Yankees down ChiSox, A-Rod stuck on 499

Aug 2, 2007, 2:35 GMT

Bronx, NY - The Yankees continued to crank out the homers, but Alex Rodriguez lingered in his slump.

Jorge Posada hit two of five New York home runs in an 8-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox, a night after the Yankees tied a franchise record with eight round-trippers. Shelley Duncan ripped a two-run homer, while Robinson Cano and Derek Jeter added solo drives.

The Yankees, who have outscored the White Sox 24-4 over the last two nights, equaled a club record with the 13 combined homers in back-to-back contests.

However, the focus again was on Rodriguez, who remains stuck on 499 career homers. The All-Star third baseman went hitless in four at-bats, stretching his slump to 0-for-21 since his last homer, July 25 at Kansas City. Rodriguez flied out in the first, and third, grounded out in the fifth and seventh innings.

Yankees manager Joe Torre acknowledged the pressure Rodriguez is facing is different since it doesn't have to do with winning a ball game.

'That's the pressure of winning a ball game,' Torre said. 'Anytime you do something for yourself, that's pressure that really has nothing to do with hitting in the clutch. This has nothing to do with handling pressure. This is pressure you put on yourself, but it has nothing to do with the outcome of the game.'

Andy Pettitte (7-7) limited the White Sox to six hits and a run over seven innings, while walking two and fanning six.

'What a gutty performance tonight,' Torre said of Pettitte. 'He was really battling himself the first six innings.'

The Yankees won for the third straight time and will go for the three-game sweep Thursday afternoon.

'It'd be a lot more pressure if we weren't winning games,' Rodriguez said. 'That's just the way it goes. You can't really sweat it too much and think about 500.'

John Danks (6-8) was throttled for six hits, including three homers, and six runs -- five earned -- over four innings.

Scott Podsednik tripled in Jermaine Dye in the second inning, but the Yankees struck quickly in the bottom half for a 3-1 lead. Hideki Matsui singled and Posada followed with a two-run drive over the wall in left. Melky Cabrera singled to right-center field to score Cano later in the inning.

Cano started the fourth with a homer to right-center, and one out later it was Duncan's turn as he got hold of a Danks offering and took it over the wall in left-center.

Pettitte escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fifth before the Yankees widened their lead to 7-1 in the seventh on Jeter's eighth long ball of the year, as he took a Ryan Bukvich offering beyond the short wall in right field.

Posada led off the eighth with his third homer in two days, taking a Charles Haeger pitch beyond the wall in right-center field. Haeger then plunked Cano with a knuckleball and was immediately ejected by home plate umpire Tom Hallion, causing White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen to argue, but he was spared his second ejection in as many nights.

'The only thing I wish is Major League Baseball looks at this kind of stuff and really see what's going on out there,' Guillen said. 'The umpires calls what he sees and I respect that, but you have to have a little common sense of baseball to make decisions that way.'

Game Notes

The White Sox have decided to skip right-hander Jose Contreras in the rotation and instead will start Gavin Floyd on Sunday versus Detroit. Contreras has given up 30 hits and 26 earned runs over his last three starts, a span of 14 2/3 innings...The Yankees activated right-hander Jeff Karstens from the 60-day disabled list before the game...The Yankees hit 13 homers in a doubleheader, June 28, 1939 against Philadelphia...The Yankees have won nine of their last 12 games...Pettitte is 8-1 lifetime versus the White Sox at Yankee Stadium...Chicago has lost five straight to the Yankees...White Sox reliever Bobby Jenks has retired 24 consecutive batters.

© 2007 The Sports Network

Game Notes

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