Twice is nice for Bombers

B5150

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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."
 
Beelzebub

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yankees will damn near always go to the series, or at least the playoffs.

that's right haters,

<---------yankee fan. :)
 
BingeAndPurge

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I'm not a Yankee fan, but they do have good players. That's the problem. I think this is why people do not like the Yanks. They buy up every agent on the market. There are only, what, 3 or 4 true Yankees left on the entire team, Jeter, Williams, Posada, and Rivera? The rest of the team, mainly bought and paid for allstars, just do not look right in the stripes. Being from Columbus, it used to be great as a kid to watch guys come through there and make it to NY. Guys like Don Mattingly, Roberto Kelly, Hal Morris, Jay Buhner, Al Leiter, Andy Pettite, and the few that I mentioned earlier. I must have 100's of dollars worth of autographs I collected there as a kid by these guys and guys who came down for rehab stints. Now, though, their farm system sucks. I guess my point is that George has pretty much made a joke of a great game with what he does. I don't understand how you can root for this team. I do understand how people who don't even have a team in the playoffs only care about the Yankees getting beat.
 
natedogg

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Booo Yankees! What would be nice is if the A's beat out the Spanks for the wild card spot.
 

Dave@NU

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What do you guys think about Mark Bellhorn getting signed by the Yankees?
And then going 0-4 in last nights loss to Seattle. The Sox have a better 2nd Baseman
in Graffanino, with Bellhorns only advantage being his experience.
 

HeIsLegend

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go yankees how many yankees fans do we have on this forum?
 

snakebyte05

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none, the yankees suck!:run:


(I like teams with good farm systems who don't have to outpay all other teams for their players, that aside, the yankees are a very good team, no doubt)
 
B5150

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I think they hate Jeter's fist full of WSC rings too :toilet:
 
Beelzebub

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i've found for the most part that even the full blown yankee haters can't argue with jeter's ability or talent. and those who try look stupid.
 
raider1

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Well, it seems that Damon is finally going on the DL with the broken bone.. man that is a lot of payroll on the DL for the SPANKEES
 

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snakebyte05

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i've found for the most part that even the full blown yankee haters can't argue with jeter's ability or talent. and those who try look stupid.
In general all player are very good compared to the majority, no doubt, I will agree with that. Its not that I dislike the yankee payroll, just personally, I aways had more fun seeing a young new kid come up from the minors and then just blow up and be a great player, you dont know what to expect and when they do well its always exciting to watch. With the yankees, you always know they are going to good and that their players are going to be good, it takes the random aspect of games away.
 

Dave@NU

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I aways had more fun seeing a young new kid come up from the minors and then just blow up and be a great player
Jonathan Papelbon maybe??

I think its just in Boston's blood to hate the Yankees. Hey, its a rivalry. Even if the Yankees don't really suck, I'll always say "Yankees Suck." The AL east has been a pretty close division and will be even more so this year.

Go SOX!!
 
raider1

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Yeh, the Yankees are the least of our worries this year , the Bluejays own our a-- , the last 3 years this team has been a major problem for the Sox. And now with the additional signings they are a team that can give the Yankees and Sox a run for their money.. Vernon Wells loves playing against the Sox..
 
Trauma1

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i've found for the most part that even the full blown yankee haters can't argue with jeter's ability or talent. and those who try look stupid.
While I do agree with you here, the same can be said about ortiz/ramirez. Argueably the best 3-4 combo in baseball.
 

HeIsLegend

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hmm i must have missed damon getting hurt thats what happens when u are in idaho for a week without tv
 
Beelzebub

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While I do agree with you here, the same can be said about ortiz/ramirez. Argueably the best 3-4 combo in baseball.
true, but i don't believe i've seen any red sox bashers here. personally, i like the red sox, good consistent team in the past few years. i just like the yankees "mo betta", grew up that way. my don mattingly rookie card isn't worth **** anymore though.
 
raider1

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It is good to see them giving Mattingly a position on the team. Him and Wade Boggs were a couple of pure hitters to come through during that time.
 
Trauma1

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true, but i don't believe i've seen any red sox bashers here. personally, i like the red sox, good consistent team in the past few years. i just like the yankees "mo betta", grew up that way. my don mattingly rookie card isn't worth **** anymore though.
Agreed bro......I grew up a redsox fan as a kid....still remember mookie wilson's ground ball through buckner's legs and my dad throwing his beer at the tv lol. Watching a yankee/redsox game is what it's all about my friend :drunk:
 
Beelzebub

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It is good to see them giving Mattingly a position on the team. Him and Wade Boggs were a couple of pure hitters to come through during that time.
boggs was ridiculous. could place a ball anywhere he wanted when he was batting.
 

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