Yankees' Offense Gets Shutout Again in Finale Loss to Royals

Shane Greene surrendered no earned runs in five innings and the bullpen followed him by getting the last twelve outs, but since the offense continued to not do anything the Yankees embarrassingly lost to the Royals today, 2-0, in the rubber game at Yankee Stadium.

Because this contest happened on Derek Jeter day, logically, it was expected the Yanks would put up a solid fight, the least they could do to honor the legend's career.

Nonetheless, for the second time in three days their bats couldn't cross home, a fact only made worse by their recurring defensive struggles.

To start off the day of frustration, the aforementioned Greene side-armed a Nori Aoki grounder into right field with two on and two out in the top of the second, bringing Josh Willingham home to give Kansas City an early lead.

Then in the third, following a drop of a routine flyball by Carlos Beltran and a steal, KC circled the bases again to double their advantage, scoring when Eric Hosmer blooped one into shallow right field to drive in Alex Gordon.

On that play, interestingly, Gordon actually stumbled while rounding third, but since Brian McCann failed to realize his doing so the star third basemen did get in easily, a misfortune that summed up the Yankees' day pretty well.

Yankees Showing Interest in OF Josh Willingham

Due to the recent struggles of Ichiro Suzuki, the Yankees are now showing interest in Twins' OF Josh Willingham, CBSSports.com's Jon Heyman reports. 

So far this season, Willingham, 35, has hit just .215 with 10 home runs and 29 RBIs, low numbers possibly caused by the fact he missed 41 games earlier this year with a wrist injury.

Either way, the veteran is only getting paid $7 million in 2014, a price tag lower and more preferable than those of Texas' Alex Rios ($12 million) and Philadelphia's Marlon Byrd ($8 million), two other batters the Yanks have also been linked to. 

Nonetheless, you do have to wonder why this news is coming out right now, especially since New York still hasn't gotten another legitamate starting pitcher.

Yes, they just sent cash to the Rockies for then minor leaguer Chris Capuano, although considering Capuano's not someone who will give them much more than six innings in each outing it's unlikely he's the answer to their problems. 

Remember, whether or not the the injured Michael Pineda and Masahiro Tanaka will return in the next month is currently unknown, something that should make acquiring somebody else before the deadline a main priority. 

Cervelli's Wild Throw, No Offense Spoil Phelps' Great Start

After today's extra inning loss to the Twins, you can't help but feel bad for David Phelps.

The 27-year-old right-hander, now 3-4 with a 4.01 ERA, tossed 7 frames of one-run ball that kept the Yankees in the game, yet ultimately was forced to settle for a no decision due to a lack of offensive support.

To make things even worse, the team he gave his all for in the contest didn't even bother winning, eventually falling in 11 innings to the Twins, 2-1.

In the early stages of the ballgame, Phelps did give up a decent amount of baserunners, but since he always found ways to get out of jams he definitely deserved a W.

From one out in the bottom of the third to the lead-off hitter in the seventh, Phelps was even perfect, an accomplishment ruined by a Josh Willingham home run that tied things at 1. 

Willingham's blast to deep left also took Twins' Starter Yohan Pino (6 IP, ER) off the hook, as the latter had surrendered a two-out, RBI Single to Francisco Cervelli in New York's half of the fifth. 

After Phelps was taken out, the struggling Shawn Kelley was brought in, surprisingly shutting out Minnesota in the eighth and ninth.

Still, the dead Bombers' bats couldn't find a way to bring a run in, eventually putting Matt Thornton in a tough position.

In the bottom of the tenth, the one-out-a-game Thornton faced the minimum three hitters, yet struggled in the next frame, loading the bases with just one out.

At that point, Trevor Plouffe was the batter, dribbling a ball in front of home which Thornton fielded easily.

The veteran, not known for his defense, flipped the ball home to Cervelli, getting a much-needed out that should've allowed the infield to move back for the next guy.

Unfortunately, that wouldn't be the case, as Cervelli would go on to overthrow first on a double play attempt where Plouffe would've been safe anyway. 

So, Minnesota won on a walk-off error, ending the Yanks' two-game winning streak and dropping their record to 43-43, pretty much killing the momentum they had gained over the last two days.

Robertson Surrenders 5 Ninth Inning Runs as Punch-Less Yankees Fall Again to Twins, 7-2

It's contests like today's that really make you question why you love the sport.

