Twice is nice for Bombers
Jason hits 2 homers for 2nd straight day
BY SAM BORDEN
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
SEATTLE - The last time Jason Giambi was here, there was some question as to whether he should have been in Columbus instead.
That was back in May, when it seemed all he could do was occasionally take a walk and the Bombers were pushing to send the slugger to the minors to try to rediscover his stroke.
Giambi, barely hitting .200 at the time, was adamant: No, I don't need to do that. Recalling his conversations with Yankee officials yesterday, he said, "I was all over the place then. I had been hit (by a pitch) in the head and had been doing so much work since spring training to try and make up for last year that I was just strung out. But I knew it would change."
And it did. Giambi built his way up to a torrid July, in which he homered 14 times, and, after a dry start to this month, seems to have regained that magic, blasting two more longballs last night and carrying the Bombers to a 7-4 victory over the Mariners at Safeco Field.
It was the Yanks' fifth straight win, ninth in their last 11 games and 14th in their last 18, leaving them 1-1/2 games behind Boston in the AL East and one game in front of the Angels and Indians for the AL wild card.
For Giambi, it was his second straight two-homer game and his seventh multi-homer game of the season - all of them coming since July 4. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he's the only Yankee ever to have two back-to-back multi-homer games in the same season (he also did it on July 20 and 21).
"Home run hitters just get in grooves," Joe Torre said. "He just seems very locked in right now. Sometimes the ball just stops for him."
Alex Rodriguez hit his 39th homer, but came out of the game in the ninth inning with a strained groin that he tweaked fielding a bunt in the fourth.
"We're gonna sleep on it and see how it is in the morning," said Rodriguez, who hopes to be in the lineup tomorrow. "I've never had this before, so it's kind of a new thing for me."
Matt Lawton also homered, while Aaron Small pitched superbly in relief of an unusually wild Mike Mussina, but Giambi's blasts were were the critical moments.
His first came in the fifth inning on a 2-1 pitch from Seattle starter Ryan Franklin, giving the Bombers their first run. While many had wondered if Giambi would fail a steroid test this season (he hasn't), Franklin actually was busted for steroid use and has been hit hard in his three starts since returning from a 10-day suspension.
Giambi continued that pounding, mashing a monstrous shot to right that slammed off the windows of the aptly-named "Hit It Here" restaurant on the second deck.
"I feel great right now," Giambi said. "I got some mistakes tonight an I didn't miss them. I don't overanalyze. I just try to get a good pitch and hit it."
His sixth inning shot off Matt Thornton wasn't as prodigious, but it came with two men on and turned a 4-2 Yankee deficit into a 5-4 lead. Considering Mussina's second straight bad start, the Yanks were ecstatic to be in front.
Mussina was coming off a terrible outing last Wednesday in which he gave up eight runs in one inning to the Blue Jays and allowed eight consecutive baserunners; when Ichiro began last night's bottom of the first with a scorched home run to right, it made Mussina the first Yankee hurler since Melido Perez in 1995 to allow nine straight hitters to reach.
Things didn't get much better for Mussina from there, though he did manage to avoid a complete disaster by escaping before the Mariners could explode for a big inning - partially because he got an early hook. His problem was simple: He couldn't throw strikes.
The righthander matched his season-high with four walks, and Torre had little choice but to pull him in the fourth inning after he loaded the bases on two free passes and a bunt single.
"Moose had no control, Torre said. "He was trying to feel for it. It just wasn't there for him tonight."
He was right about that and Small got two ground balls after replacing Mussina. Both grounders scored runs, but Small gave got the Bombers out of the inning trailing only by four and that was certainly a small enough deficit for Giambi and the rest of the Yanks to erase. The Yanks' rally was their MLB-leading eighth comeback from four or more runs down.
"The thing I like," Torre said, "is that right now we have the attitude that we're not going to be denied."
Jason hits 2 homers for 2nd straight day
BY SAM BORDEN
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
SEATTLE - The last time Jason Giambi was here, there was some question as to whether he should have been in Columbus instead.
That was back in May, when it seemed all he could do was occasionally take a walk and the Bombers were pushing to send the slugger to the minors to try to rediscover his stroke.
Giambi, barely hitting .200 at the time, was adamant: No, I don't need to do that. Recalling his conversations with Yankee officials yesterday, he said, "I was all over the place then. I had been hit (by a pitch) in the head and had been doing so much work since spring training to try and make up for last year that I was just strung out. But I knew it would change."
And it did. Giambi built his way up to a torrid July, in which he homered 14 times, and, after a dry start to this month, seems to have regained that magic, blasting two more longballs last night and carrying the Bombers to a 7-4 victory over the Mariners at Safeco Field.
It was the Yanks' fifth straight win, ninth in their last 11 games and 14th in their last 18, leaving them 1-1/2 games behind Boston in the AL East and one game in front of the Angels and Indians for the AL wild card.
For Giambi, it was his second straight two-homer game and his seventh multi-homer game of the season - all of them coming since July 4. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, he's the only Yankee ever to have two back-to-back multi-homer games in the same season (he also did it on July 20 and 21).
"Home run hitters just get in grooves," Joe Torre said. "He just seems very locked in right now. Sometimes the ball just stops for him."
Alex Rodriguez hit his 39th homer, but came out of the game in the ninth inning with a strained groin that he tweaked fielding a bunt in the fourth.
"We're gonna sleep on it and see how it is in the morning," said Rodriguez, who hopes to be in the lineup tomorrow. "I've never had this before, so it's kind of a new thing for me."
Matt Lawton also homered, while Aaron Small pitched superbly in relief of an unusually wild Mike Mussina, but Giambi's blasts were were the critical moments.
His first came in the fifth inning on a 2-1 pitch from Seattle starter Ryan Franklin, giving the Bombers their first run. While many had wondered if Giambi would fail a steroid test this season (he hasn't), Franklin actually was busted for steroid use and has been hit hard in his three starts since returning from a 10-day suspension.
Giambi continued that pounding, mashing a monstrous shot to right that slammed off the windows of the aptly-named "Hit It Here" restaurant on the second deck.
"I feel great right now," Giambi said. "I got some mistakes tonight an I didn't miss them. I don't overanalyze. I just try to get a good pitch and hit it."
His sixth inning shot off Matt Thornton wasn't as prodigious, but it came with two men on and turned a 4-2 Yankee deficit into a 5-4 lead. Considering Mussina's second straight bad start, the Yanks were ecstatic to be in front.
Mussina was coming off a terrible outing last Wednesday in which he gave up eight runs in one inning to the Blue Jays and allowed eight consecutive baserunners; when Ichiro began last night's bottom of the first with a scorched home run to right, it made Mussina the first Yankee hurler since Melido Perez in 1995 to allow nine straight hitters to reach.
Things didn't get much better for Mussina from there, though he did manage to avoid a complete disaster by escaping before the Mariners could explode for a big inning - partially because he got an early hook. His problem was simple: He couldn't throw strikes.
The righthander matched his season-high with four walks, and Torre had little choice but to pull him in the fourth inning after he loaded the bases on two free passes and a bunt single.
"Moose had no control, Torre said. "He was trying to feel for it. It just wasn't there for him tonight."
He was right about that and Small got two ground balls after replacing Mussina. Both grounders scored runs, but Small gave got the Bombers out of the inning trailing only by four and that was certainly a small enough deficit for Giambi and the rest of the Yanks to erase. The Yanks' rally was their MLB-leading eighth comeback from four or more runs down.
"The thing I like," Torre said, "is that right now we have the attitude that we're not going to be denied."