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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Yankees are playing like the Bronx
Bombers once again.
|  | | Paul O'Neill, right, gets a pat on the head from Derek Jeter after smacking a three-run homer off Twins starter Eric Milton in the fourth inning Saturday at Yankee Stadium. |
Scott Brosius, Paul O'Neill and Jorge Posada homered as New York
pounded Eric Milton for eight runs in a 13-4 rain-shortened victory
over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday.
"We have power right down the lineup," manager Joe Torre said
after the Yankees won for the ninth time in 12 games. "We really
have some thumpers now."
Not even two spectacular catches by Minnesota center fielder
Torii Hunter could slow down the Yankees' offense, which leads the
majors with 319 runs since the All-Star break.
New York scored five in the third inning despite Hunter's
tumbling catch on the warning track with the bases loaded. The
Yankees added three in the fourth on O'Neill's 17th homer, and five
in the sixth, highlighted by Posada's 25th homer, to move a
season-high six games ahead of Boston in the AL East.
"This team is starting to click right now," starter Denny
Neagle said. "We're hitting on all cylinders. We're getting good
defense, and obviously the guys are hitting the ball well."
The game was called after a 38-minute rain delay in the eighth
inning with streaks of lightning, heavy thunder and a downpour
sending 47,438 fans scrambling for cover on Old Timers Day.
Neagle (5-4), who allowed seven runs in the first innings of his
last two starts, pitched a perfect opening frame. But he wasn't
very effective after that, allowing four runs and eight hits in 5
1-3 innings.
"I'm trying to make the perfect pitch," Neagle said. "Every
time there's a guy on base I start tinkering. My problems right now
are more mental than physical."
Not that it mattered on this day.
The Yankees have won three World Series titles in the past four
years based mostly on pitching, not the prodigious power that made
them baseball's most successful franchise.
But it's been a revived offense in the second half that has
helped New York open up ground in the AL East. The Yankees led the
league with 45 homers in August and already have six in the first
two games in September.
After hitting only 100 homers in the first 83 games, New York
has 74 in 49 games since the All-Star break.
"No question," Torre said when asked if this was the most
powerful lineup he's had in five years in New York. "We've got pop
from both sides of the plate."
Brosius led off the third against Milton (12-8) with his 13th
homer, tying the game at 1. Derek Jeter singled, Posada walked and
O'Neill singled to load the bases. Milton hit Bernie Williams on
the right foot with a pitch to score Jeter.
Hunter then robbed Glenallen Hill of extra bases with his first
brilliant catch, but Posada scored easily on the play. Two more
runs scored when catcher Chad Moeller threw a ball into left field
on a double steal to make it 5-1.
"You can't afford to make mistakes, especially against a team
like the Yankees," Twins manager Tom Kelly said. "You have to
play a perfect game or they are going to whoop on you."
Hunter also robbed Brosius of another extra-base hit when he
crashed into the wall to make a catch in the sixth inning, but he
liked the first play more.
"I wasn't sure if I could get it," he said. "But I knew if it
dropped it's two or three runs and if I get it it's only one. I
just went all out and made the catch."
Jay Canizaro had an RBI single in the third and a two-run homer
in the fifth for Minnesota. Milton, who won twice this year against his former team, allowed
eight runs (six earned) and seven hits in four innings. Jason Grimsley got seven outs for his first save since July 17,
1999, and third of his career.
Game notes
The Yankees were 17th in scoring before the All-Star break.
... Jeter scored three times, giving him 102 runs on the season -- the fifth time in his five-year career that he has reached the
100-run mark. ... Jose Canseco, making a rare start in left field,
got an ovation after making a running catch in the second. He also
struck out three times and walked with the bases loaded to extend
his hitless stretch to 13 at-bats. ... The Twins have 22 homers in
the past 24 games, but are still last in the majors with 104 on the
season. ... O'Neill, who singled, doubled and homered, left in the
sixth inning. He has been bothered recently by a right hip pointer.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Minnesota Clubhouse
NY Yankees Clubhouse
Steinbrenner's comments anger injured Knoblauch
RECAPS
Seattle 4
Boston 1
Baltimore 8
Cleveland 6
Oakland 8
Toronto 0
Kansas City 7
Tampa Bay 5
NY Yankees 13
Minnesota 4
Detroit 5
Texas 3
Chi. White Sox 13
Anaheim 6
St. Louis 2
NY Mets 1
Milwaukee 8
Colorado 3
San Francisco 13
Chicago Cubs 2
Montreal 9
Cincinnati 5
Atlanta 8
Houston 6
Florida 10
Arizona 1
Pittsburgh 6
San Diego 3
Los Angeles 1
Philadelphia 0
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