Cramping hands? Whoa!!
Posted on 08/26/2006 5:14:50 PM PDT by demlosers
AP - Rookie Howie Kendrick went 4-for-4 with a tiebreaking homer, Garret Anderson homered and drove in four runs and the Los Angeles Angels beat slumping Alex Rodriguez and the New York Yankees 12-7 in a testy matchup Saturday.
The Angels and Yankees drew warnings from plate umpire Tim McClelland after a flurry of brushback pitches and hit batsmen in the middle innings. Both teams were perched on the top step of their dugouts after that, and there was no more trouble.
Ervin Santana (13-6) allowed five runs and seven hits over 6 1-3 innings, good enough to help send the AL East-leading Yankees to their fourth loss in five games following their draining five-game sweep at Boston.
The Angels, trying to stay close in the AL West, improved to 55-51 against New York since Joe Torre became its manager in 1996. They are the only team to hold an edge over the Yankees in that span, and also have beaten them in two playoff series.
Torre tweaked his batting order, putting Rodriguez in the second spot for the first time this season. The two-time MVP went 0-for-5 and struck out three times; the previous night, Rodriguez was 0-for-5 and fanned four times in a 6-5 loss.
Rodriguez has struck out 13 times in his last 23 at-bats.
Francisco Rodriguez got four outs for his 36th save after Scot Shields gave up two-run homer by Johnny Damon in the eighth. Melky Cabrera flied out to the warning track with the bases loaded to end the game.
Vladimir Guerrero got three hits for the second straight game and drove in two runs. His RBI triple triggered a three-run seventh that gave the Angels a 9-5 lead.
Ex-Yankee Juan Rivera, at the center of earlier trouble, added an RBI double during a three-run eighth. He clapped his hands while running toward first base.
Jorge Posada's sacrifice fly made it 5-all in the Yankees sixth. Kendrick hit a leadoff homer in the bottom half against Brian Bruney (0-1), and went on for his first four-hit game in the majors.
The trouble began after Yankees star Derek Jeter was hit by a pitch above the left arm in the fifth, the second straight day he was plunked.
In the bottom half, Bruney sent Guerrero bailing out of the batter's box with an up-and-in pitch. One out later, Bruney threw a pitch behind Rivera.
Rivera took offense and glared at Bruney, who was called up from the minors Wednesday when Mike Mussina went on the disabled list. Catcher Sal Fasano and McClelland calmed down Rivera, and both sides were warned.
Bruney hit Adam Kennedy in the sixth but was not ejected, and Angels manager Mike Scioscia talked to McClelland on the field between innings.
Anderson put the Angels ahead 3-1 in the third with his 13th homer, off Cory Lidle.
Mike Napoli, whose bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the ninth inning beat the Yankees on Friday, hit a two-run double in the fourth for a 5-2 lead. Scioscia argued that the ball had cleared the 18-foot wall and bounced back.
Notes:@ Yankees slugger Jason Giambi left for a pinch-hitter in the seventh because of cramping in both hands. ... Famed UCLA basketball coach John Wooden visited Torre in the clubhouse before the game. ... Torre said he doesn't expect to use eight-time All-Star closer Mariano Rivera for more than one inning in any game the rest of the way.
A Swoon for the Yankees? A letdown after the bashing they gave the Sox last week is only natural....
Cramping hands? Whoa!!
It's only important that they humiliate the Red Sox.
And the Sox once again capitalize by winning 2 of their last 10 - lol...
How's that Yankee slide going? The latest Boston Massacre has sent the Bosox to the barber's shop.
Your time is coming Pardek!
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