Posada, A-Rod help Yankees end skid
Jorge Posada seemed happy to be back in the Yankees' lineup, and let his bat send the message. Posada had two hits in his first game back since a dispute over his role on the team, and Alex Rodriguez homered twice as visiting New York stopped a six-game losing streak with a 6-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays last night.
Jorge Posada seemed happy to be back in the Yankees' lineup, and let his bat send the message.
Posada had two hits in his first game back since a dispute over his role on the team, and Alex Rodriguez homered twice as visiting New York stopped a six-game losing streak with a 6-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays last night.
With Yankees managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner in attendance, New York ended its longest skid since dropping seven in a row from April 20-27, 2007.
Posada doubled and singled while batting seventh as the designated hitter. It was his first start since he pulled himself out of the lineup Saturday soon after he was set to bat ninth.
Posada was roundly booed before his first at-bat in the second, when he grounded out. The Yankees fans in attendance cheered in the fifth after he singled.
Posada is hitting .179.
"To me, it was the place to put him today," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said of last night's start. "There's a lot of things that I look at, and I just thought it was the place to put him."
Girardi would not commit to Posada, who is hitless against lefthanded pitching this season, being the everyday DH.
"I'm going to see how we are day to day," Girardi said. "We're in a long stretch [of games]. There's some guys I have to DH from time to time."
Rodriguez has 621 career home runs. He recorded his first multihomer game this season and 59th overall with homers in the fourth and sixth innings.
In other games:
* At Chicago, Gordon Beckham scampered home on a wild pitch in the eighth inning, lifting the White Sox to a 4-3 victory over the Texas Rangers. Endy Chavez had two hits and reached four times for Texas, which has dropped eight of its last 11 road games. Michael Young singled in the eighth to extend his road hitting streak to a career-best 17 games.
* At Seattle, Michael Cuddyer drove in two runs on a first-inning single, and Francisco Liriano (3-5) allowed a run on three hits in seven innings as the Minnesota Twins edged the Mariners, 2-1.
* At Kansas City, Carlos Santana and Asdrubal Cabrera both homered and Travis Hafner hit a bases-loaded double, powering the Cleveland Indians past the Royals, 7-3, for a two-game sweep.
* At Boston, the game between the Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles was postponed because of rain. No makeup day was set.
* At Detroit, the game between the Tigers and Toronto Blue Jays was postponed because of rain and rescheduled for July 27.
Noteworthy
* Oakland Athletics lefthander Dallas Braden will miss the rest of the season after having surgery to repair a torn capsule in his throwing shoulder.
* Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka will be going on the disabled list because of a sprained right elbow.
* The Chicago White Sox put third baseman Mark Teahen on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right oblique muscle.
* Yankees reliever Rafael Soriano, who has been troubled by stiffness in his right elbow, was put on the disabled list. He is 1-1 with one save and a 5.40 ERA.
* Cleveland Indians minor league outfielder John Drennen was suspended for 50 games after a positive test for the banned female fertility drug Clomiphene. The drug can be used to boost testosterone as part of a steroids cycle. A 24-year-old from Honolulu, Drennen is batting .256 with three homers and 15 RBI at Double A Akron of the Eastern League. *