Wednesday, April 24, 2002
Yankees 2, A's 1
Giambi answers boobirds with win
OAKLAND, Calif. — Jason Giambi tried not to take it personally. Showered with boos in his first trip to Oakland as a Yankee, Giambi doubled then scored on Jorge Posada's home run in the seventh inning as New York beat the Athletics 2-1.
“Yeah, there was a lot of booing, but it was done in a good way. They let their feelings go. That was OK,” Giambi said. “I understand, I guess.”
Orlando Hernandez (3-1) improved to 5-0 in seven starts against Oakland and helped the Yankees snap their six-game regular-season losing streak at the Coliseum.
Hernandez allowed one run on five hits and struck out 11 — the fourth time in his career he's had 10 or more strikeouts.
Mariano Rivera retired pinch-hitter Greg Myers on a popup with runners on the corners and two outs for his sixth save in eight opportunities.
But all eyes were on Giambi, the 2000 AL MVP, who left the A's in the offseason when the Yankees gave him a seven-year deal worth $120 million.
Although he did get a smattering of applause, Giambi was mostly booed for each of his at-bats. One fan even threw back a foul ball.
But in the seventh, Giambi, who went 2-for-4, hammered a double into the gap in left-center off Tim Hudson (2-2). Posada then hit a 2-0 pitch over the right-field wall.
“I wouldn't be human if I said it didn't affect me,” Giambi said about the boos. “But it's just not personal and I don't want to take it personal.”
Hudson allowed the two runs on four hits in his eighth career complete game, and his first of the season. He has never been able to beat the Yankees, going 0-2 in four starts.
Facing Giambi was weird, Hudson said.
“He looked so serious up there,”' Hudson laughed. “I'd never seen that side of him.”
The A's took an early lead with Miguel Tejada's solo homer to left-center off Hernandez in second. The homer, on a 2-1 pitch, was Tejada's third of the season.
The Giambi-bashers in the crowd chanted “MVP! MVP!” when young Carlos Pena, the A's new first baseman, batted in the same inning.
“I was just trying to throw strikes, that's it,” Hernandez said through an interpreter. “Just because you give up a home run, you can't lose your focus. Homers are part of the game.”
The A's got out of a jam in the second, when Posada doubled with one out and went to third on Hudson's wild pitch to Robin Ventura, who walked. Rondell White also walked to load the bases, but John Vander Wal grounded into a double play to end it.
Alfonso Soriano went 0-for-4, ending his career-high 10-game hitting streak. During the streak, he raised his average from .317 to .395.
A crowd of 40,360 came to see Giambi's return as a Yankee. Hudson said he hoped the fans calmed a bit for the next two games of the three-game set.
“He's too good a guy to hound him like that,” he said. “Hopefully as the series goes on that will die down.”
Giambi hoped the fans would come to understand his decision.
“It hasn't changed the person I am. I still have all my tattoos — I even added one. I still go out and have fun,” he said. “It's just a different situation.”
Notes: The Yankees won for the first time this season when trailing after six innings. ... New York LHP Sterling Hitchcock, on the disabled list with a lower back strain, was scheduled to pitch five innings for Triple-A Tampa on Thursday. ... OF Jermaine Dye was not in Oakland's lineup Tuesday night, despite his imminent return from the disabled list. Dye broke his left leg in Game 4 of last season's playoffs against the Yankees and has yet to play for the A's this season. ... The A's concluded their season-opening stretch of 19 straight games against AL West opponents with an 11-8 record. ... Soriano had an error at second in the eighth. He has eight of the Yankees' 19 miscues. ... Hernandez has thrown 13 strikes in a game twice. ... The A's have homered in 10 straight games.
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Yankees 2, A's 1
