Kennedy stars, but Yanks' streak ends

Kennedy stars, but Yanks' streak ends

Right-hander holds Blue Jays to one hit in third big league start

By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com

TORONTO -- At this stage of Ian Kennedy's young career, every start is an opportunity to try out new approaches, test his limits and see what outcomes he might have to deal with.

No one was expecting Kennedy to throw seven innings of one-hit ball. Once he did, few would have predicted it would end up in a Yankees loss.

Frank Thomas' ninth-inning single off reliever Chris Britton scored Alex Rios with the winning run as the Blue Jays defeated the Yankees on Thursday, 2-1, snapping New York's seven-game winning streak and spoiling Kennedy's terrific third Major League start.

"The third game felt a lot more like I was pitching anywhere else, like anywhere in the Minor Leagues," Kennedy said. "With one run, you're not going to win too many ballgames, scoring one run."

As sharp as Kennedy was, Toronto starter A.J. Burnett brought a performance to match, scattering four hits over eight innings, striking out eight. He made just one glaring mistake: Johnny Damon tied the game in the sixth inning with his 11th home run, a soaring shot that landed in the second deck of seats in right field, beneath the restaurant windows.

"I was just fortunate to be able to tie up the game," Damon said. "The guy is one of the best pitchers around. We had some chances. ... It seems like every time he pitches, he's pretty good. Tonight, he was spotting his fastball inside, up and down. His curveball is one of the best, also."

After Luis Vizcaino recorded three outs in relief of Kennedy's seven-plus-inning gem, and Melky Cabrera grounded out with two aboard to end the top of the ninth inning, the Yankees turned to the right-hander Britton for the bottom half.

Most of Britton's action has come with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this season, but the Yankees were unable to use Kyle Farnsworth due to a neck injury. Vizcaino had not pitched recently due to various injuries, and Joba Chamberlain was unavailable after throwing 35 pitches in Wednesday's victory.

Had the Yankees taken the lead in the ninth inning, manager Joe Torre said he would have gone to closer Mariano Rivera, but instead he chose Britton over September callup Jose Veras because of the former's strike-throwing ability.

Unfortunately for Britton, two of his strikes caught too much of the plate. Rios started the inning with a sharp single and stole second before Thomas ripped a bouncing ball up the middle, scoring Rios ahead of Cabrera's throw on a slide into the plate.

"It's very disappointing," Britton said. "Nobody wants to lose."

The tough defeat stained Kennedy's impressive performance, though only in finality. For the first seven innings, Kennedy shone, showing Toronto the full arsenal of talent that prompted the Yankees to make him a first-round selection in 2006 from the University of Southern California.

"They're a good fastball-hitting team, so I tried to throw a lot of changeups and curveballs," Kennedy said. "Mix it up. That's what I've got to do. I don't throw 97 [mph], like Burnett."

Kennedy permitted a first-inning run when Thomas doubled home Russ Adams, who had walked, with a drive to center field that eluded Cabrera near the wall.

After the Thomas double, Kennedy retired 15 batters in a row before issuing a two-out walk to Adams in the sixth, then continued to blank the Jays before leaving with one runner on in the eighth.

"He seemed pretty poised," Thomas said. "He wasn't afraid of the strike zone like most young guys. He didn't seem intimidated at all. He pitched his game, hit his spots in and out. He kept the guys off balance, and that's big league pitching."

Even the Thomas double, which Cabrera appeared to lose track of as he closed in on the padded blue fence, may have been catchable. Torre said that Cabrera has made similar plays before, and Kennedy thought the ball would be caught as well.

"I looked at the replay, and you could see the wall was right there as the ball was getting there," Torre said. "I'm sure he probably could have caught it, but I'm not saying he should have."

Yet the Yankees could not get anything going. Derek Jeter followed the Damon sixth-inning home run with a single and Bobby Abreu walked, but Hideki Matsui lined out to first baseman Lyle Overbay, ending the threat.

In the end, though, the lack of run support couldn't be blamed on Kennedy, who continues to exceed all expectations after a quick rise this season all the way from Class A Tampa. Kennedy's performance will create a pleasant but difficult set of problems for Torre and pitching coach Ron Guidry, who plan to meet in Boston to discuss -- among other options -- the concept of utilizing a six-man pitching staff that includes Kennedy.

With just 16 games remaining before the completion of the regular season, innings could grow tight, especially with Roger Clemens insisting that his right elbow is ready for duty and Mike Mussina all but begging for another chance to prove his revival.

Kennedy said he won't concern himself with such issues, preferring to leave any pondering over the difficult decisions to the Yankee brain trust.

"If I keep doing well, they hopefully will find a way to put me out there," he said. "I can't really think about that."

