Yankees down to earth again

After a period in which the Yankees were playing some good baseball and were red hot, it seems like they have been cooled off again. In their last seven games, they were outscored 37-22. The team is 4-6 in their last ten games now.

Maybe it doesn’t come as a surprise that they lost two out of three in Kansas City. The team is on top of the AL Central, ten games above .500 and is playing some very good baseball. Those who have been claiming that the Royals’ World Series appearance was a fluke, have been proven wrong by the team.

But can this be used as an excuse? No. Their bats have remained silent over the last seven games. But you cannot say that they were out hit in last night’s game. They collected only one hit less than Kansas City. The Royals were a lot more efficient than the Yankees last night. Except for the solo homerun hit by Salvador Perez in the second inning, off Chris Capuano, the Royals took full advantage of the control issues of Capuano. Capuano gave up two walks to start the fourth inning and then the Royals hit consecutive singles to put two more runs on the board. After Capuano was replaced by Esmil Rogers, the latter was welcomed by Omar Infante with a sharp double to left field that drove in Kendrys Moralez for the 4-0.
Eventually the Royals scored two more runs in the fifth, one thanks to a throwing error by third baseman Chase Headley.

Chris Capuano performed as I expected. Four earned runs in three innings.
The Yankees hitters were totally dominated by Edison Volquez. In seven innings he allowed only three hits and struck out five.

The Yankees will head to DC now to face the Nationals in a two game series. The Nats are 8-2 in their last ten games. Nathan Eovaldi  will face Gio Gonzalez. Both have similar records, so everything is possible IF the Yankees know how to handle their bats.