
- 7.


NY YANKEES ab r h rbi bb so lob avg
M Cabrera cf 5 2 2 2 0 1 0 .292
D Jeter ss 2 2 1 1 2 1 0 .330
B Abreu rf 4 0 3 2 1 0 1 .286
A Rodriguez dh 4 0 0 1 0 2 7 .298
H Matsui lf 3 1 1 2 0 0 2 .294
J Posada c 2 0 0 0 2 0 1 .338
R Cano 2b 3 1 0 0 1 0 2 .309
W Betemit 3b 4 1 1 0 0 2 2 .500
A Phillips 1b 3 1 0 0 1 0 2 .300

Totals 30 8 8 8 7 6 17

BATTING: HR - H Matsui (22, 3rd inning off G Meche 0 on, 0 Out), M Cabrera (7,
6th inning off L Nunez 0 on, 0 Out). SF - A Rodriguez , H Matsui. RBI - M
Cabrera 2 (48), D Jeter (52), B Abreu 2 (70), H Matsui 2 (78), A Rodriguez
(109). 2-out RBI - M Cabrera, D Jeter, B Abreu 2. Runners left in scoring
position, 2 out - A Rodriguez 1. Team LOB - 8.

BASERUNNING: SB - D Jeter (12, 2nd base off L Nunez/J Buck).

FIELDING: E - M Cabrera (2, bobble). DP: 3 (W Betemit-R Cano-A Phillips 2, A
Phillips-D Jeter-A Phillips).


----------------------------------------------------
KANSAS CITY - 000 002 210 -- 5
NY YANKEES - 041 102 00x -- 8
----------------------------------------------------

KANSAS CITY ip h r er bb so hr era
G Meche (L, 7-9) 4 6 6 6 5 2 1 3.96
L Nunez 4 2 2 2 2 4 1 1.93

NY YANKEES ip h r er bb so hr era
M Mussina (W, 7-7) 6 9 2 2 0 3 1 4.66
B Bruney 2/3 1 2 1 1 0 0 3.40
M Myers 1 2 1 1 1 0 0 2.66
M Rivera (S, 17) 1 1/3 0 0 0 0 1 0 2.89

G Meche pitched to 1 batter in the 5th.
M Mussina pitched to 1 batter in the 7th.

HBP - D Jeter (by G Meche); E Brown (by M Mussina). Pitches-strikes: G Meche
91-51; L Nunez 57-38; M Mussina 98-62; B Bruney 7-3; M Myers 28-15; M Rivera
11-9. Ground balls-fly balls: G Meche 1-9; L Nunez 2-6; M Mussina 9-6; B Bruney
2-0; M Myers 1-2; M Rivera 2-1. Batters faced: G Meche 24; L Nunez 16; M
Mussina 26; B Bruney 3; M Myers 6; M Rivera 4.

UMPIRES: HP--Adam Dowdy. 1B--Gary Darling. 2B--Larry Poncino. 3B--Jerry
Meals.

T--3:15. Att--54,525.
Weather: 80 degrees, sunny. Wind: 8 mph, in from
left.</div>

 

Mussina sharp as Yanks complete sweep of Royals

<h3>NY YANKEES 8, KANSAS CITY 5</h3>BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- At one point, the New Yankees hadtrouble scoring in support of Mike Mussina. Now they pile upruns no matter who is on the mound.


Mussina pitched effectively into the seventh inning and BobbyAbreu had a two-run single to cap a four-run second as theYankees completed a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royalswith an 8-5 victory.


Hideki Matsui hit his 100th major league home run for theYankees, one day after teammate Alex Rodriguez became theyoungest player to reach 500 career homers. Rodriguez was givena break from the field and was 0-for-4 with a sacrifice fly asthe designated hitter.


Melky Cabrera also homered for the Yankees, who have won six oftheir last seven games and scored an eye-poping 74 runs in thatspan while continuing to feast on the lower tier of the AmericanLeague.


The Yankees played their 25th straight game against teams withlosing records and are 18-7 in those games. They open a roadtrip at Toronto on Monday.


Even with ace righthander Gil Meche on the mound, Yankee Stadiumcontinued to be a house of horrors for the Royals, who lost forthe 19th time in their last 20 games at the famed facility.

Meche (7-9) lasted just one batter into the fifth inning andallowed six runs and six hits.


Mussina (7-7) won his third straight start, allowing two runsand nine hits before leaving after allowing a leadoff single inthe seventh. He did not walk a batter and struck out three.

After a shaky performance by Mike Myers, Mariano Rivera, thefourth Yankee pitcher, recorded the final four outs for his 17thsave.