The Yankees, though terrible on offense, led 2-1 for pretty much all game, yet surrendered six ninth inning runs in an embarrassing 7-2 loss to the Twins. 

For the first three frames, the Yanks didn't even get a hit off ex-teammate Phil Hughes (Win; 8 IP, 2 ER), yet rallied in the bottom of the fourth thanks to a lead-off triple from Brett Gardner, a pair of singles from Derek Jeter (RBI) and Jacoby Ellsbury, and a go-ahead sac fly from Ichiro.

From then on, the Bombers amazingly didn't even record a base runner, but due to 5 innings of one-run ball from Chase Whitley, a perfect six-out performance from Dellin Betances, and a scorless eighth from Adam Warren they were in good shape.

Or, at least they thought so.

Going into the top of the ninth, there was no reason to doubt that David Robertson would get the job done, a belief that now seems extremely misguided.

On the first pitch Robertson threw in the frame, Minnesota's Josh Willingham tied the contest with a homer to left, #30's second blown save in 14 opportunities this season.

At that point, things didn't look like they could get much worse for Mariano's successor, although they eventually did, as the Twins would tack on five more in the at-bat thanks to an RBI Double from Brian Dozier, a 2-run Double from Eduardo Nunez, and another 2-run hit from Oswaldo Arcia. 

Of those 6 runs, 5 were charged to Robertson, whose ERA has now skyrocketed from the low-twos to a terrible, 4.50.

As for his record, it obviously didn't get any better either, as it is now 0-2 while the team's in games started by Whitley is 3-1.

Three Home Runs Hurt Nuno, Yankees in 6-1 Loss to Twins

After taking two of three from the Cardinals earlier this week, the Yankees looked invincible.

The Bombers, who came into tonight's game against the Twins 4-1 over the last five days, had gotten the injured Mark Teixeira back in their lineup, to go along with a weak opposing starter in Ricky Nolasco.

Still, nothing went their way in the contest, causing them to fall in overall non-competitive fashion, 6-1.

For Yanks Pitcher Vidal Nuno, the game started out well, but with one out in the top of the second things began to fall apart.

At that time, Oswaldo Arcia homered on an 0-2 pitch, giving the Twins an early 1-0 lead.

It wouldn't last long, as Jacoby Ellsbury would tie the game in the bottom of the third with an RBI Double, but from then on it was all Minnesota.

To lead off the fourth, Josh Willingham homered to left-center, immediately followed by a bloop single from Arcia and another, two-run shot to Monument Park from Trevor Plouffe, quickly making it 4-1.

That would be all the Twins would get off Nuno on the night, although it was more than enough, knocking #57 out after 6.2 frames to drop his record to 1-2.

At that point, the game was over, although the Twins weren't quite done scoring yet, knocking in another two late off Preston Claiborne thanks to a duo of RBI Singles from former Yankee Eduardo Nunez and new Catcher Kurt Suzuki. 

Nunez, who was traded from the Bombers to Minnesota back in April, hit eighth and DH'd in this one, unsurprisingly not getting any cheers or jeers when he stepped up to the plate for the first time. Overall, Jeter's former replacement went 1-for-4 in the W, bringing his 2014 batting average down to a low .256.

The Orioles Being Aggressive & We're Standing Pat

As the August waiver trade deadline is drawing to a close I cannot understand what is going on in New York Yankees land. Granted I know that we have a bit of a roster crunch but it discourages me when I see us struggle against teams that we should beat, for example the Toronto Blue Jays, when time is running out on us for a playoff run. It really discourages me when teams in front of us, for example the Baltimore Orioles, are being very aggressive on the waiver wire and trade wire. The Orioles have reportedly put in waiver claims on Mariners 1B/DH Mike Morse, Mariners DH Kendrys Morales, and the Twins outfielder Josh Willingham. Throw on top of that the uncertainty behind Eduardo Nunez and Robinson Cano in the Yankees middle infield and I am just really discouraged, frustrated, and thinking more and more that this may just not be the Yankees year. I will not ever give up on my team as long as we are mathematically still in this thing but I cannot say I feel confident anymore and this upcoming series with the Baltimore Orioles may be the last chance we have at a real playoff run. The Yankees better come out like their backs are against the walls and every game is a must win game because, frankly, that's because it is.