Lidle Takes the Fifth

Newbie sparkles in debut as Yankees sweep Jays


Corey Lidle gave the Yankees exactly what they were looking for out of their 5th starter in yesterday's game against the Toronto Blue Jays. A quality start. And more importantly, an 8-1 victory that combined with the Boston Red Sox loss gave the Bombers a full 1 game lead in the AL East. Lidle's victory was the first by a starter other than Randy Johnson, Mike Mussina, Chien-Ming Wang, or Jaret Wright since Shawn Chacon topped Texas on May 6. Ironically, Chacon won his debut start for the Pirates yesterday as well.

Lidle's high school teammate Jason Giambi gave his fellow alumnus a quick lead in the first. Derek Jeter extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a one-out single. After Bobby Abreu was retired, Jay's rookie starter Shaun Marcum walked Alex Rodriguez. That brought up Jason Giambi who had to leave Tuesday's game and sat out Wednesday's game with leg cramps caused by the heat. Giambi's legs felt just fine as he mashed a 3-run home run deep into the rightfield seats. The Yankees chased Marcum (1-1) from the game in the 3rd as they threatened again, but Brian Tallet retired Craig Wilson with the bases loaded.

Lidle (9-7) meanwhile ran into little trouble in his 6 inning, quality start. Rookie Ryan Roberts touched up Lidle for the Jays only run with his first major league home run in the 5th. The Yankees got the run back plus another in their half of the 5th. Jeter drew a lead off walk from new pitcher Brandon League and Abreu followed with a single through the right side. A-Rod hit a tapper to the side of the mound that League fielded and threw off-balance, the ball skipping into right field. Jeter scored and Abreu advanced to 3rd on the play. Giambi was intentionally walked to load the bases and League struck out Wilson for the first out of the inning. But Melky Cabrera came through with an RBI single for a 5-1 lead.

The Yankees blew the game open with a 2-out rally in the 6th against lefty Scott Schoeneweis. After Johnny Damon and Jeter grounded out, Abreu doubled to the gap in left-center. The Jays elected to intentionally walk Rodriguez to set up a lefty-lefty match up with Giambi. That was a mistake. Giambi blasted a deep drive to center that one-hopped over the wall for a ground-rule double and a 6-1 lead. Wilson then finally came through with men on a base with a 2-run single to right.

The rest of the game was uneventful except for Kyle Farnsworth taking a comebacker off his bare hand in the 8th. It caused a burst blood vessel which didn't allow him to grip his fastball properly. He's listed as day-to-day.

Notes

Robinson Cano went 2-5 in his final appearance with the GCL Yankees. He'll start the next step in his rehab assignment with the Trenton Thunder today.

Octavio Dotel threw one inning in the GCL game, striking out one and walking one. He tossed 17 pitches.

Hideki Matsui didn't receive all good news from his visit with the doctor yesterday. His wrist is healing nicely, but because of tenderness he can't add any extra exercises to his regime. Translation - see you in September.