Ross Gload hit a two-run home run in the sixth and JoeyGathright had four hits for Kansas City. But the Royals hit intothree double plays and lost for the fifth time in six games.

In a span from late June to early July, the Yankees scored nomore than two runs in four straight starts by Mussina. New Yorkhowever, has scored 42 runs in his last five starts, including31 in his last three.


After recording two quick outs in the second, Meche walked twoof the next three batters sandwiched around a single to WilsonBetemit. Cabrera sliced a single to left field to bring home thefirst run of the game and extend his hitting streak to 11games.


Meche walked Derek Jeter to force home another run before Abreulined a two-run single to center field to go give New York a 4-0lead.


Matsui hit his 22nd homer of the season to lead off the thirdand increase the lead to 5-0.


Rodriguez hit a sacrifice fly in the fourth to make it 6-0.

After Gload's homer cut the deficit to 6-2, the Yankees scoredtwice off Leo Nunez in the bottom of the sixth on a leadoff homerun by Cabrera and a sacrifice fly by Matsui.


Mark Teahan had an RBI single off Myers in the seventh with asecond run scoring on an error by Cabrera in center field.

Myers left with two runners on in the eighth before Rivera gotpinch hitter Jason Smith to fly out to end the inning.

David DeJesus of the Royals was 0-for-4, ending his hittingstreak at 13 games

 

AL: KANSAS CITY at NY YANKEES

<div class="pre">** CONFIRMED **
AL
KANSAS CITY 5
NY YANKEES 8 FINAL</div>

 

AL: KANSAS CITY at NY YANKEES

<div class="pre">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
KANSAS CITY (5) AT NY YANKEES (8) - HOW THEY SCORED
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NY YANKEES 2ND: H Matsui grounded out to first. J Posada flied out to
center. R Cano walked. W Betemit singled to left, R Cano to second.
A Phillips walked, R Cano to third, W Betemit to second. M Cabrera singled
to left, R Cano scored, W Betemit to third, A Phillips to second. D Jeter
walked, W Betemit scored, A Phillips to third, M Cabrera to second. B Abreu
singled to center, A Phillips and M Cabrera scored, D Jeter to third.
A Rodriguez flied out to right. (4 Runs, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 0,
NY YANKEES 4.

NY YANKEES 3RD: H Matsui homered to right. J Posada walked. R Cano lined
out to second. W Betemit flied out to center. A Phillips lined out to center.
(1 Run, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 0, NY YANKEES 5.

NY YANKEES 4TH: M Cabrera struck out swinging. D Jeter hit by pitch.
B Abreu singled to right, D Jeter to third. A Rodriguez hit sacrifice fly to
center, D Jeter scored. H Matsui flied out to right. (1 Run, 1 Hit, 0 Errors)
KANSAS CITY 0, NY YANKEES 6.

KANSAS CITY 6TH: E German singled to center. M Teahen grounded into double
play, first to shortstop to first, E German out at second. E Brown hit by
pitch. R Gload homered to right, E Brown scored. A Gordon singled to right
center. J Buck struck out swinging. (2 Runs, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 2,
NY YANKEES 6.

NY YANKEES 6TH: M Cabrera homered to right. D Jeter walked. D Jeter stole
second. B Abreu singled to right, D Jeter to third. A Rodriguez struck out
swinging. H Matsui hit sacrifice fly to right, D Jeter scored. J Posada flied
out to left. (2 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 2, NY YANKEES 8.

KANSAS CITY 7TH: J Gathright singled to left. B Bruney relieved M Mussina.
T Pena Jr grounded into double play, third to second to first, J Gathright out
at second. D DeJesus walked. E German singled to center, D DeJesus to second.
M Myers relieved B Bruney. M Teahen singled to center, D DeJesus scored,
E German to second, E German scored, M Teahen to second on error by center
fielder M Cabrera. E Brown grounded out to pitcher. (2 Runs, 3 Hits, 1 Error)
KANSAS CITY 4, NY YANKEES 8.

KANSAS CITY 8TH: R Gload lined out to shortstop. A Gordon flied out to
left. J Buck walked. J Buck to second on fielder's indifference. J Gathright
singled to center, J Buck scored. M Rivera relieved M Myers. J Smith hit for
T Pena Jr. J Smith flied out to center. (1 Run, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 5,
NY YANKEES 8.</div>

 

AL: KANSAS CITY at NY YANKEES

<div class="pre">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
KANSAS CITY (5) AT NY YANKEES (8) - EVENT LOG
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kansas City Starting Lineups -- D DeJesus CF, E German 2B, M Teahen RF, E Brown DH,
R Gload 1B, A Gordon 3B, J Buck C, J Gathright LF, T Pena Jr SS, G Meche RHP.

