No Defense These Days for Yankee Offense

Yankees 8, White Sox 1

The Yankees hit five more home runs last night in an 8-1 victory against the Chicago White Sox at Yankee Stadium, but none were by Alex Rodriguez, who leads the majors with 35 but remained stalled at 499 for his career.

“You kind of want to join the parade a little,” said Rodriguez, who went hitless in four at-bats to extend his slump to 0 for 21 since homering last Wednesday in Kansas City. “I'll hit it sometime before the year ends.”

A night after the Yankees tagged White Sox pitchers for eight homers, Jorge Posada (two), Robinson Canó, Shelley Duncan and Derek Jeter connected in support of Andy Pettitte. The team tied a franchise record for home runs in consecutive games, set in 1939 in a doubleheader against the Philadelphia Athletics.

“The ball's been flying out,” said Pettitte (7-7), who went seven innings, giving up one run and six hits. “It makes it a lot easier as a pitcher when you have a cushion.”

The Yankees have won three games in a row and 16 of their last 22. They remain seven games behind first-place Boston in the American League East after the Red Sox' 5-4 victory against Baltimore. But they gained a game in the wild-card race, pulling within two of Cleveland, which lost to Texas last night.

Manager Joe Torre said that the pressure Rodriguez has faced to hit the milestone home run was not the same as what a player feels to get a hit in a close game.

Over the last two nights, Rodriguez has usually come to the plate with his team well ahead, so that fans chant his name and take photographs as the umpires exchange standard baseballs for specially marked ones to identify them as souvenirs.

souvenir n. 紀念品

“The whole marked ball situation is a little goofy,” Rodriguez said. Regarding the fans and the surroundings, he added: “It's hard to ignore them. That's not a distraction. It's a festive atmosphere every time I go up to the plate.”

goofy a. 愚笨的
festive a. 歡樂的，節慶的


The Yankees took a 6-1 lead after scoring three runs in the second inning and three in the fourth off starter John Danks (6-8).

After the White Sox had taken a 1-0 lead when Scott Podsednik tripled home Jermaine Dye in the second, Posada responded with a two-run shot to left in the bottom of the inning. The Yankees made it 3-1 when Melky Cabrera doubled home Canó.

They got three more in the fourth, the first on a solo shot by Canó, leading off the inning. Andy Phillips then reached on an error and came home on Duncan’s homer to left-center, making it 6-1.

Duncan, batting ninth as the designated hitter, has five home runs in eight games this season. “I truly feel this is the best lineup in baseball by far,” Duncan said. “It's so much fun to be a part of it.”

Pettitte faced a challenge in the fifth. The first two batters he faced hit singles. He got the next two batters out, then walked Paul Konerko to load the bases. But he retired A. J. Pierzynski on a fly to short left to end the threat.

From that point, Pettitte seemed to get stronger. He retired the side in order in the sixth and took the mound for the seventh despite having thrown 106 pitches. He needed only 11 more, the last a swinging strike by Josh Field, for another 1-2-3 inning.

“Andy got better as the game went along,” Posada said. “He was fighting with himself early, and all of a sudden something clicked. He really settled down. He got a lot of pitches down. He's a battler.”

Much of the focus last night was on Rodriguez, who flied out to left in the first and third and grounded out to short in the fifth.

He came to the plate in the seventh, after Jeter hit a solo homer off reliever Ryan Bukvich, increasing the Yankees’ lead to 7-1.

Rodriguez dug in with Bobby Abreu on first base. The first pitch by Bukvich was low and outside as flashbulbs went off and many fans in the capacity crowd of 53,342 stood.

With the count full and the fans chanting “Let's go, A-Rod,” Bukvich threw a fastball that Rodriguez pulled on the ground to third base.

“The guys are picking me up,” Rodriguez said. “It would be a lot more frustrating if we weren't winning. It's the way it goes. You really can't sweat it too much.”