The D train was running slower than Jorge Posada on Sunday and the subway platform was a sauna. I was dripping and uncomfortable. Thankfully when the train finally arrived, it was air conditioned and I cooled off quickly.
I grabbed a couple of beef patties and a ginger beer at “The Feeding Tree” on Gerard Avenue and had a good lunch for under $4. With Al Leiter starting for the Yankees, there was an excellent chance of a late dinner.
I'd e-mailed my extra ticket to my seat neighbor Tom so that he could bring his daughter Charlotte to the game so that she could get the American Doll Yankee road uniform giveaway.
The Yankees scored twice off of Zach Greinke in the first. Hideki Matsui walked, Gary Sheffield singled and the bases were loaded when Jason Giambi drew another free pass. Bernie Williams singled through the infield for a 2-0 Yankees lead.
In the second, Robinson Cano pulled a bonehead play. He was on first when Derek Jeter hit a ground ball, Cano was called safe at second and walked off the field and was tagged out on what was the weirdest double play that I've seen.
Leiter walked Denny Hocking leading off the Royals third. Joe McEwing lined a double to put Royals on second and third. Hocking scored on a ground out by David DeJesus and the lead was cut in half. We winced as Leiter walked the next two batters before getting out of the inning. Once again Leiter was throwing a zillion pitches.
In the Yankees half of the third, Sheffield and Alex Rodriguez singled to bring up Jason Giambi. Giambi, who had been dissed along with hitting Don Mattingly by Bob Raissman in today's Daily News crushed a home run to right center field to extend the Yankee lead to 5-1. The RBIs brought Giambi's career total to 1,000.
Leiter continued to throw lots of pitches but kept the Royals off the scoreboard.
With one down the Yankees fifth, Rodriguez singled again. Giambi followed with a two run blast into the upper deck. One of the guys with a radio told us that was Jason's 1,500th career hit.
Leiter was done after six innings. He only gave up one run on two hits but threw 112 pitches.
The Yankees struck again in the sixth. Jeremy Affeldt who had committed the crucial error in yesterday's game entered to a mock ovation. Jeter greeted him with a single and Matsui doubled. After Sheffield popped out, the Royals elected to intenionally walk Rodriguez to face Giambi with the bases loaded. Jason had a great at bat and smacked a single to give the Yankees a 9-1 lead and tie his career high with seven RBIs. Williams capped the scoring by singling home A Rod.
In the eighth inning, it started to rain. Tanyon Sturtze who had pitched a scoreless seventh walked Chip Ambres and then gave up a home run to Mike Sweeney to make the score 10-3. Tom, his Dad and Charlottte left to go back to Pennsylvania. I moved over to say hello to one of the guys in my row. After I moved over, one of the Royals hit a foul ball to where I had been sitting and probably would have gotten a souvenier.
Alan Embree relieved Sturtze and retired the Royals without further damage.
Felix Rodriguez set down the Royals in the ninth and the Yankees had a sweep of Kansas City.
Al Leiter picked up his fourth win for the Yankees and poor Zach Greinke fell to 3-16.
Jason gave Stacey two belated birthday home runs on one of the memorable days of his career. The remaining Yankee fans gave the team a standing ovation as they head west on their road trip.
Richard Weksberg contributes a review of every Sunday Yankees home game for NYYFans.com. He can be reached at rweksberg -at- yahoo.com
