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Yankees top Royals; Rodriguez homerless again

Aug 4, 2007 - 3:44 AM BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- A historic home run continues to elude Alex Rodriguez. But his teammates are picking up the slack.

Robinson Cano homered and Melky Cabrera drove in two runs as the New York Yankees posted a 7-1 victory over the Kansas City Royals in the opener of a three-game set at Yankee Stadium on Friday night.

Chien-Ming Wang (13-5) tossed seven strong innings for the Yankees, who have won 10 out of their last 14 contests. New York (59-50) pulled within three games of the Cleveland Indians (62-47) in the American League Wild Card standings.

"Wang was outstanding tonight," Rodriguez said of his teammate. "His velocity was way up there, too. Around 97, 98 (miles-per-hour)."

The Seattle Mariners (59-47) are 1 1/2 games back. Both teams play later Friday night.

For the eighth straight game, the 32-year-old Rodriguez set his sights on becoming the youngest player to belt 500 career homers. But a sellout crowd at Yankee Stadium, who stood and lit the night with flashbulbs each time the slugger strolled to the plate, again were left disappointed.

The All-Star third baseman went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI but no homers. However, it has not been all bad for Rodriguez, who has gone 3-for-7 since a career-long 0-for-22 slump which directly followed his 499th blast.

Rodriguez's final at-bat of the night came with the rain falling in the eighth inning as the slugger flied out to right.

"I thought of (the movie) 'The Natural' with the lightning and rain," Rodriguez said. "I was looking for my wonder bat, but I couldn't find it."

Wang allowed one run and seven hits while striking out three and walking one. He started the eighth but left to a standing ovation after Ross Gload's lead-off double.

"That was vintage Wang tonight," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "His control, command, and pitch count. Tonight, he was fun to watch."

Mike Meyers came on to strike out Esteban German, and Luis Vizcaino got the final two outs of the eighth - setting up Mariano Rivera's scoreless ninth in a non-save situation.

Cano started the scoring in the second with a solo homer off Royals starter Odalis Perez (6-10) to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.

The Royals tied the game in the third. Tony Pena Jr. grounded out to start the frame, but Kansas City then delivered four consecutive hits, capped by Gload's RBI single to make it 1-1.

New York broke through again in the fifth thanks to Shelley Duncan, who led off with a single. Cano followed with a base hit and Andy Phillips sacrificed the runners to second and third.

Backup catcher Jose Molina then hit a deep sacrifice fly to snap the 1-1 tie. Johnny Damon added another run, roping a double into the right-center field gap to score Cano and make it 3-1.

The Yankees opened up the lead in the sixth thanks to Perez, who ignited the three-run outburst with a lead-off walk to Cano. The lefthander exited after issuing the free pass, giving way to Ryan Braun.

"He (Perez) wasn't hitting his spots tonight," Kansas City manager Buddy Bell said.

Perez, however, had a slightly different take as he credited the New York's lineup.

"They're the Yankees. You have to face tough hitters," said Perez. "You have to face guys like Alex Rodriguez going for 500."

Phillips greeted Braun with a line-drive single and, after a bad bunt by Molina forced Cano at third, the righthander walked Damon to load the bases. Cabrera then drove in two runs by stroking an odd grounds-rule double.

Cabrera lined the ball off of Braun's shoe and it caromed over New York's dugout and out of play, allowing both Phillips and Molina to score to make it 5-1.

"That ball was smoked," Torre. "That play certainly made the game a lot less stressful for us."

Rodriguez followed with towering sacrifice fly to center field to cap the scoring in the inning.

Perez allowed three runs and eight hits while walking three without striking out a batter in five innings for the Royals, who have lost three of their last four.