Ny Yankees Starting Lineups -- M Cabrera CF, D Jeter SS, B Abreu RF,
A Rodriguez DH, H Matsui LF, J Posada C, R Cano 2B, W Betemit 3B, A Phillips
1B, M Mussina RHP.

Umpires -- Adam Dowdy (HP), Gary Darling (1B), Larry Poncino (2B), Jerry Meals (3B).

Gametime Weather: 80 degrees, Sunny, wind in from left at 8 mph.


KANSAS CITY 1ST: D DeJesus flied out to right. E German bunt grounded out
to pitcher. M Teahen singled to center. E Brown grounded into fielder's
choice to shortstop, M Teahen out at second. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors)
KANSAS CITY 0, NY YANKEES 0.

NY YANKEES 1ST: M Cabrera fouled out to left. D Jeter singled to center.
B Abreu flied out to right. A Rodriguez struck out swinging. (0 Runs, 1 Hit,
0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 0, NY YANKEES 0.

KANSAS CITY 2ND: R Gload flied out to left. A Gordon struck out looking.
J Buck flied out to right. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 0,
NY YANKEES 0.

NY YANKEES 2ND: H Matsui grounded out to first. J Posada flied out to
center. R Cano walked. W Betemit singled to left, R Cano to second.
A Phillips walked, R Cano to third, W Betemit to second. M Cabrera singled
to left, R Cano scored, W Betemit to third, A Phillips to second. D Jeter
walked, W Betemit scored, A Phillips to third, M Cabrera to second. B Abreu
singled to center, A Phillips and M Cabrera scored, D Jeter to third.
A Rodriguez flied out to right. (4 Runs, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 0,
NY YANKEES 4.

KANSAS CITY 3RD: J Gathright reached on infield single to shortstop.
T Pena Jr popped out to shortstop. D DeJesus grounded out to shortstop,
J Gathright to second. E German singled to right, J Gathright to third.
M Teahen flied out to center. (0 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 0,
NY YANKEES 4.

NY YANKEES 3RD: H Matsui homered to right. J Posada walked. R Cano lined
out to second. W Betemit flied out to center. A Phillips lined out to center.
(1 Run, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 0, NY YANKEES 5.

KANSAS CITY 4TH: E Brown grounded out to third. R Gload doubled to left.
A Gordon flied out to center. J Buck struck out looking. (0 Runs, 1 Hit,
0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 0, NY YANKEES 5.

NY YANKEES 4TH: M Cabrera struck out swinging. D Jeter hit by pitch.
B Abreu singled to right, D Jeter to third. A Rodriguez hit sacrifice fly
to center, D Jeter scored. H Matsui flied out to right. (1 Run, 1 Hit,
0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 0, NY YANKEES 6.

KANSAS CITY 5TH: J Gathright reached on infield single to second. T Pena Jr
grounded into double play, third to second to first, J Gathright out at second.
D DeJesus grounded out to third. (0 Runs, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 0,
NY YANKEES 6.

NY YANKEES 5TH: J Posada walked. L Nunez relieved G Meche. R Cano popped
out to second. W Betemit struck out swinging. A Phillips grounded out to
third. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 0, NY YANKEES 6.

KANSAS CITY 6TH: E German singled to center. M Teahen grounded into double
play, first to shortstop to first, E German out at second. E Brown hit by
pitch. R Gload homered to right, E Brown scored. A Gordon singled to right
center. J Buck struck out swinging. (2 Runs, 3 Hits, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 2,
NY YANKEES 6.

NY YANKEES 6TH: M Cabrera homered to right. D Jeter walked. D Jeter stole
second. B Abreu singled to right, D Jeter to third. A Rodriguez struck out
swinging. H Matsui hit sacrifice fly to right, D Jeter scored. J Posada flied
out to left. (2 Runs, 2 Hits, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 2, NY YANKEES 8.

KANSAS CITY 7TH: J Gathright singled to left. B Bruney relieved M Mussina.
T Pena Jr grounded into double play, third to second to first, J Gathright out
at second. D DeJesus walked. E German singled to center, D DeJesus to second.
M Myers relieved B Bruney. M Teahen singled to center, D DeJesus scored,
E German to second, E German scored, M Teahen to second on error by center
fielder M Cabrera. E Brown grounded out to pitcher. (2 Runs, 3 Hits, 1 Error)
KANSAS CITY 4, NY YANKEES 8.

NY YANKEES 7TH: R Cano flied out to center. W Betemit struck out looking.
A Phillips flied out to center. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 4,
NY YANKEES 8.

