Royal Round-up

His season debut may have been against the Kansas City Royals, but Andy Pettitte’s line was impressive. Pettitte earned his 216th career win in yesterday’s 4-1 Yankees victory. The minor milestone ranks him fourth in wins among all active pitchers. Andy’s sturdy left arm went seven strong with six strikeouts, surrendering a single run and scattering three hits. Pettitte was only tagged for one run, a vast improvement from the last time we saw the ace on the mound. Andy doesn’t have as much pressure this year as he did in 2008. Pettitte is not the best pitcher on the team, and since the expectations are not high, I expect he will do a lot of winning this year. It’s always a good reason to celebrate when Pettitte bests another pitcher. I’m not sold on a Mussina-like comeback year for Andy, but there is no reason he cannot put together 12-15 wins.
New York has put together back-to-back worthwhile pitching performances behind Pettitte and A.J. Burnett. The team has gotten length from both starting pitchers and will need the same from Sabathia, Wang and Chamberlain. Burnett harvested his first win during his rehearsal in pinstripes. Burnett demonstrated his capability of crippling the opposition by beating the Baltimore Orioles. His curveball was effective and he threw down in the zone Thursday. The O’s don’t rate high in most statistical categories, but have a surprisingly superb and underrated crop of clubbers.
Mariano Rivera came in to close out the Royals in his usual unplumbed fashion. Mariano’s method makes pitching look easy and his cut fastball seems as un-hittable as ever. Rivera was never rickety against the Royals. His first save was only really a footnote Friday. Mo discarded two KC hitters in the ninth via the strikeout in his only inning of work. Brian Bruney relieved Pettitte prior to Mariano’s entrance in the game. Brian struck out two batters himself in the eighth inning. Bruney and the other Yankee relievers have not allowed a hit since Monday night’s loss in Baltimore. A tantalizing try from the bullpen is important because it will determine close games.
Posada has been the outstanding outlet the team needs at the plate. Yesterday his two RBIs in the first inning planted the seed early. Nick Swisher, the gritty outfielder, added an RBI and Derek Jeter drove in the final Yankee run. Snappy Swisher was less than crisp in the field. Nick botched a Mike Jacobs fly ball to right-center that allowed Billy Butler to score the Royals’ only run.
The dull, offensively-inept Kansas City Royals had a shortened lineup due to the injury to Jose Guillen. Guillen was recently named the highest paid Royal in history. The cold bats were were obvious yesterday afternoon. Save for Billy Butler and Mike Aviles, the Royals showed no signs of swinging for success. Kansas City is average 10 strikeouts per game over their first four of the year. First baseman, Mike Jacobs, was added to the team this winter. Jacobs smacked 32 taters for the Marlins in 2008. David DeJesus displays muscle and now has to bear the burden of a power spot in the order. The team does not have a guy who can draw walks, so it will be difficult for them to get on base with regularity. Jacobs and Guillen can hit for extra bases, but Kansas City’s scoring opportunities are limited to their subpar sluggers.
The Royals’ few opportunities yesterday resulted in unconverted runs. The lineup was stacked with lefties against the southpaw Andy on the mound. Pettitte was imposing on the young opposing lineup. He commanded and located well, and got 0-2 counts on many of the hitters he faced. The 36 year old got them to chase bad pitches and loft lazy popups for easy outs.
Former Yankees, Sidney Ponson and Kyle Farnsworth, were effective enough on the mound. Along with reliever Jamey Wright, the three held New York to four runs in the newly renovated Kaufmann Stadium opener. Ponson is a notorious groundball pitcher and Farnsworth can throw flames, so the score does not surprise. Robinson Cano has been the hottest hitter in the New York lineup. Joe Girardi expects a big year from his second baseman. Chalky Cano can drive the ball and has been a more selective hitter at the plate. He drew a two-out walk in the top of the fifth inning. Ponson then came back to fan Swisher on a corner slider. KC manager, Trey Hillman, yanked Ponson after the sixth inning and 104 pitches. Farnsworth came in and immediately stamped out three Yankee lefties for a one-two-three seventh. Wright’s eight inning saw him picking off Brett Gardner at first base for the second out. Wright was defensively sound on the mound in tackling a Jeter come backer for the third out.
The Royals rotation is not half-bad with Zack Grienke, Gil Meche, Kyle Davies and Ponson. If they can get any production from their everyday players at the plate, I think they will cause some fits. All are pressure pitchers when they bring their best games to the dirt. Horacio Ramirez is the fifth starter and will take the hill against C.C. Sabathia in game two this evening. The team is young and unproven in the field. On defense, the Royals will miss Guillen because they surely have a deficit in the outfield. Guillen was placed only on the 15-day DL, so they won’t have to go without him for long. Guillen is a head case at times, but will be called upon to convey leadership. Alberto Callaspo, made a mistake when he threw out Hideki Matsui at first instead of tagging Johnny Damon and Aviles misplayed a Cano slap up the middle. Neither were errors, but both could have cut the innings short. It seems like such a long time ago Tony Pena was managing this playoff contending club. Now he sits quietly in the Yankee dugout as bench coach. Pena only gets on the Kauffmann Stadium field to provide the umpire his lineup and shake hands after the game.

Parting points: “With or without you” by U2 is turned up load this morning