There are pages of baseball stats that can be used to show how bad the Kansas City Royals are this season. But, rather than show you them, just trust me when I say they are so bad that they should have Chico’s Bail Bonds printed on the back of their jerseys.

Tonight, the non-striving New York Yankees were defeated by these aforementioned Royals.

By the close of the 1st of June, the Yankees could be in fourth place in the American League East.

As crazy as this might sound, the Yankees next game is “must win.” I hope the Big Unit realizes this as well.

Funny thing happened tonight. Well, I say funny because it’s the most polite thing I can think of now. At 9 pm EST, I tuned away from the game to watch the second half of HBO’s Empire Falls (since I watched the first half last night and wanted to see how it ended.) At that point, the score was 2-2 in the 2nd. When I got back to the game at 10:30, it was in the 7th and the Yankees were down 6-2 (with Obi Wang on the mound). And, I thought to myself “Why did I change the channel to Empire Falls when I could have just stayed on ESPN and seen the Empire Fall?

Actually, I think I can sum up the difference in the Yankees and the Red Sox over the last couple of years in two names: Jason Giambi and David Ortiz. Yankees have the former and the Sox have the latter. And, it’s worse that New York paid gazillions for Jason and Boston found David on the scrap heap. Go figure.

And, if that’s not bad enough, seeing this man (below) pitch into the 9th inning to get the “W” tonight is another kick in the pants.

I wonder how the Yankees will rebound (if they do) from this series?

Same story.

Once again, New York had the Red Sox flat on the ground with their pinstriped boot lodged tightly on the Bostonian’s neck. But, instead of maintaining pressure until the Sox’ life-force faded to black, the Yankees knelt down, pressed their lips on that of their foe, and administrated the kiss of life.

Will this repeated failure to go for the jugular again lead to great despair? Tune in tomorrow.

Then again, maybe I just take this stuff too seriously?

What’s with the theme to Frasier? Here goes: I’m watching the game tonight, and it’s the Cano Show, ya know? And, I’m thinking “This guy is so smooth, he could be the Silver Surfer” and then I thought “He might be the smoothest dude to play in New York since Clyde Frazier.” And, just then Frazier Cano came into my head and right away I realized how close that sounds to “Frasier Crane”………and, then, well, the music started.

Just earlier this week, I heard A-Rod doing an interview on WFAN and Mike Francesa asked Alex about Cano. And, Rodriguez noted that he brings energy to the game, had a great smile, and was very confident. Francesa noted that Cano looked confident at the plate and Alex added that he (Cano) thinks he can hit anyone (and then laughed). Well, tonight, Robinson showed he can hit anyone and hit them in a big game too.

Speaking of hitting, congrats to Gary Sheffield for reaching WARP 7 on that homerun blast tonight. Holy Zefram Cochrane Batman!

Now, time for a true confession. My eyes blurred a little in the beginning of the game, and, I swear, for a moment, when this happened and I was watching the Big Unit pitch, all I could see was Lee Guetterman. But, I’ll give Randy a pass since he said he had extra MPH tonight for the first time in a while and Posada said in the post-game that tonight was the “best I’ve seen him” this season.

And, speaking of Posada, he deserves a tip of the cap for blocking the plate twice in the 6th. There was a time when he would never do this. On the throw from Womack to nail Bellhorn, I think I even saw Jorgie throw his left elbow out there a little too, just for extra measure. Nice.

Anyone else out there say it and then almost do it when they saw Mueller come up to face Mo in the 9th? And, speaking of Mo – boy, the segues are flying tonight – Torre said in the post-game that perhaps both Rivera and Gordon are not available tomorrow. This could be interesting.

If the Yankees losses equal the new number (22) on Cano’s back before they win their 12th game, at least two members of the Yankees braintrust will be fired. Maybe more than two.

Since that time, when New York’s record stood at 11-19, the Yankees have gone 15-2 – - and they still have not registered their 22nd loss of the season. And, with the win this evening, the Yanks now share 2nd place in the AL East (with the Toronto Blue Jays). And, for the cherry on top, the Red Sox (with a loss this evening) presently reside under Team Stein in the standings.

With Boston coming to the Stadium to play three this weekend, it’s always better to be up on them (and use these games as a chance to drive them further away) rather than having to use these games to try and catch up to them.

It’s absolutely incredible how this team has turned it around in less than three weeks.

Speaking of turnarounds, it was also 20 days ago when an entry made here said that it was time for Kevin Brown to pitch better or hit the road.

Since that time, Brown has won four starts in a row, allowing just 6 earned runs in 25 innings pitched. While I still never want to see Kevin starting a Game 7 in the post-season again for New York, if he’s going to pitch like this in the regular season, by all means, he can stick around.

