Roll over and play dead

It's that time of the season again, the time when teams who have little left to play for but their pride suddenly become important cogs in the playoff machine. Beth at Cursed & First is annoyed at the Orioles, who seem to be exhibiting a Jekyll and Hyde personality right now.

However, Red Sox Nation will no doubt be delighted to learn that the Kansas City Royals had no intention of being an easy victim for the Yankees last night - with the Yankees leading 3-2 in the fifth inning, the Royals sent 15 runners to the plate, scored 10 runs and ended up winning 17-8. The KC fifth inning play-by-play looked like something out of a horror movie:

-D DeJesus walked.
-A Berroa reached on bunt single to pitcher, D DeJesus to second.
-T Sturtze relieved B Halsey.
-A Nunez reached on bunt single to first, D DeJesus to third, A Berroa to second.
-K Harvey walked, D DeJesus scored, A Berroa to third, A Nunez to second.
-A Berroa scored, A Nunez to third, K Harvey to second on wild pitch by T Sturtze.
-A Nunez scored, K Harvey to third on balk by T Sturtze.
-J Randa grounded out to shortstop.
-M Stairs intentionally walked.
-J Buck homered to left, K Harvey and M Stairs scored.
-D Brown grounded out to second.
-R Gotay singled to left.
-D DeJesus singled to center, R Gotay to third.
-A Berroa singled to right, R Gotay scored, D DeJesus to third.
-B Prinz relieved T Sturtze.
-A Nunez walked, A Berroa to second.
-D DeJesus scored, A Berroa to third, A Nunez to second on wild pitch by B Prinz.
-K Harvey walked.
-J Randa singled to left, A Berroa and A Nunez scored, K Harvey to second.
-C Nitkowski relieved B Prinz.
-M Stairs grounded out to pitcher.

10 runs, 7 hits, 0 errors

Although this wasn't the top end of the Yankees' rotation, Dave Pinto still wonders how well this bodes for the Yankees' chances in the playoffs, and Alex Belth weighs in with a specifically Bronx-focused look at the same problem.