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A-Rod silent again as Yankees blast White Sox

Aug 2, 2007 - 3:34 AM By Larry Fleisher PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

BRONX, New York (Ticker) - While waiting for Alex Rodriguez to make history, the New York Yankees continued their home run barrage.

Rodriguez remained stuck on 499 career home runs but the Yankees hit five more homers in an 8-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night.

The Yankees won for the 14th time in their last 19 games and have scored 62 runs in their last four home games. They have also hit 21 home runs in that stretch, including a franchise-record eight by seven different players in a series-opening 16-3 win on Tuesday.

After Tuesday's record-tying display, the Yankees put together a pair of three-run innings on Wednesday. Jorge Posada homered twice and Robinson Cano, rookie Shelley Duncan and captain Derek Jeter homered as well.

"You're just enjoying it," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "It's just incredible. Everytime somebody swings the bat, it's over the fence."

That gave the Yankees 13 home runs in their last two games, which also ties a club record for home runs in consecutive games. They belted 13 in a doubleheader at Philadelphia on June 28, 1939.

While Posada, Cano and Duncan homered for the second straight night, Rodriguez kept those looking to capture history on film waiting as he was 0-for-4. He flied out to left field in each of his first two at-bats and grounded out to lead off the fifth off rookie reliever Boone Logan.

"That's not distracting," Rodriguez said of the cameras in the stands. "That's been going on since Kansas City."

"You know he's trying to get this thing over with," Torre said. "We'd all like to see it happen but I don't care if it takes three weeks, four weeks. He just needs to play baseball, that's all."

Rodriguez's final at-bat came in the seventh against Ryan Bukvich. He reached a full count and grounded out to third base, sending many in the crowd of 53,342 headed for the exits.

"Every time I've gone up to the plate, we've been winning by five or six if not 10 runs so I just kind of got lost in the game a little bit and not trying to do too much," Rodriguez said.

Since hitting his 499th career home run off Gil Meche a week ago in Kansas City, Rodriguez has gone hitless in a career-high 21 at-bats. He appeared to be pressing in the final game in Kansas City and in the series at Baltimore, but encouraged manager Joe Torre with three hard flyouts in an 0-for-5 showing in Tuesday's 16-3 rout.

"He's going to hit a home run eventually," Jeter said. "Whether it's tomorrow or two months from now, it doesn't make a difference. Our job is to win games. We'd like for him to get the home run, get it out of the way but more importantly we want to win games."

"After he gets a hit, he's obviously going to do it," Posada added. "He's trying to hit a home run and that's probably the toughest thing to do."

While Rodriguez's slump continued, Posada, Cano and Duncan remained hot.

Posada started the Yankees' scoring with a two-run home run in the second inning off Chicago rookie starter John Danks.

After the Yankees added a run on an RBI single by Melky Cabrera, Cano extended the lead to 4-1 with a solo shot over the right-center field in the fourth.

It was Cano's 10th home run of the season and sixth since July 1.

The Yankees were not finished hitting the ball out of Yankee Stadium.

After Andy Phillips reached on an error by third baseman Josh Fields, Duncan hit a 1-0 pitch over the left-center field fence.

It was the fifth home run for Duncan, who also hit a pinch-hit blast Tuesday and had 25 homers for Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre before joining the Yankees on July 20.

"I love it," Duncan said of the curtain calls. "Everytime I come up, the buzz I get from them, it gives me a lot of adrenaline."

New York added a run in the seventh when Jeter hit his eighth home run of the season and first at home since June 16.

Posada capped the scoring in the eighth with a solo homer, his 14th blast of the season and fourth in four games.

"(We made) bad pitches," Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said. "They have a good hitting team. You make mistakes with them and they will make you pay."

The five home runs provided enough support for Andy Pettitte (7-7), who recorded his 40th career victory in August. The lefthander allowed a run-scoring triple to Scott Podsednik among his six hits in seven innings.

"They've been swinging the bats great," Pettitte said. "It makes it a lot easier to pitch when you have a little cushion and you know the guys are feeling good at the plate and stuff like that. So it was good. We're swinging the bats well and it's great to see (that) we came home and got this homestand off to a good start."

Danks (6-8) lasted four innings and allowed six runs and six hits.

Danks' short outing was not the only source of frustration for the White Sox, who have lost five in a row to the Yankees. A night after Guillen and first baseman Paul Konerko were ejected by plate umpire Phil Cuzzi for arguing balls and strikes, Chicago encountered another problem with the umpiring.

After Posada's second home run, Charlie Haeger plunked Cano with a knuckleball. He immediately was tossed by plate umpire Tom Hallion.

Haeger and Guillen each expressed their anger with the call.

"It's funny. The only thing I wish is Major League Baseball look at that kind of stuff and see what's really going on," Guillen said. "I don't see anybody trying to make a point with a knuckleball."

"It got away and it hit him," said Haeger, who was optioned to Class AAA Charlotte after the game. "That's just a terrible call. I didn't really hear much. I was more dumbfounded. If I'm going to intentionally hit a guy, would I throw 69 (miles per hour)? I can't even describe what kind of call that was."