And, how ’bout poor A-Rod? He hits a homerun tonight deep into the Yankees bullpen to give the team the eventual winning lead in the game. The ball was crushed. Nah, it was more than crushed. Today, for us, Mr. Rodriguez served up a very special super-sized dish of piping hot Pureed Rawlings this evening. And, as much as that seems like it should be the lead story here, the bigger picture items in terms of the rebound of Brown and the team in general deserve to have the position here of being in the spotlight, on showcase.

Here’s hoping the next three days brings numerous other positive stories that will have to jockey for top billing in their respective WasWatching.com entries.

Obi Wang, indeed.

Speaking of amazing, what can you say about that Jeter play on Marcus Thames’ pop-up in the 7th? Throw a black jersey on Jeter, put a helmet on Cano with a star on it, and it’s Super Bowl X all over again – with Derek being Lynn Swann pulling in a 53-yarder in the 2nd Quarter (on Mark Washington). Luckily, no one was hurt there.

But, for me, what was most amazing tonight was Torre pulling Jason Albatross, er, I mean Giambi for a pinch-hitter in the 8th with a 2-run led. That, ladies and germs, was an eye-opener. Message to Jason: First they start pinch-hitting for you, and then next you’re a piney. Tick, tick, tick…….

I noticed a lot of smiles on the Yankees today early during the game. This is good. It would be even better if they can keep smiling after the next series too. Fingers crossed.

Boom, Boom, Boom,
Yankees bats were in tune.
They were raking tonight,
and it led to a fight.

Well, sort of – that is. On that stuff in the 7th and 8th, I must say, while three weeks ago I was on Quantrill, I’m now doing the 180 on “Q”. This evening, he won me over. I want him on my team. Good job Paul. Attaboy.

Related, in a roundabout way, this might just be the year that Joe D’s record of most big flies by a RH batter in the ’stripes (46 in 1937) bites the dust. A-Rod is throwing some serious lumber these days. As long as Alex keeps pumping, we’re going to need someone to protect him from teams playing the old “Hit Slugger, Avoid HR, Win Cupie Doll” game.

OK, now, on to one gripe and one less serious comment.

The moan: Giambi comes out of this game in the 5th inning – the first “regular” to be lifted? Huh? Excuse me, but, doesn’t he need ABs? Or, is he already back to form and can use the rest? Yikes.

The happy ending: I finally figured out who Russ Johnson reminds me of – - it’s Bobby Hill. No, not the ballplayer with the Cubs and Pirates. Bobby Hill, the son from King of the Hill – assuming he grew up to be a baseball player. Same body type. Kinda like if Ron Cey and Greg Luzinski had a baby.

PS – anyone notice that the Yankees are 13-6 since Robinson Cano was called up?

Instead of watching the game, I went to see Sparky Lyle’s Somerset Patriots play (with the family of course!). You just cannot beat an experience where you walk up to the ballpark 45 minutes before the first pitch, and can buy four seats that are four rows behind the dugout, for a combined price that is less than the cost of one seat in the Loge at the Stadium. And, just to show support for the boys, our kids were dressed appropriately today:

Could a three and one-year old be dressed any better on a Sunday?

You know, Nettles’ kid plays for the Patriots. Maybe on an off-day, he can come up to the Bronx and give A-Rod a refresher course on manning the hot corner? He seems to need it this year. (No complaints on his batting this season though. This is what I expected.)

On A-Rod, I saw that he called today the biggest regular-season win in his 1½ seasons with the Yankees (according to ESPN.com). Hey, Alex, I still have the stubs and parking lot ticket from 7/1/04. Should I send them to you to make you remember?

Nice to see Pavano get the win today. And, is the Giambi thing over yet? His last 10 ABs have not been impressive – have they? And, you can’t blame them on rust – right? He played 5 days in a row (FT) coming into them.

In closing, I remain, in disrespect of the Mets who behave like Little Leaguers when they’re winning, yours truly,
The laconic commenting Yankeeland zealot

Consider this entry an open mike for anyone who wants to chime in……

For 8 innings tonight, it looked like the Yankees were going to need some luck to stay with them to win this game. What were they, something like, 1 for 15 with RISP through eight (and they still had a lead)? And, the only word to describe Jeter’s all-around play tonight is horrific. (I wonder if his left knee, which he did something to in Seattle while batting, is bothering him?)

But, thanks to a little 9th inning action and a sharp Mo, it’s a “W.” Whew.

Speaking of “Whew!” – am I the only one who was holding his breath to make sure A-Rod was OK after that ugly dive back into 1B in the 9th to avoid being doubled-up? He’s a big man to be throwing his body around like that. That was too close for me.

Lastly, back in Spring Training, I thought that Ruben Sierra looked about 6 months PG. Looking at him tonight, I’d say he’s at least 30 pounds overweight. I’m calling it now – he’ll be back on the DL at least once before the All-Star break. The Yankees better think about getting another back-up OF on the team who is capable with the bat – just in case.