Saturday, May 1, 2010

All About New York: Jeter Powers Yankees; Barajas Lifts Mets to 8th Straight

Players of the Day for Friday, April 30, 2010 American League While the Rays were losing, 3-2, to Kansas City, the Yankees were making hay against the White Sox, beating the windy city invaders by a 6-4 score. The Yankees win and Rays loss tightened the race in the AL East down to a 1 1/2 game lead for Tampa Bay. Leading off and leading the way for the Yankees was 10-time all star shortstop Derek Jeter, who got the Yanks back into the game after Chicago had taken an early 4-2 lead. Jeter came to the plate with 2 out in the bottom of the 5th and Brett Gardner on second and delivered his 4th home run of the season, tying the game at 4-all. In the 7th inning, Jeter again got to the plate, this time with a pair of runners aboard, and smacked a triple to right scoring two and providing the Yankees with the winning margin. Jeter scored twice and drove in four runs, going 3-for-4 on the night. Jeter, who finished last season 3rd in hitting with a .334 average, is off to a hot start, batting .330 over his first 21 games. National League That other New York team, the Mets, won their 8th straight on Friday, taking a poke at the reigning NL champion Phillies with a 9-1 thrashing, which improved their edge over the Phillies to 1 1/2 games, though another surprise, the Nationals, took over second place in the division, a game behind the Mets. The game was the first of a three-game set in Philly, and the Mets got off to an early 3-0 lead on 2nd-inning home runs by David Wright and Jeff Francoeur. Philly scored what became their only run of the game in the bottom of the 2nd. Catcher Rod Barajas extended the lead with the first of two solo homers in the 5th inning, doubled home two more runs and scored in the 7th and hit his second solo shot in the 9th, just for good measure. Barajas was 3-for-4, with 3 runs scored and 3 RBI. The Phillies could muster only 4 hits off mets' starter Jonathon Niese, and had two more hits against a pair of Met relievers.

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