Hughes keeps Yanks streaking

Hughes keeps Yanks streaking

Backed by Giambi's slam, rookie turns in six stellar frames

By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com

TORONTO -- Manager Joe Torre sat within a cramped, concrete office at Rogers Centre on Tuesday, allowing himself a smile of temporary content. Finally, his long-held personal goal of 20 games over .500 had been achieved.

That significant marker of October premonitions, voiced for months by Torre in dugouts across America under far bleaker circumstances, finally came to light.

Jason Giambi hit a grand slam, Jorge Posada also homered and Phil Hughes turned in six strong innings as the Yankees won their sixth straight, downing the Blue Jays, 9-2.

"We're in a situation where we have our fate in our hands," Torre said.

The fifth-inning grand slam, Giambi's first home run since Aug. 26, chased Toronto starter Shaun Marcum and opened up a six-run advantage for the American League Wild Card-leading Yankees, who remained four games ahead of the Tigers and moved six in front of the fading Mariners.

"You've got too many veteran players that have been through a lot of situations to start counting," Giambi said. "Guys just keep the ball rolling, and you want to carry it through, hopefully, to the postseason. Right now, we're playing great baseball, and you don't want to change anything."

That was easy for Giambi to say. The slugger's 13th homer snapped a personal 2-for-28 slide and relieved a hearty amount of self-inflicted pressure from the midst of an extended struggle.

Giambi jokingly referred to the 1982 movie "An Officer and a Gentleman" as he described his angst, wondering aloud what his fate might have been had he not come through in the bases-loaded, one-out situation.

The outcome of the game was still very much in question as Giambi stepped to the plate; not so much as he watched the opposite-field drive clear the wall, making the 360-foot trot on the same diamond where he suffered a torn plantar fascia in late May, costing him two months of at-bats but leaving him fresher for the playoff push.

"I've been taking good at-bats, but I haven't gotten a hit," Giambi said. "That was a big one to get off my back in a big situation. Hopefully, I go forward, because I've been swinging the bat decent and getting robbed here and there. After a while, it gets frustrating."

"Jason knows what to do," said Johnny Damon. "He's been in these situations many times leading teams to the postseason. With Jason in the seventh hole, that just makes our lineup so much better."

Giambi's fortunes, and the Yankees', turned once more as Marcum left a high fastball up, his 90th pitch and the one that wound up ending the right-hander's night after yielding eight runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings.

The Yankees' damage included a run-scoring wild pitch and Posada's home run -- his 20th, and his fifth this month, in what would be a candidate for the team MVP Award if Alex Rodriguez weren't far and away the runaway choice for league honors.

"It's all about adrenaline, this time of year. You're down inside 20 games to play and you've got something to play for."

-- Yankees manager Joe Torre

Later, in the eighth inning, Posada would need a two-minute breather as a foul ball wrenched the metal of his face mask. More typical respites would be preferable, but it's not as though there is ample time to rest.

"Nobody's fresh," Posada said. "You've just got to go out there and play these games. They mean a lot. You have to keep going out and doing it."

Damon had a two-run single in the second inning and also contributed a diving grab in left-center to aid the 21-year-old Hughes, who logged his first victory since Aug. 10 after battling early control problems.

After leaving the bases loaded in the first inning by getting Aaron Hill to hit back to the mound, thus escaping unscathed from two walks and a hit, Hughes flirted with trouble again in the second inning.

Vernon Wells appeared to have a big hit when he ripped a drive up the gap in left-center field, but Damon -- also running on fresher legs late in the season -- caught up to it, snaring the ball with a full-extension drive.

Hughes' luck would last just one more batter, as Russ Adams came through with a two-run single, but Hughes seemed to calm from there.

Acknowledging that he did not possess his best swing-and-miss stuff, Hughes focused more on pitching to spots and not trying to be too fine, inducing an array of grounders, popups and fly balls while striking out just one batter: Wells, the first he faced.

"I was still aggressive," Hughes said. "I wasn't going to try to nip every corner. I'm not going to change my approach just because my stuff isn't there. I'll still throw fastballs early in the count."

"He just settled in," Torre said. "He just seemed to relax. The last few innings were great."

Pitching well for the second consecutive start after taking a no-decision last time out vs. Seattle, Hughes threw 106 pitches. He allowed two runs (one earned), scattering three hits.

With the game well in hand, Edwar Ramirez recorded six outs -- five via strikeout -- and Ross Ohlendorf came on to make his Major League debut in the ninth inning, retiring Toronto in order while striking out the first man he faced, Lyle Overbay.

Ohlendorf, a starter who had recently been converted to a relief role, could be "very interesting" in the future, Torre said.

