Yankees 12, Royals 6

This is bad.  This is very bad.

Arod left the game after being hit on the hand.  He did not hit his 600th home run.

The first pitch of every at bat yesterday came up and in.  Kerry Wood Blake Wood was following the same strategy... Was it to make Arod move his feet?  To intimidate him?  The spot they figured he was least likely to hit a homer?

I'll update the post as soon as I hear the extent of Arod's injury.

Update: Sounds like Arod will be ok.  He won't need X-Rays and figures to be ready to play.  He came out of the game because the Yanks were up 5 in the 9th inning.

Joba thoughts after the jump.

Joba was the untouchable part of the recent Haren-to-the-Bronx rumors.  And today, he left even more fans wondering what Brian Cashman sees.

Statistically, Joba has been unlucky this season- he has allowed an abnormally high number of hits based on the number of Line Drives he has allowed.  This kind of luck tends to even out over the course of a season.

But here's his home and away splits for his Batting Average on Balls in Play: .351 Away, .421 Home.  And that's before today's ugly 8th inning.

As I watched light-hitting Scott Podsednik's home run disappear over the short right field fence, I found myself wondering if maybe the problem is Joba in Yankee Stadium.  A power pitching right hander figures to have trouble in Yankee Stadium, where a lefty hitter just has to meet a 95 mph fastball squarely to drive it out. Maybe he can't be successful here.

Pull the trigger Cash.  Keep Nova if you can.  But move Joba out.

Oh, and DFA Chan Ho Park.  Seriously.  /rant