Yanks Hold Wildcard Lead For The Day

It started quickly, on the first pitch of the game when Derek Jeter homered on the first pitch of the game.



The A's have been one of the hottest clubs in baseball over the last 3 1/2 months but consecutive series' against division rivals Angels and the Yankees might have proven to be too much. Even ace Barry Zito was battered by the Yanks who rebounded from an opening series 12-0 loss to win the next two by a 14-3 aggragate.

The Yankees are now leading the AL Wildcard race, one game in front of Oakland and two up on Cleveland after a 4-3 road trip, and trail Boston by 3-1/2 games in the AL East.

Today, in a rare Monday matinee in Oakland, they'll face the youngest arm in the majors, Seattle's 19-year-old Felix Hernandez, who has posted a 1.84 ERA in his first month in the majors.

Meanwhile, the Indians dropped a second straight to the Twins and the Angels defeated the Seattle Mariners to regain a foothold on first place of the AL West.


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Junior Passes Mantle

Griffey hit his 536th homer yesterday, tying Mantle for 12th on the career list. His 35th of the season came off Horacio Ramirez in the first inning of an 8-3 victory in Atlanta.


The loss by the Braves was not very significant. Their closest rivals for the NL East, Philadelphia and the Florida Marlins both lost so ground was only gained by the Nats, who'd beaten the Phillies for a second straight day and the Mets, who managed to salvage a victory out of an otherwise disappointing beginning to the mother of all road trips taking them to Florida, Atlanta and then St Louis, 10 games in all.

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Hot since the break: the Yankees' Rodriguez (.335, 17 homers, 36 RBIs, a 1.100 OPS), Cleveland's Martinez (.393, 9, 34, 1.069), the Mets' David Wright (.371, 10, 42, 1.054). Not since the break: Minnesota's Justin Morneau (.198, though he has seven homers), Oakland's Jason Kendall (.219, no homers) and Houston's Craig Biggio (.233, five homers).

*****Weekend Shots*****


Hey, Ralph Friedgen, how about another 400 hot dogs? (Twerps barely beat Navy 23-20)

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Virginia cornerback Marcus Hamilton (3) flying in for the kill on Western Michigan wide receiver Greg Jennings. (VA rolled)

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Tonight, Miami takes on Florida State to decide the fictional championship of Florida.