YANKEES AVOID SWEEP
Bombers’ bats finally break silence as Yanks pound Halos 10-1




By: Russ Rose
Special to Yankees Talk Shop
April 9, 2006

The New York Yankees finally broke out of their hibernation behind the hitting of Jorge Posada, who hit two home runs and knocked in five RBI, as the Yankees defeated Bartolo Colon and the Los Angeles Angels 10-1 before a packed house of 44, 020.



The offensive onslaught helped New York avoid going home with a 1-5 record, which would have put them four games behind the division leading Boston Red Sox. However, that bit of good news hardly overshadows the fact that the Yankees lost two of three in Anaheim, as well as two of three in Oakland.

Not wishing to waste another stellar performance by one of their starting pitchers the Yankees came out swinging in the second inning against Colon. Colon, who was brilliant in 2005, was rocked early by the Yankees offense. Colon gave up eight runs (seven earned) on seven hits in just two innings of work. Colon started the third inning, but was lifted after walking Jason Giambi, giving up a single to Hideki Matsui, and then a double to Jorge Posada who scored Giambi from second. Esteban Yan replaced Colon and gave up a double to Robinson Cano, which scored Matsui and Posada. Those runs were charged to Colon.

The game began innocently enough for Colon and the Angels as Colon was able to retire the side in order. Mike Mussina, starting for the Yankees, only allowed one base runner when he walked Vladimir Guerrero. However, Mussina was able to strike out Garret Anderson to end the inning.

The bottom fell out of the Angels boat in the second inning when Alex Rodriguez led off by hitting a solo home run to deep center field. Giambi singled and reached second on a throwing error by Colon trying to get Matsui at first base. Colon’s wayward throw pulled first baseman Casey Kotchman off the bag.

Jorge Posada came to the plate and cleared the bases by sending Colon’s 1-2 pitch into the right field seats to make New York’s lead 4-0.

Things didn’t get any better for Colon as he gave up a single to Robinson Cano to center field. Cano was sacrificed to second base by Miguel Cairo who bunted to Colon. Leadoff hitter Johnny Damon walked. Cano scored and Damon reached third on Derek Jeter’s double down the right field line to make the score 5-0. Gary Sheffield grounded to third and Damon was thrown out at home by third baseman Chone Figgins. The inning finally ended when Rodriguez grounded into a fielder’s choice as Gary Sheffield was eliminated at second base.

The Angels failed to answer the bell going down in the bottom of the second in order.

The Yankees continued abusing Colon as he walked Giambi and gave up a single to Matsui. Posada doubled scoring Giambi with Matsui taking third. Halos’ manager Mike Scioscia had seen enough and pulled Colon out of the game. Reliever Esteban Yan was also ineffective as he allowed Posada and Matsui to score on Cano’s double. With the score 8-0 Yan was able to get out the inning without further damage.

The Angels lone run came in the bottom of the third when Figgins singled scoring back up catcher Jeff Mathis from third base.

The Yankees added single runs in the fifth and sixth innings. In the fifth Jorge Posada hit his second home run of the day, a solo shot to deep center field. In the sixth Hideki Matsui singled in Alex Rodriguez from second base to increase the Yankees lead to 10-1. That is where the score stayed.

Mike Mussina was brilliant as he went 6 strong innings, surrendering only one run on five hits. He struck out five and walked two. The Yankees bullpen was solid allowing only one hit and no runs in the last three innings.

The Yankees head home to begin their first home stand of the new season. They open up against the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday, April 11, at 1:05 p.m. EDT. The Yankees are scheduled to start Chien-Ming Wang (0-1, 3.86) and the Royals will start Joe Mays (0-1, 12.46).

Notes: This was the 12th time in Jorge Posada’s career his has had a multi-home run game, and the first since last September 22nd. Alex Rodriguez’ home run in the top of the second inning tied him with Cal Ripken for 37th on the career home run list with 431 homers. It was also his eighth career home run against Colon. Although not a save situation manager Joe Torre inserted closer Mariano Rivera to close out the game in the ninth inning. Rivera surrendered a single before finishing the game.



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