Game 8 Liveblog: Yankees at Royals

First Inning

• Robinson Cano swung and missed a pitch in the dirt to strike out.
• Bobby Abreu, coming off of a 3-3 night last night, grounded into a double play, making Johnny Damon's lead off walk useless.

• Joey Gathright is in to lead off. Phil Hughes' velocity has been a major topic of discussion so far, so keep on the lookout for that. Gathright hits a single to center field to start the Royals' threat.
• Hughes hit 91 m.p.h. on his fastball to Mark Grudzielanek according to the YES gun. Gathright, who is extremely fast, stole second base on a pitch out. This is his third steal of the season. Jorge Posada's throw bounced into to Cano. Grudzielanek grounds to short on a hanging breaking ball. Gathright took off on the pitch and advanced to third easily.
• Mark Teahen doubles into the left field gap between Damon and Melky Cabrera to score Gathright. 1-0 Royals.
• Jose Guillen is up. Hughes is consistently hitting only 91 m.p.h. with his fastball. Guillen pops out to Betemit for the second out of the inning.
• Billy Butler strikes out on a 2-2 fastball at the knees.

Second Inning

• Alex Rodriguez strikes out looking on a pitch that may have been inside.
• Hideki Matsui is making Bannister work. He has fouled off a few pitches in a row, working the count full. He hits a ball down the first base line that was fielded by a diving Ross Gload for the second out.
• Posada singles to right to keep the Yankees' at-bat going.
• Jason Giambi walks on a full count, so it's first and second with two out. Great, Posada and Giambi on the basepaths.
• Wilson Betemit singles to right, barely scoring Posada, who, for some reason, didn't slide. 1-1. Posada was running like it was in slow motion. Giambi and Betemit each took an extra base on the throw.
• Cabrera walks on four-straight pitches to load the bases with two out.
• Damon has six career grand slams. He works the count to 2-0, as Bannister has thrown six-straight balls. 3-0 count now. Bannister gets a strike call on a pitch that could've easily been called outside. Now Damon fouls off a pitch to make it a full count. Bannister throws a pitch low for the bases loaded walk. 2-1 Yankees.
• Girardi is unhappy with the umpire's strike zone. Cano was a few inches away from a double, barely rolling the ball foul. He now works the count full. Ron Mahay is warming in the Royals' bullpen. Cano strikes out swinging to end the inning.
• Hughes was sitting for a while. Hopefully the long layoff won't affect him.

• Alex Gordon singles to right, but Abreu misplayed it, allowing him to take second. Abreu took his eye off the ball and was getting ready to throw before he ever had it.
• Gload grounds out to Giambi. He had to flip to Hughes who barely beat Gload to the bag for the out. Gordon advances to third with one out. Let's see if the Royals are better at hitting sac flies than the Yankees are.
  
• John Buck does indeed hit a sac fly. He flew to Cabrera in medium-center and he made a good throw but was too far away to make it close. 2-2.
• Tony Pena Jr. is making Hughes work. He eventually draws a walk on a 3-2 curveball - the ninth pitch of the at-bat. The ball was slightly low, apparently. Girardi does not look pleased.
• With Gathright batting, Pena Jr. steals second. He would have been tagged out, but Betemit dropped the ball. Gathright gets hit by a breaking ball, putting two runners on for the Royals with two out.
• Grudzielanek walks on four-straight pitches, as pitching coach Dave Eiland comes out to visit Hughes. This is his second walk of the inning and now the bases are loaded.
• Teahen couldn't check his swing on a 3-2 pitch to end the inning. Hughes has thrown 56 pitches through only two innings of work.

Third Inning

• Bannister begins the inning at 54 pitches. Abreu singles to center to start things off.
• Rodriguez strikes out looking for the second time this game. Rodriguez was unhappy, but the pitch was right at the knees and may have caught the outside corner.
• Matsui lines a pitch to center and it falls in right in front of Gathright. It is now first and second with out one.
• Posada flies out to deep center. Abreu tags and takes third base, while Matsui stays at first.
• Giambi grounds out weakly to second to end the inning.

• Guillen pops out to Cabrera for the first out. It only took two pitches to retire Guillen, and that's exactly what Hughes needs if he wants to be around long this afternoon.
• Butler lines a pitch to center for a one-out single. It looked like it may have been headed for the gap, but Cabrera hustled over to cut it off.
• Gordon hits a slow grounder to Cano, advancing Butler to second. The ball just seemed to die on the infield grass.
• Gload walks on a 3-2 pitch. I guess Hughes wants to labor each inning. I'd be surprised if he makes it through five.
• Buck works the count to 3-0 and then fouls off a pitch. Buck walks to load the bases. Hughes has thrown 22 pitches this inning and this is his fourth walk of the game. He is at 78 pitches and he still needs to get the third out of the inning.
• Pena Jr. hits a line drive to center than hung up just long enough for Cabrera to make a shoe-string catch to end the inning. Hughes left the breaking ball hanging and got very lucky.

Fourth Inning

This is a painfully long game so far.

• Betemit strikes out for the first out of the inning. The ball was down the middle and Betemit swung over it.
• Cabrera fouls out to the catcher for the second out.
• Damon is up now. He has two walks and an RBI. Damon singles to center on the third pitch of the at-bat. He's been swinging a much better bat these last few games.
• Cano hits a hard grounder to second that was fielded nicely by Grudzielanek. Despite allowing the single, these was by far the easiest inning for Bannister.

• Gathright slaps a single to left to lead things off for the Royals.
• Gathright steals another base on a pitch out. He ran into Betemit during the throw. Posada is now 0-6 in throwing out baserunners thus far. Gathright now stole third base with no throw. Grudzielanek lines a single to right to score Gathright. 3-2 Royals.
• That's it for Hughes. He only pitched 3+ innings and threw 87 pitches. Not good at all. Ross Ohlendorf is in now.

I'm going to call it a liveblogging day for now. This game is going on and on and I don't have too much energy left. I'll be back later with the game recap.