N.Y. Yankees, Andy Pettitte Beat Royals 4-1

It took them longer than some hoped, but the Yankees got their first win of the season behind A.J. Burnett last night.

Today they hope to keep that going with veteran lefty Andy Pettitte on the mound, who is going up against former Yankee Sidney Ponson.

Here are their numbers from last season:

Pettitte 14-14, 4.54 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 158 K’s, 55 BB’s, 204 innings.

Ponson 8-5, 5.04 ERA, 1.61 WHIP, 58 K’s, 48 BB’s, 135.2 innings.

Lineups:

Yankees

Jeter SS
Damon LF
Teixeira 1B
Matsui DH
Posada C
Cano 2B
Swisher RF
Ransom 3B
Gardner CF

Royals

Crisp CF
Aviles SS
DeJesus LF
Teahen RF
Gordon 3B
Butler DH
Jacobs 1B
Olivio C
Callaspo 2B

If the Yankees win today they will be 2-2 with CC Sabathia going tomorrow. If they can win tonight and get a good start out of Sabathia tomorrow everyone will stop talking about a bad start.

Check back for updates and share your thoughts on today’s game.

Update 4:52: Jorge Posada singles and drives in Johnny Damon and Mark Teixeira. With two-outs, they are threatening with runners on first and third.

Update 5:02: Pettitte looks nasty. Line out, bouncer back to mound, strike out. He said he’s still capable of winning 20. I think he’s got a decent chance to repeat what Mussina did last season. What do you think?

Update 5:09: With some defensive help by third baseman Alex Gordon, Ponson sets the Yankees down in order.

Update 5:18: Swisher drops the ball in right, Royals take advantage and Billy Butler scores from first. 2-1 Yankees. Somehow Mike Jacobs was awarded a double on what would be a routine fly ball on 499 out of 500 attempts.

Pettitte will be credited with an earned run, but that is BS. Outside of a walk to Butler he looked great.

Update 5:28: Teixeira walks, but the rest of the Yankees, Damon, Matsui and Posada, don’t do much. I’m wondering, with two knee surgeries does Matsui have anything left?

Update 5:56: Swisher made up for his blunder in right by doubling home Cano to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead. Swish came around to score on a ground out by Jeter to make it 4-1.

That was in the fourth, in the fifth Teixeira led off with a double and Matsui and Posada struck out looking. I don’t put the blame solely on them though, umpire Rob Drake has a pretty wide strike zone.

Update 6:13: Pettitte gave up a leadoff double to Butler, but he doesn’t get past third. How big will it be if Andy wins 20 this year?

Update 6:17: The Yankees offense has taken the rest of the afternoon off. Fly ball to left, ground out to first and then back to the mound. All this after Ponson struck out the side, all looking, in the fifth.

Update 6:36: Yankees offense still MIA. Kyle Farnsworth just struck out the side.

David Cone also lost his mind last inning as he praised Farnsworth for being one of the more durable pitchers…the same pitcher who couldn’t pitch back-to-back days for nearly two years because of a bad back. Yeah, I’m speechless.

Update: After 99 pitches Pettitte is likely done for the night. His line: 7 innings, 3 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 6 strike outs. Brilliant. His only earned run absolutely should not have been earned. Swisher clearly dropped an easy pop fly to right causing the only run to score. It’s shocking that was not called an error.

Update 7:10: The Yankees fail to add insurance runs in the ninth. Gardner was picked off first base and Jeter was robbed of a base hit when the pitcher Jamey Wright kicked what would have been a ground ball up the middle to Gordon at third who then threw Jeter out.

Update 7:19: Cano’s first mental lapse of the season. He needlessly rushed a throw from second and threw it past Teixeira on what would have been the final out of the game.

Update 7:21: Rivera gets the final out, looked great doing it. That’s his first save of the season and Pettitte’s first win.

Game Notes: Rivera and Pettitte have combined for 56 win-save combinations. Only one other tandem, Bob Welch and Dennis Eckersley, had more with 57.

Ignoring opening day the Yankees bullpen has 10 scoreless innings. When Rivera gave up a  hit in the ninth today, another play that should have been ruled an error (this official scorer sucks), it broke a streak of 9.2 hit-less innings by the pen over three games.

Players of the Game:

1. Andy Pettitte

2. Robinson Cano - 2-for-3 with a walk. That’s four in four games for him. Wow.

3. Jorge Posada - for his 2-RBI double and the fact that he’s started in three of the first four games and looks healthy doing it.