It was a good and busy weekend at the Stadium for the Yankees. the Yankees managed to take three out of four games from Baltimore and increase their lead over the Red Sox to 9.5 games. The big trade that everyone wanted to see (Randy Johnson coming to the big Apple) did not happen, but Cashman was able to unload the inconsistent Jose Contreras for the steady Esteban Loaiza.
On Friday night, Kevin Brown returned to the hill for the first time since June 9th. Brown gave up only one run, a solo home run to B.J. Surhoff in the third inning. In six and one-third inning he allowed four hits, two walks and five strikeouts. He looked impressive. Equally impressive was Daniel Cabrera, the tall rookie righty from Baltimore. Cabrera went six and one-third innings, allowing two earned runs, striking out one, walking three and allowing seven hits. Alex Rodriguez drove in both Yankees runs. The Yankees won 2-1.
Saturday's contest started as a pitcher's duel between Erik Bedard and Javier Vasquez. That lasted only four innings before the Yankes managed to put a nice crooked number in the fourth inning, getting to Bedard for wo runs. Bedard would not make it out of the fifth inning, giving up five earned runs while allowing nine hits. Javier Vasquez has another unimpressive start. Staked to a 5-1 lead going into the sixth inning, Vasquez gave up three runs and needed to be replaced by Scott Proctor. Proctor, Quantrill, Gordon and Rivera were able to shut down the Orioles the rest of the way. The Yankees tacked one one more run to win the contest 6-4.
Orlando Hernandez took the mound for the Yankees on Sunday and picked up where he left off. The crafty Cuban went five innings, striking out nine while scattering nine hits and allowing three earned runs. It was good enough to earn him his third win of the year. Rodrigo Lopez could only make it into the fifth inning before giving up eight earned runs. Alex Rodriguez, Tony Clark and Kenny Lofton all hit home runs, as they Yankees went on to a 9-7 win.
Off the field, the Yankees managed to trade Jose Contreras to the Chicago White Sox for Esteban Loazia had been a journeymen pitcher in the league before his break-out season last year. He was runner up for the CY Young last year, posting a 21-9 record with a 2.90 ERA and 207 strikeouts. This year Loazia is 9-5 with a 4.86 ERA and only 83 strikeouts. Conreras was inconsistent all year and could never been counted on.
In other off the field news it looks like the Yankees are close to bring John Olerud on board. Jason Giambi was diagnosed with a benign tumor and was placed on the 15-Day DL. giambi does not think he is out for the rest of the season. Nomar Garciaparra was traded from the Red Sox to the Cubs. The Red Sox received Orlando Cabrera and Doug Mientkiewicz. Paul Lo Duca, Juan Encarnacion and Guillermo Mota were traded to Florida from Los Angeles for Brad Penny, Bill Murphy (AA pitcher) and Hee Seop Choi. Steve Finley later came to the Dodgers for Bill Murphy in a deal with Arizona.
The Yankees have today off and then the surging Oakland A's come to visit the stadium for a three game series. Mark Mulder (14-3, 3.43) Vs. Jon Lieber (7-6, 4.75) kicks off the series.
