Yankees Outslug Angels 14-9

A Yankees lineup with A-Rod is a lot better than a lineup without him, especially when the Yankees starter and bullpen allow 9 runs. Alex's 29th HR helped push the Yankees past their nemesis, the LA Angels, 14-9 in front of a raucous Yankee Stadium crowd.

The Yankees seemed to have the game in hand early, battering Angels' starter Bartolo Colon for 7 runs in 2 plus innings, and Andy Pettitte pitching for the Bombers. But Pettitte, who was absolutely thrashed against the Oakland A's last Sunday, wasn't much better last night. He allowed 5 runs through the first 5 innings, but with a 9-5 lead, Joe Torre stuck with him in the 6th.

But Robb Quinlan lead off with a single and scored on Gary Matthew's double. Garret Anderson's infield single was misplayed by Miguel Cairo allowing Matthews score, and ended Pettitte's night. Torre decided to throw Edwar Ramirez into the mix, because Luis Vizcaino was unavailable due to a bruised knuckle on his pitching hand. But K-Ram was not nearly as effective as he was in major league debut.

After Macir Itzuris drew a walk, Jose Molina bunted the runners over. K-Ram k'ed the slumping Reggie Willits, but left a fastball up in the zone and Chone Figgins singled up the middle to tie the game at 9-9.

Chris Bootcheck came on for the Angels in the home half of the 6th and walked Johnny Damon. Damon stole 2nd and advanced to 3rd on Melky Cabrera's single to center. When Matthews bobbled the ball, Damon quickly raced home with the go ahead run. Two batters later, A-Rod hit a frozen rope that landed in the left field seats about 2 seconds after he hit it for a 12-9 lead. The home run was career number 493, tying him with Lou Gehrig and Fred McGriff on the all time list.

Scott Proctor saved the game and K-Ram when the rookie allowed a lead off double to Orlando Cabrera in the 7th and later hit Quinlan. After throwing a wild pitch, Proctor struck out Matthews and Anderson to finish the Angels off. K-Ram was awarded the victory, his first major league win. Not a bad week for the rookie.

Mariano Rivera started warming up in the bottom of the 8th but sat back down after Cabrera and Derek Jeter delivered RBI singles to increase the lead to 14-9. Ron Villone pitched a 1-2-3 9th to give the Yankees their 4th win in the last 5 games.

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The Yankees had a season high 19 hits with Cabrera, Cano, Posada, and A-Rod getting 3 each.

The Yankees had a run wiped off the scoreboard when 3rd Base ump Doug Eddings ruled Cano missed 3rd base.

Andy Phillips was in the original lineup but wrenched his neck fielding a ball during batting practice, and was a late scratch.

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