KANSAS CITY 8TH: R Gload lined out to shortstop. A Gordon flied out to
left. J Buck walked. J Buck to second on fielder's indifference. J Gathright
singled to center, J Buck scored. M Rivera relieved M Myers. J Smith hit for
T Pena Jr. J Smith flied out to center. (1 Run, 1 Hit, 0 Errors) KANSAS CITY 5,
NY YANKEES 8.

NY YANKEES 8TH: J Smith at shortstop. M Cabrera popped out to shortstop.
D Jeter struck out looking. B Abreu walked. A Rodriguez grounded into
fielder's choice to shortstop, B Abreu out at second. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors)
KANSAS CITY 5, NY YANKEES 8.

KANSAS CITY 9TH: D DeJesus grounded out to pitcher. E German struck
out swinging. M Teahen grounded out to third. (0 Runs, 0 Hits, 0 Errors)
KANSAS CITY 5, NY YANKEES 8.</div>

 

Mussina sharp as Yanks complete sweep of Royals

<h3>NY YANKEES 8, KANSAS CITY 5</h3>BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- At one point, the New Yankees hadtrouble scoring in support of Mike Mussina. Now they pile upruns no matter who is on the mound.


Mussina pitched effectively into the seventh inning and BobbyAbreu had a two-run single to cap a four-run second as theYankees completed a three-game sweep of the Kansas City Royalswith an 8-5 victory.


Hideki Matsui hit his 100th major league home run for theYankees, one day after teammate Alex Rodriguez became theyoungest player to reach 500 career homers. Rodriguez was givena break from the field and was 0-for-4 with a sacrifice fly asthe designated hitter.


Melky Cabrera also homered for the Yankees, who have won six oftheir last seven games and scored an eye-poping 74 runs in thatspan while continuing to feast on the lower tier of the AmericanLeague.


"We're just swinging the bats well. It's contagious," shortstopDerek Jeter said. "When you do that, you score runs in bunches."

The Yankees played their 25th straight game against teams withlosing records and are 18-7 in those games. They open a roadtrip at Toronto on Monday.


"I'm not concerned with who we play. It's how we play," managerJoe Torre said.


Even with ace righthander Gil Meche on the mound, Yankee Stadiumcontinued to be a house of horrors for the Royals, who lost forthe 19th time in their last 20 games at the famed facility.

"(The Yankees) seem to be locked in on everyone," Royals managerBuddy Bell said. "I'm just glad to be getting out of here now.

Meche (7-9) lasted just one batter into the fifth inning andallowed six runs and six hits.


Mussina (7-7) won his third straight start, allowing two runsand nine hits before leaving after allowing a leadoff single inthe seventh. He did not walk a batter and struck out three.

"When we're playing like this, you know as a starter that if youcome in and put up a couple of zeroes our offense will startclicking," Mussina said. "We're doing the things we need to doto win games."


After a shaky performance by Mike Myers, Mariano Rivera, thefourth Yankee pitcher, recorded the final four outs for his 17thsave and first since July 18.


Ross Gload hit a two-run home run in the sixth and JoeyGathright had four hits for Kansas City. But the Royals hitinto three double plays and lost for the fifth time in sixgames.


Meche lost his third straight start.


"Today I couldn't get ahead of anyone," Meche said. "The ballwasn't coming out of my hand the way I wanted it to."

In a span from late June to early July, the Yankees scored nomore than two runs in four straight starts by Mussina. New Yorkhowever, has scored 42 runs in his last five starts, including31 in his last three.


After recording two quick outs in the second, Meche walked twoof the next three batters sandwiched around a single to WilsonBetemit. Cabrera sliced a single to left field to bring home thefirst run of the game and extend his hitting streak to 11games.


Meche walked Jeter to force home another run before Abreu lineda two-run single to center field to go give New York a 4-0 lead.

Matsui hit his 22nd homer of the season to lead off the thirdand increase the lead to 5-0.


"I'm just happy to able to reach (100 homers)," Matsui saidthrough an interpreter. "I just continue to make adjustments."

Rodriguez lofted a sacrifice fly in the fourth to make it 6-0.

After Gload's homer cut the deficit to 6-2, the Yankees scoredtwice off Leo Nunez in the bottom of the sixth on a leadoff homerun by Cabrera and a sacrifice fly by Matsui.


Mark Teahan had an RBI single off Myers in the seventh with asecond run scoring on an error by Cabrera in center field.

Myers left with two runners on in the eighth before Rivera gotpinch hitter Jason Smith to fly out to end the inning.

David DeJesus of the Royals went 0-for-4, ending his hittingstreak at 13 games