Yankees Win Battle of Johnson & Johnson, 6-1

Hard Nosed Effort Pays Off

You could see the difference in Randy Johnson's demeanor right from the start of last night's Yankees-Cleveland Indians game and it paid off in the end. Johnson breezed through 6 plus innings before being ejected for throwing a retaliatory pitch at Eduardo Perez. Johnny Damon and Andy Phillips each homered as the Yankees rolled over the Indians 6-1. Mike Mussina will face off against Cliff Lee this afternoon as the Yankees try to complete a three game sweep.

Johnson displayed some of the form that made him a perennial All-Star before coming to New York. His fastball was often in the 95-97 mph range and he had a hard biting slider to go along with it. He threw 84 pitches, 55 of them for strikes, allowed just 4 hits while walking none and striking out 6. At one point he retired 11 straight hitters. Overall it was a huge improvement from everything we've seen in over a month. Maybe more importantly he stood up for his teammates, something Yankee pitchers under Joe Torre have been reluctant to do.

Tempers started flaring when Jorge Posada took exception to being hit by a Jason Johnson pitch on his right elbow. Posada held onto his bat and slowly made his way to first, barking at Johnson as he did so. Johnson shot back by basically telling Posada to shut up and go to first base. Home Plate umpire Chris Guccione immediately warned both teams.

With one out in the top of the 7th, Randy Johnson decided to even the score as well as send a message to Perez. Perez was 4-8 with 3 home runs off Johnson in 2005 as a member of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Johnson's brush back avoided Perez, but his intent was clear and he was immediately ejected as well as Yankees manager Joe Torre. Both benches emptied as Perez jawed a silent Johnson. The remainder of the game went without incident.

The Yankees jumped in front in the third after Derek Jeter singled and Jason Giambi doubled to start the inning. With the infield playing back to concede the run, Alex Rodriguez picked up an RBI on a ground out to short. A-Rod also reached as 1st Baseman Ben Broussard dropped the high throw. Robinson Cano quickly extended his hitting streak to 12 games with an RBI single to left. Cano went 3-4 to raise his average to .329 and is 23-49 (.469) during the streak.

The Indians scored their only run in the 5th to have the lead, but Johnny Damon immediately got back in the bottom of the inning with his 9th home run of the season. The Yankees put the game out of reach one inning later on an RBI double by Bernie Williams and a 2-run homer by Andy Phillips. It was Phillips's 5th home run of the season.

Phillips also provided the defensive gem of the game when he recorded the final out by diving into the seats to catch a foul pop off the bat of Victor Martinez. Phillips strained his back on the play, but is hoping to play today.

Jorge Posada's elbow stiffened up late in the game and he was replaced by Kelly Stinnett. It's not likely Posada would have caught this afternoon anyway since it is a day game after night game. Many felt that Posada actually precipitated last night's incident by not immediately going to first after being hit. It didn't appear that Jason Johnson was throwing at him.

Octavio Dotel threw for the 2nd straight night for Columbus. Dotel faced three batters, striking out two of them.