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August 3, 1996: Yankees hit hard, lose to Royals 11-4

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