Yankees Have The Wright Stuff

A-Rod, Jeter go deep in 4-3 win

For the second straight game without Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield, the Yankees relied on pitching, defense, and some timely home runs to defeat the Oakland A's by a final score of 4-3. In doing so Jaret Wright won his first game since September, 2005. Alex Rodriguez got the Yankees off to a quick start belting a long 3-run home run off of former teammate Brad Halsey in the first inning. The ball sailed over the wall in left-center, and took one hop up into the bleachers. It was A-Rod's 9th home run of the season and the 3rd in the last 4 games, a streak that couldn't have come at a better time. Derek Jeter turned on a Halsey pitch in the third and sent it into the left field seats for his 4th home run and a 4-0 lead.

Jaret Wright was on the mound for the first time in 10 days, but was fairly sharp. In 5 1-3 innings he allowed 2 runs, 5 hits, walked 3 and struck out 5. Wright actually didn't give up a run himself, but left with runners on the corners and one out in the 6th. For some reason, Joe Torre opted for Tanyon Sturtze once again. Sturtze has been nothing short of awful this season, and expect for about a 2 month period last year, has been awful, period. Saturday afternoon was no different. Jason Kendall singled in a run to cut the lead to 4-1. After Marcos Scutaro hit into a fielder's choice Mark Ellis doubled down the left field line to cut the lead to 4-2 and put the tying runs in scoring position. That brought out Torre to bring in the incredibly reliable Scott Proctor. Sturtze left to a chorus of boos, both at Yankee Stadium and front any fans watching or listening to the game at home or on the car radio. Proctor came up big again, striking Nick Swisher to end the threat.

Proctor pitched a scoreless 7th and 8th before turning things over to Kyle Farnsworth to close things out. Mariano Rivera was unavailable after 3 straight appearances. After a lead off to Swisher, Jeter booted Mark Kotsay's potential double play ball.
Farnsworth bounced back getting Eric Chavez to pop out and caught Bobby Crosby looking at strike three. Jay Payton delivered a two-out single through the left side to cut he margin to 4-3 before Dan Johnson grounded out to Robinson Cano at 2nd to end the ball game.

Notes

Tanyon Sturtze was placed on the disabled list after the game after it was revealed he had been hiding shoulder pain. This is the second time Sturtze has done this as a Yankee as he pitched the last few months of last season with a worn out shoulder. Despite Joe Torre's contention that Sturtze was doing it for the team, this is a totally selfish move and should lead to Sturtze's release. It probably won't happen though.

Scott Erickson was recalled to take Sturtze's spot on the roster. Hopefully this is a temporary move to relieve a tired bullpen. As a member of the Dodgers last season Erickson had a 6.02 ERA in 19 appearances including 8 starts. At Triple-A Columbus this season was 1-2, 4.24, but had allowed 21 hits and 11 walks in just 17 innings.

Robinson Cano was 1-3 yesterday and has now had a hit in 27 of the 31 games he's played.

A-Rod's home run was the 438th of his career and his 93rd as a Yankee. Derek Jeter's home run was his 173rd.

Scott Proctor's turnaround continues to be a marvel. The right hander, who was throwing between 94 and 97 mph yesterday, had allowed 7 walks in his first 14 innings this season. Since then he has thrown 10 1-3 innings and has allowed just 2 walks while striking out 11. The league is hitting just .186 against him.