KANSAS CITY, Mo. Julius Thomas Jersey . -- Manager Joe Girardi will have an extra day to contemplate ways to ignite the Yankees lineup. New Yorks game Monday night against the Kansas City Royals was postponed about two hours before the scheduled first pitch because of rain. The game will be made up on Aug. 25 at a time to be determined. Now, the Bronx Bombers will take their slingshot offence to Seattle and Oakland to continue what has already been a disappointing trip. The Yankees won the opener against Kansas City 4-2, but then struggled again to score runs in an 8-4 loss on Saturday and a 2-1 defeat Sunday. "The one thing you cant do is you cant necessarily change everything," Girardi said. "You look at what guys have done in the past, you look at what guys are doing this year, and you try to piece together what you feel is the best lineup every day. "Weve struggled the last three or four weeks scoring runs. We know we need to score more," he continued, "but guys are going through a time. You just have to ride it out a little bit." The Yankees, in the bottom half of the league in several offensive categories, have failed to score more than four runs each of their past 10 games, winning just three times in that stretch. "You are usually not as bad as you look when things are going bad," said Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, who was 0 for 4 on Sunday. "Its like youre usually not as good as you look when things are going good. But weve got to turn it around." Dazzling import Masahiro Tanaka flew ahead to Seattle in anticipation of starting Tuesday, but Girardi said he plans to push everybody in his rotation back a day. That means left-hander Vidal Nuno will start the opener against the Mariners and Tanaka will pitch Wednesday. Royals manager Ned Yost also plans to slide his rotation back one day. Left-hander Jason Vargas will now start the opener of a two-game series Tuesday against Cleveland, with right-hander Yordano Ventura on the mound Wednesday. The Royals are off on Thursday. If theres any team that can commiserate with the Yankees popgun offence, it just may be the Royals, who are in the bottom third of the league in scoring and last in home runs. There have been signs the last couple weeks that Kansas City is starting to come out of its early season funk, though, and that resurgence has roughly coincided with some changes to the coaching staff when the team was in Toronto. Pedro Grifol was removed as the hitting coach and the job given to Dale Sveum, who once helped to tutor Milwaukees young power hitters. "Theyve done a better job with their approach, getting pitches up, putting good swings on them. When you have a team you believe in theres a point where its going to click somewhere," Yost said. "Maybe it clicked in Toronto, I dont know." Since leaving Toronto, the Royals have won five of their last seven games. Twice theyve piled up eight runs, which matched the third-most theyve scored in any game all season. NOTES: The Royals optioned RHP Wilking Rodriguez to Triple-A Omaha and recalled LHP Donnie Joseph, who spent time with the club in April but did not appear in a game. ... Girardi had planned to give CF Jacoby Ellsbury the day off after he reported some soreness in his hip. But the manager expected Ellsbury to play in Seattle. "Were not concerned about it," Girardi said. ... Yankees 1B Mark Teixeira was penciled into the lineup before the rainout. He was held out of the lineup Sunday because of a sore wrist but pinch hit in the ninth inning. Demaryius Thomas Jersey . Madrid lost Cristiano Ronaldo to injury early in the match and failed to create any clear scoring chances after the Portugal forwards exit. His team now trails city and Champions League final rival Atletico Madrid by four points with two games to play. Rahim Moore Elite Jersey . -- Peyton Manning will have all of his wide receivers available for the first time in a month when the Denver Broncos begin their playoff run Jan. BARCELONA, Spain -- Atletico Madrid moved one step closer to its first Spanish league title in 18 years on Sunday with a 1-0 victory at Valencia, while Lionel Messi completed an emotional 3-2 comeback win for Barcelona at Villarreal two days after the death of former coach Tito Vilanova. Atletico midfielder Raul Garcia scored with an impressive header in the 43rd minute, and its defence did the rest as it gave Valencia no chance to rally at its Mestalla Stadium. Diego Simeones side moved six points clear of Real Madrid, which has a game in hand, while Barcelona remained within four points after coming from two goals down to beat Villarreal in its first game since the death of Vilanova. Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets wept as the two teams gathered at the centre circle before kickoff at El Madrigal Stadium to observe a minutes of silence for Vilanova, who died on Friday after a battle with cancer, having led Barcelona to the league title last season. Vilanova was honoured similarly across Spains first division this weekend. Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta said his team had been "very affected" by Vilanovas death, who was honoured this weekend by more than 50,000 people who attended a memorial site at Camp Nou. "It has touched all of us," Iniesta said. "I will take with me the example he set for us, both when he was with us and after." Ruben "Cani" Gracia and Manuel Trigueros scored from counterattacks for Villarreal to go 2-0 up by the 55th minute. But Villarreal then self-destructed with own goals by Gabriel Armando in the 65th and Mateo Musacchio in the 78th, both redirecting passes by Dani Alves into their teams net. Messi finally beat goalie Sergio Asenjo after Busquets and Cesc Fabregas combined to set the forward up to net his 27th league goal of the campaign and reach the 40-goal mark in all competitions for the fifth straight season. Earlier, Garcias ninth goal of the league season kept Atletico on course for its first league title since 1996. With a better head-to-head record against Madrid, Atletico can clinch the domestic crown by winnning two of its remaining three games. Terrance Knighton Jersey For Sale. It first plays at Levante, then hosts Malaga, and finally travels to Barcelona. "We have two very powerful teams behind us that will surely win all their games and we cant relax for even one day," Simeone said. "I ask my team to go forward with the same sense of calm knowing the importance of each result." Atletico can now focus on the Champions League semifinals as it travels to Chelsea on Wednesday after a 0-0 draw in the first leg. Again, Atletico snuffed out their opponents attack for a ninth straight victory. The pacesetters have only conceded one goal during their winning run while scoring 14. Atletico resisted Valencias early push and then went forward in search of an opening goal that came just before halftime. Garcia used an exquisite flick of the head -- with his back to goal -- to lift Gabi Fernandezs lobbed pass over goalkeeper Vicente Guaita and bouncing in off the post. Atletico defender Juanfran Torres was shown a direct red card for tackling Pablo Piatti in stoppage time. Also, Athletic Bilbao routed 10-man Sevilla 3-1 at home to deal a blow to its main rival for fourth place and Spains last Champions League berth, while Almeria fought back for a 2-1 win at nine-man Espanyol to move to within two points of safety. Forward Markel Susaeta got the Basques rolling in the fifth minute by scoring a rarely seen goal directly from a corner kick, curling the ball from the corner flag inside the near post to beat goalkeeper Antonio "Beto" Bastos. Right back Andoni Iraola then served two crosses for Iker Muniain to volley in the 54th and Ander Herrera to head home moments after Sevillas Diogo Figueras picked up a second booking in the 72nd. Kevin Gameiro scored Sevillas consolation goal in the 79th. The win lifted Bilbao six points clear of fifth-placed Sevilla. "This win over Sevilla is huge, but this isnt over," said Bilbao manager Ernesto Valverde. "We are knocking on the door. We are three points away from the Champions League, which would be a dream for everyone." ' ' '
