Mussina's 7 sharp innings spark Yankees past A's
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|
| Regular Season Series |
| Oakland leads 4-2 (as of Fri 6/29) |
| Fri 4/13 |
@OAK 5, NYY 4 |
Recap |
| Sat 4/14 |
NYY 4, @OAK 3 |
Recap |
| Sun 4/15 |
@OAK 5, NYY 4 |
Recap |
| >Fri 6/29 |
@NYY 2, OAK 1 |
Box Score |
| Sat 6/30 |
OAK 7, @NYY 0 |
Recap |
| Sun 7/1 |
OAK 11, @NYY 5 |
Recap |
| · Complete Schedule: Yankees | Athletics |
| Scoring Summary |
| OAK | NYY |
 | 1st | A Rodriguez doubled to deep center, H Matsui scored. | 0 | 1 |
 | 1st | J Posada singled to left, A Rodriguez scored. | 0 | 2 |
 | 7th | D Johnson grounded into double play, pitcher to second to shortstop to first, E Chavez scored, M Ellis out at second. | 1 | 2 |
| · View complete Play-By-Play |
| Game Information |
| Stadium | Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY |
| Attendance | 52,622 (100.7% full) - % is based on regular season capacity |
| Game Time | 2:38 |
| Weather | 72 degrees, partly cloudy |
| Wind | 5 mph |
| Umpires | Home Plate - Larry Young, First Base - Angel Hernandez, Second Base - Ted Barrett, Third Base - Mark Carlson |
| A CLOSER LOOK |
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• Summary: Mike Mussina hurled seven sterling innings as the host Yankees beat the A's 2-1 to start a 10-game homestand by snapping a four-game losing streak.
• Turning point: Back-to-back run-scoring doubles by Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada in the bottom of the first provided just enough offense for the Yankees.
| |  | |
| Mussina |
• Hero: Mussina (4-5) stopped a personal two-game losing skid. He allowed one run, six hits and had three strikeouts.
• Milestone triumph: Manager Joe Torre picked up win No. 2,010 to move one ahead of Leo Durocher for ninth on the career list.
• Quotable: "Anytime you start passing guys like [Durocher] that certainly leaves an impression. When I think of when I started here 12 years ago, this certainly wasn't on the top of my list." -- Torre -- ESPN.com news services
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Yankees 2, Athletics 1
NEW YORK (AP) _
Mike Mussina stood in his locker and very calmly
stressed the importance of the
New York Yankees' 10-game homestand
that takes them up to the All-Star break.
"It's as important for us now to play well here leading into
the break as anything we've done all season," he said.
Mussina did his part Friday night, pitching seven sharp innings
to help the Yankees beat the
Oakland Athletics 2-1 for their first win in a week.
Alex Rodriguez had three hits for New York, which was coming off a disastrous 1-7 road trip. New York has won nine of its last 10
games at Yankee Stadium.
Manager Joe Torre also picked up win No. 2,010 to move one ahead of Leo Durocher for ninth on the career list. He appeared ready to
pass Durocher on Thursday night with New York leading Baltimore 8-6
in the eighth but the game was suspended because of rain.
"I was hoping this would have happened earlier this year,"
Torre said with a smile. "Anytime you start passing guys like that
it certainly leaves an impression. When I think of when I started
here 12 years ago, this certainly wasn't on the top of my list."
Shannon Stewart went 3-for-3 and
Eric Chavez doubled and scored for Oakland, which has lost seven of eight and 13 of 17.