Indeed, it was a night for new beginnings. After taking nearly the entire season to get to the 20-games-over .500 mark, Torre said the new goal is now to fall beneath once more.

"It's all about adrenaline, this time of year," Torre said. "You're down inside 20 games to play and you've got something to play for."

Selig chooses not to discipline Giambi

Selig chooses not to discipline Giambi

'Appropriate decision' based on veteran's charitable endeavors

By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com

TORONTO -- Yankees slugger Jason Giambi won't face any disciplinary actions from Major League Baseball for his comments about his own use of performance-enhancing drugs, which received wide circulation in May, Commissioner Bud Selig said Thursday.

The decision comes a little more than a month after Giambi met with former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell and members of his law firm, DLA Piper, which has been investigating MLB's so-called steroids era for the past 17 months. Selig had demanded that Giambi meet with Mitchell before determining whether there should be any action.

"There's more to it than that," Selig told reporters after Thursday morning's owners meetings broke without a vote on any items. "He's doing a lot of public service work. He was forthright with Senator Mitchell -- at least that was Senator Mitchell's conclusion. I think with all the off-field charitable activities he's doing, this will do more good. Given everything, this is an appropriate decision."

Selig said that Giambi, who is earning $20 million this season, intends to donate $50,000 to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America and make an additional $50,000 contribution in cash or equipment to the Harlem chapter of the RBI program. In addition, Giambi has agreed to make an appearance this offseason at MLB's Youth Academy in Compton, Calif.

"I'm happy with it," Giambi said in New York before the Yankees started a four-game series with the Tigers. "Now I can move forward and not hurt the ballclub by taking a suspension or anything like that."

On Aug. 7, Giambi was reinstated by the Yankees from the disabled list after a left foot injury kept him from playing since May 30. Giambi is currently batting .270 with nine home runs and 26 RBIs in 51 games.

Giambi has one guaranteed year remaining on the seven-year, $120 million free-agent contract he signed prior to the 2002 season. Because the deal was back-loaded, he is owed $21 million for next season and at least a $5 million buyout for 2009.

Yankees officials, here for the meetings, were not aware of the Commissioner's decision until they were told about it by reporters.

After reading a press release, Yankees president Randy Levine said that the club was fully supportive of Selig's decision.

"The Commissioner took the action and he's the person empowered with doing this, and we support his decision," Levine said.

"And it's clearly appropriate," added Lonn Trost, the club's chief operating officer.

Giambi, after essentially publicly admitting his use of performance-enhancing drugs, was the first active player to meet with the committee that was established last year to investigate who did what and when during MLB's steroids era. Selig said on Thursday that Giambi's situation was special and he didn't plan to intervene in any others as far as the players are concerned.

"Senator Mitchell does that," Selig said. "This was a special circumstance. I have no other plans to do anything."

Officials from MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association reached a compromise regarding the context under which Giambi would speak about his past use of performance-enhancing drugs before he met with Mitchell's committee.

Giambi didn't have to talk about other players. In addition, there was no transcript or recording of the meeting.

On June 6, Selig gave Giambi a two-week deadline to make a decision about meeting with Mitchell and then reportedly threatened to suspend him if he did not comply.

The fact that Giambi agreed to a meeting was a breakthrough for the committee. During his investigation, Mitchell has had little cooperation from either the Players Association or the individual current players, who previously have all declined to meet with his group.

Mitchell was charged with investigating and submitting a report to MLB about the steroids issue in March 2006. This year, he has been negotiating with the Players Association to obtain medical documents and player interviews, but up until now, those efforts have been unsuccessful. His committee doesn't have the authority to subpoena documents or compel testimony.

Four years ago, Giambi was among a number of athletes who appeared before a grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative for money laundering and the illicit sale of performance-enhancing drugs. In his testimony, illegally leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle, Giambi admitted that he had used steroids, although the full text of that testimony has never been released.

Giambi came under pressure this season following the May 18 publication of statements he made to USA Today in which he vaguely talked about his drug use, saying he shouldn't have used "that stuff."

He also chastised MLB by saying: "What we should have done a long time ago was stand up -- players, ownership, everybody -- and said, 'We made a mistake.' We should have apologized back then and made sure we had a rule in place and gone forward."

Yanks celebrate ninth straight East title

Yanks celebrate ninth straight East title

Bombers fall to Jays, but clinch division with Red Sox loss

By Mark Feinsand / MLB.com

TORONTO -- It's not very often that you will see the Yankees whooping it up in the clubhouse after a loss. In fact, it's not very often that you will see the Yankees whoop it up after a win.

