OAKLAND, Calif. — Not only did the triple play turned by the Yankees in the sixth inning against the A’s yesterday keep them in the game, it was the first time since 1968 they recorded three outs on one play.
On June 3, 1968 the Twins’ Johnny Roseboro hit into a 1-5-3 triple play. Before Alex Rodriguez turned Kurt Suzuki’s smash into a 5-4-3 triple play the Yankees had gone 6,632 games without a triple play.
It was the first time the A’s banged into three outs on one pitch since 1994.
“I didn’t think it was a triple play at all,” said manager Joe Girardi, who hit into one as a minor leaguer. “It’s hard to go to your right and stop like that. It was a great job by Alex.”
Yesterday it was Rodriguez to Robinson Cano to Nick Johnson. In 1968 it was Dooley Womack to Bobby Cox to Mickey Mantle.
“That was impressive, pretty cool,” said Mark Teixeira, who was the DH yesterday. “It was a great play by Alex to get to the ball.”
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Teixeira feels the April funk he has been in since the season started beginning to lift.
“Today was the best four at-bats I had all year,” said Teixeira, who homered against lefty Dallas Braden. “It’s a fine line, I am really good or really bad. Unfortunately I have been on the really bad side all year. Hopefully, I am turning the corner.”
Teixeira went 1-for-4 and is hitting .125.
Nick Johnson, the regular DH who started at first for the initial time this season, continued to struggle. He was 0-for-4 with a strikeout and also is hitting .125.
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Because CC Sabathia was 2-0 with a 0.66 ERA in his last two starts that were caught by Francisco Cervelli and Cervelli was behind the plate yesterday, is Girardi purposely putting them together?
“We are not going to have one guy catch one guy,” said Girardi, who did that with A.J. Burnett and Jose Molina late last year and in the postseason. “We are not looking at that, it’s just the way it worked out.”
Cervelli would have caught yesterday no matter who was on the mound because it was a day game after a night game.
Posada will catch Burnett tonight against the Angels, with Cervelli handling Andy Pettitte tomorrow. Look for Posada to return Sunday and work with Javier Vazquez.
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According to Elias Sports Bureau, Phil Hughes is one of four active pitchers who have had a no-hitter through six innings twice in their first 30 big-league starts. The others are Jamie Moyer, Derek Lowe and Hiroki Kuroda.
On Wednesday, in his 30th start, Hughes didn’t allow a hit until Eric Chavez opened the eighth with an infield single off Hughes’ glove and forearm. In his second big-league start on May 1, 2007, he left the game against Texas in the seventh with a no-hitter because of a strained left hamstring.
Hughes’ next start is against the hapless Orioles Tuesday in Baltimore.
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The Yankees have won five straight series to start the season for the first time since the 1926 Bombers did that.
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Robinson Cano‘s throwing error attempting to turn a double play in the fourth inning was the Yanks’ first error since the second game of the season when they committed three.
The 12-game stretch without an error was the longest April streak in the AL and tied the 2009 Phillies for the longest April streak in MLB history.
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Center fielder Curtis Granderson wasn’t in the lineup for the first time this year.
“Curtis has played well but we want to keep everyone in the mix,” said Girardi, who used Brett Gardner in center and Marcus Thames in right against Braden.
Granderson, who was 1-for-8 lifetime vs. Braden, entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the seventh and flied out.
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Chan Ho Park continues to play long toss, and Girardi doesn’t know when the righty reliever will be able to get on a mound.
Park, who went on the shelf April 16 with a right hamstring problem, is eligible to come off the shelf a week from today.
Because he is a reliever Park doesn’t think he will need a rehab assignment and Girardi isn’t sure.
“We could send him out for one appearance or do a simulated game,” he said.
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Girardi’s inclination was to stay away from using Joba Chamberlain yesterday because he worked Tuesday and Wednesday and threw a combined 28 pitches.
Chamberlain also appeared in three of the previous four games but there was a day off in there.
Mariano Rivera worked Tuesday and Wednesday and threw 36 pitches. Girardi needed to talk to Rivera before yesterday’s game to see if his closer was available, but it turned out not to matter.