Gardner's 13th Inning Single Lifts Yanks Past Royals

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9		R	H	E
Kansas City	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0		2	8	3
N.Y. Yankees	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0		3	10	1

	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18		R	H	E
Kansas City	0	0	0	0							2	8	3
N.Y. Yankees	0	0	0	1							3	10	1

Since they won today I will start with the positives, but I have several things to complain about and I will get to that shortly.

The Yankees pitching was great today. Sidney Ponson started and gave the Yankees another good outing. In 6.1 IP he allowed just 2 runs on 7 hits, while walking 2 and striking out 2. With the exception of Damaso Marte who walked the only batter he faced the bullpen was outstanding today. Brian Bruney got out of a bases loaded 1 out jam in the 7th, Jose Veras pitched a scoreless 8th, and Edwar Ramirez pitched scoreless 9th. Mariano Rivera did not give up a run in a tie game, retiring all six batters he faced in the 10th and 11th. And David Robertson pitched two scoreless innings to pick up his 3rd win of the season.

The Yanks trailed the game 2-0 in the 7th, but was helped by 3 Royals errors and were able to tie the game. Robinson Cano drove in one with a RBI triple, and he later scored on a wild pitch.

Brett Gardner had a great day going 3-for-5, and also picked up his second walk-off hit of the season, a single in the 13th to drive in Cano.

Robinson Cano, Derek Jeter and Bobby Abreu also had good days, chipping in with 2 hits each.

OK, now for the problems. The Yankees had the bases loaded with nobody out in the 4th with A-Rod and Jason Giambi coming up, and couldn't score. A-Rod struck out and Jason Giambi grounded into a double play. It may be time to split up these two rally-killers in the lineup.

Brett Gardner led of the 6th with a double, and once again the Yanks were unable to get the run in. This has consistently been a problem for the Yanks this year so it doesn't come as a surprise, but what Joe Girardi did in the 9th does.

It was a tie game and Ivan Rodriguez led off the inning, and got hit by a pitch. Brett Gardner came to the plate and was obviously trying to bunt Pudge over. But for some stupid reason Girardi took the bunt off on the 2-1 pitch and called for a hit and run. Gardner fouled the ball off and with the count now at 2-2 the bunt play was gone. Luckily for the Yanks Gardner was able to work a walk and the Yankees had runners on 1st and 2nd with nobody out with Johnny Damon heading to the plate. Of course Damon is going to bunt, right? Wrong! Girardi has Damon swing away. Why? I have no idea, but he did, and Damon eventually strikes out. The next batter was Derek Jeter, and he bounced into a double play to end the inning. I've been thinking about that inning for over an hour now and I still can't figure out what Girardi was thinking. His excuse in the post game was that Damon didn't feel comfortable bunting. I think that's a load of crap, but that's just me.

	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Damon, DH	6	0	1	0	0	3	5	.316
Jeter, SS	6	0	2	0	0	1	3	.289
Abreu, RF	5	0	2	0	1	2	1	.289
Rodriguez, A, 3B	5	1	0	0	1	2	5	.308
Giambi, 1B	2	0	0	0	1	1	3	.252
1-Ransom, PR-1B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
a-Betemit, PH-1B	1	0	0	0	2	1	2	.261
Nady, LF	5	0	0	0	1	2	6	.325
Cano, 2B	6	2	2	1	0	1	4	.265
Rodriguez, I, C	5	0	0	0	0	0	2	.287
Gardner, CF	5	0	3	1	1	0	0	.176
Totals	46	3	10	2	7	13	31
a-Walked for Ransom in the 8th. 1-Ran for Giambi in the 7th.
BATTING 2B: Gardner (2, Greinke). 3B: Cano (3, Greinke). TB: Damon; Jeter 2; Abreu 2; Cano 4; Gardner 4. RBI: Cano (55), Gardner (8). 2-out RBI: Cano; Gardner. Runners left in scoring position, 2 out: Abreu; Damon; Cano 2; Betemit 2. GIDP: Giambi; Rodriguez, I; Nady; Jeter. Team LOB: 13.

ROYALS OFFENSE

	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Ponson	6.1	7	2	2	2	2	1	4.19
Marte	0.0	0	0	0	1	0	0	4.50
Bruney	0.2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2.60
Veras	1.0	0	0	0	1	1	0	2.72
Ramirez	1.0	1	0	0	0	2	0	3.60
Rivera	2.0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1.64
Robertson (W, 3-0)	2.0	0	0	0	1	1	0	5.48

ROYALS PITCHING

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Brett Gardner (3-for-5, 2B, RBI, BB, GW RBI single in the 13th)

HONORABLE MENTION: Sidney Ponson (6.1 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K)

The Yanks look to win a series for the first time since the series at Fenway at the end of July. Team MVP Mike Mussina gets the start tomorrow and he will face Brian Bannister. First Pitch: 1:05 p.m. - TV: YES - Radio: WCBS 880