After a frustrating loss in extra innings last night, the Yankees came out this evening and continued their poor play.
David Weathers, who was making his Yankee debut after being acquired at the trade deadline, put the Yankees in a 4-0 hole before he was forced to leave the game in the second inning after being hit by a line drive off the bat of Johnny Damon.
Weathers admitted he was trying too hard to impress his teammates, but also said he needs to keep his team in a position to win. ”Once you do what I did, you feel responsible,” Weathers said. ”I’ll accept the blame. I’ve got to keep the team in the game. I didn’t.” (Via NY Times)
Bob Wickman and Jim Mecir followed, and gave up a combined seven runs. The Yankees offense could only generate three runs over seven innings of Royals starter Doug Linton. Andy Fox grounded out which scored Derek Jeter in the third. Cecil Fielder, Jim Leyritz and Paul O’Neill each hit solo shots to cap the Yankees scoring at four runs.
Manager Joe Torre remained calm, even though his team is now 1-4 on this current road trip and has lost nine of their last 12 road games. ”If I’m going to panic after losing a few games then I don’t believe in these guys,” he said. (Via NY Times)
The Yankees and Royals will play game three of the four game set tomorrow afternoon. Andy Pettitte starts against Jose Rosado
Notes:
- Weathers had his forearm iced after the game. He’s scheduled to make his next start.
- Torre sat down with Bernie Williams, who has struggled since the all-star break (.232 avg).  ”He’s got to stop being so hard on himself,” Torre said (Via NY Times)
Box score and current stats
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E - - - - - - - - - - - - Yankees 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 1 4 6 1 Royals 1 3 0 7 0 0 0 0 X 11 12 0
Batting AB R H RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG Boggs 3B 4 0 0 0 0 0 .311 .389 .394 B.Williams CF 3 0 1 0 0 1 .304 .388 .526 G.Williams CF 1 0 0 0 0 1 .288 .340 .465 ONeill RF 4 1 2 1 0 0 .305 .425 .461 Fielder 1B 4 1 1 1 0 1 .248 .351 .485 Strawberry LF 4 0 0 0 0 1 .218 .337 .385 Aldrete DH 4 0 0 0 0 2 .230 .320 .460 Girardi C 2 0 0 0 0 1 .315 .369 .391 Leyritz C 1 1 1 1 0 0 .246 .338 .357 Jeter SS 2 1 1 0 0 0 .296 .361 .412 Howard 2B 1 0 0 0 0 0 .196 .222 .275 Fox 2B-SS 3 0 0 1 0 0 .203 .289 .270 2B:Williams (14, off D Linton). HR:Fielder (28);Leyritz (5);O'Neill (11) RBI:O'Neill (60);Fox (10);Fielder (82);Leyritz (28)
Pitching IP H R ER BB SO ERA Weathers L (2-3) 1.2 4 4 4 1 1 4.93 Wickman 1.1 4 4 4 2 1 4.46 Mecir 3 3 3 3 2 2 5.52 Nelson 1 1 0 0 0 2 4.24 Polley 1 0 0 0 1 1 6.00