A-Rod Slams Door on Mets

Grand Slams Ignites 16-7 Win

The Yankees took 2 of 3 from their cross-town rivals the New York Mets with a 16-7 rout on Sunday night. Having lost Saturday's ball game 8-3 as Randy Johnson spit the bit once again, the Bombers looked like they were going to lose Sunday night as well. Jaret Wright was as ineffective as his taller, southpaw teammate, allowing 4 runs in just 1 2-3 innings. That's when Joe Torre decided he could take no more and brought in Ron Villone to stop the bleeding. And that's exactly what Villone did. He would allow 1 run in 3 innings, keeping the Yankees in the game long enough for them to bust out against Mets starter Alay Soler.

Jorge Posada chipped away with a solo home run, his 11th, in the second inning. Then the Yankees brought out the big guns in the 3rd. Nick Green, starting in place of Miguel Cairo, walked and stole 2nd to start the inning. After a Johnny Damon walk, Derek Jeter singled home green to halve the lead. Jason Giambi's ground ball was misplayed twice, but he still managed to be credited with an infield single. First baseman Julio Franco bobbled the grounder as he tried to quickly to get the force at 2nd. When he turned to throw to first, he found Soler late covering the bag. The bases were loaded with no one out for Alex Rodriguez. Not a situation a rookie wants to be facing. A-Rod made sure he remembered it, lining a pitch into the right field seats for a grand slam and a 6-4 Yankees lead.

A Melky Cabrera RBI double later in the inning increased the lead to 7-4 and Mets manager Willie Randolph finally pulled the overmatched Solar. Randolph left the rookie in longer than normal, because he knew the Mets would be without Pedro Martinez for Monday's game and it didn't want to burn the bullpen. Reliever Heath Bell was greeted just as rudely as Green completed the 8-run inning with a 2-run home run, his first of the season.

The Yankees added on an inning later when Xavier Nady misplayed Andy Phillips fly to right to allow two runs to score. Another pair came home on Cabrera's double for a 13-4 lead. The Mets got one back in the 5h, but A-Rod blasted a shot to deep center off the facing of the black bleachers for a 3-run shot and a 16-4 lead. It was Rodriguez's 19th home run and gave him 7 RBI on the night.

Carlos Beltran finished the Mets scoring with a pair of solo home runs, his 23rd and 24th. He hit a monster shot into the upper deck off of T.J. Beam in the 6th and then cranked one off of Scott Proctor in the 9th.

Notes

The Yankees finished interleague play with a 10-8 record. That included going 3-3 against the Mets.