On Wednesday night, about 30 minutes after losing to the Blue Jays, 3-2, the Yankees sat and watched the Twins finish off the Red Sox, 8-2, on the big-screen television in the visitor's clubhouse at the Rogers Centre.

That's when the party started.

Corks were popping, champagne and beer was flying through the air and tears were flowing as the Yankees clinched their ninth straight American League East title.

"When the Twins got three runs in the top of the ninth, everybody grabbed a shirt and hat," said Mike Mussina, sporting a soaking-wet AL East championship T-shirt and backwards hat. "[Manager] Joe [Torre] gave his little toast to congratulate us on our accomplishment -- then we had a little fun."

"I just congratulated them, toasted them and told them how proud I was of them," Torre said. "It was simple."

The celebration scene looked like any other division-winning clubhouse in baseball, which is a little strange considering the regularity with which it has happened for the Yankees.

But with each new year comes new faces, as Bobby Abreu, Melky Cabrera and a host of other newcomers got their first taste of victory champagne in New York.

"This team always goes to the playoffs, so you always want to be part of this," Abreu said. "This is what it's all about: winning and celebrating."

"We have a lot of guys that haven't been here before, they're actually experiencing what we have over the years," Bernie Williams said. "As an old guy being here, year after year it never gets old. It's a great feeling of accomplishment."

Not that the celebrating was limited to the neophytes. Jorge Posada sprayed a group of people with champagne, Jason Giambi was smothered by teammates who covered him with beer, and even Derek Jeter, who has now been to the postseason in each of his 11 years in the Majors, was bombarded by Alex Rodriguez and a few other teammates pouring all sorts of things on him -- while he did a live TV interview.

"Every year is different because you have a different group of guys," Jeter said. "This is as special as any other year."

"It's fun that we were able to put something together that so many people didn't think you could do," Rodriguez said. "It's been a tough year -- a grinding type of year. I'm just proud of this bunch."

Nearly every player in the clubhouse singled out the contributions of the team's youth, from Cabrera to Chien-Ming Wang to Scott Proctor, each of whom played major roles in the Yankees' success this season.

"The injuries to Hideki [Matsui] and Sheff [Gary Sheffield] and the way the young kids stepped up into those roles, and the way Scott Proctor has emerged as a dominating force in the 'pen," Giambi said. "This has been the most gratifying division title I've ever been part of."

"Melky Cabrera came up and he was a big part in what we accomplished; we had key injuries, but he stepped up," Damon said. "Wang stepped up. Proctor stepped up. A bunch of these unsung guys that we know they're as important in this clubhouse. That's what makes championship teams."

Even Proctor himself admitted that this champagne celebration felt a lot more real to him than last year's at Fenway Park, when he was pitching at the back end of the bullpen.

"This was definitely more rewarding, because I actually felt like I did something this year," said Proctor. "I got some big outs, got to pitch in some big situations that helped get us where we are. It was very rewarding."

New York is now 92-60, holding on to a slim lead over Detroit for the best record in the AL. The Yankees will likely take on the AL Wild Card in the Division Series, with the Twins and Tigers looking like the potential opponents.

During the final two innings of the Red Sox-Twins game, Damon was watching more than the final score.

"We were also scouting the Twins now, too, so we were seeing what their pitchers were doing," Damon said. "They're on fire right now; they could be the hottest team going into the postseason."

Regardless of who they play in the first week of October, the Yankees' goal will be to advance further than they have in each of the past two years, when they were knocked out before the World Series.

Most consecutive division titles
Team	Titles	Years
Atlanta Braves	14	1991-2005
New York Yankees	9	1998-2006 *
New York Yankees	5	1960-1964
Oakland Athletics	5	1971-1975
New York Yankees	5	1949-1953
* -- Current streak Note: Divisional play began in 1969 and switched to three divisions per league in 1994. No division titles were awarded in '94 due to the strike which cancelled the postseason.

"We need to make this postseason a lot longer than it's been for us," Torre said. "This ballclub has a nice mix of youth and veterans, so hopefully we're poised to do something special. Whoever we have to face is going to be a battle for us, but we're certainly ready to do it."

"There's so much togetherness here; we support each other, and I hope I can be a part of helping this team win a championship," Damon said. "I want to get a championship for Giambi, get a championship for A-Rod, get a championship for Donnie Mattingly and whoever else has never won one. There's a lot of work to be done."

The Yankees' nine straight division titles now ranks as the longest active streak in the Majors. While some may believe that these celebrations could get tiresome, the players who have done it again and again couldn't disagree more.

"This is what you play for -- to get to the playoffs and have a chance to win a championship," Jeter said. "This is the first step."

"It just doesn't get old doing this, as many times as we have," Mussina said. "Hopefully we'll get to do it a few more times before the season is over."