Mussina (4-5) allowed one run and six hits to stop a personal
two-game losing streak. He struck out three and walked one.
| Deans of the Dugout |
 Torre Joe Torre picked up his 2,010th managerial victory on Friday to move one ahead of Leo Durocher for ninth on the career list. The top 10 (x-still managing):
|
| Manager | Wins |
| 1. Connie Mack
| 3,776 |
| 2. John McGraw | 2,840 |
| 3. x-Tony La Russa | 2,332 |
| 4. x-Bobby Cox | 2,213 |
| 5. Sparky Anderson
| 2,194 |
| 6. Bucky Harris
| 2,159 |
| 7. Joe McCarthy
| 2,126 |
| 8. Walter Alston
| 2,040 |
| 9. x-Joe Torre
| 2,010 |
| 10. Leo Durocher
| 2,009 |
| 11. Casey Stengel
| 1,926 |
| 12. Gene Mauch | 1,901 |
Kyle Farnsworth came in to pitch the eighth and gave up one-out singles to Stewart and
Mark Kotsay. He then struck out
Nick Swisher
before Torre replaced him with
Mariano Rivera. Farnsworth threw his
glove against the dugout wall and slammed his hat down after
departing.
"He was upset but he has to understand it shouldn't be an
embarrassment when you bring Mariano Rivera in [from] the
bullpen," Torre said.
It was the second animated display this week for Farnsworth, who shattered a bat in the dugout after departing Sunday's game in San
Francisco and declined comment after the win over Oakland.
Rivera struck out
Jack Cust to get out of the eighth then
pitched the ninth for his 10th save in 12 chances. It also was
career save No. 423, putting him one behind
John Franco for third
on the all-time list.
"We hit the ball well enough, we pitched well enough, we played well enough to win tonight," A's manager Bob Geren said. "We just
didn't. We needed a few breaks and tonight we didn't get them."
The Yankees backed Mussina with several strong defensive plays.
Derek Jeter robbed
Bobby Crosby of a hit to begin the third,
grabbing his grounder deep in the hole at shortstop before making a
leaping throw to a stretching
Andy Phillips at first for the out.
Jason Kendall and Stewart followed Jeter's play with
back-to-back singles but Mussina got Kotsay and Swisher to fly out
to end the inning.
Second baseman
Robinson Cano made a nice stop on
Mark Ellis' grounder to start an inning-ending double play in the fourth, and
Crosby lost another hit in the fifth when
Bobby Abreu jumped at the
warning track to catch his fly ball to right.
"Everyone played well," Rodriguez said. "I think a couple
double plays in there were very important. Pitching and defense and
timely hitting, we'd like to get on a roll here this homestand."
A's starter
Joe Kennedy got off to a rocky start but quickly
settled down. Rodriguez hit a two-out RBI double in the first
inning and scored on
Jorge Posada's single to left to give the
Yankees a 2-0 lead.
Kennedy (2-6) got Abreu to fly out to left to end the first and
then shut out the Yankees over the next five innings. New York put
runners on first and second in the third but the left-hander got
Abreu to ground into an inning-ending double play.
Kennedy allowed seven hits, struck out five and walked three,
one intentionally. He's winless in four starts since beating Boston
on June 6.
"I thought I battled well today," he said. "I was able to
make some big pitches and get some big outs. I think I had guys on
base almost every inning. It could've been a lot worse with how
many guys I had on base tonight."
The banged-up A's placed outfielder
Travis Buck on the 15-day
disabled list and optioned right-hander
Ruddy Lugo to Triple-A
Sacramento before the game. They called up infielder
Donnie Murphy
and outfielder
Dee Brown from their top farm club to give Geren
another position player on the bench.
Buck makes it 10 players on the disabled list for Oakland, which has needed the DL 16 times already this season -- equaling last
year's total.
Game notes Oakland sent temperamental OF
Milton Bradley to the Padres
for minor league pitcher
Andrew Brown and cash. Oakland designated
Bradley for assignment on June 21. ... Oakland OF
Bobby Kielty
(strained left calf) went 1-for-2 with a double in a rehab game at
Sacramento on Thursday night. ... New York will honor its 1977
World Series championship team at the 61st Old-Timers' Day on July
7. Reggie Jackson, Graig Nettles, Chris Chambliss and Ron Guidry
are among the members of the championship team expected to be at
Yankee Stadium for the festivities. New York hosts the Los Angeles
Angels after the Old-Timers' game.