 Offensively, center fielder Curtis Granderson led the charge for New York, hitting his 8th and 9th homers off Sean O'Sullivan (L, 1-1) in the Yanks' 12-6 win. (Photo by Bill Menzel) YANKEE STADIUM -- No home run for A-Rod? No problem. Center fielder Curtis Granderson's pair of homers, which were part of a 12-run, 14-hit effort by the Yankees' offense, and a decent outing from starter Phil Hughes (W, 12-3) - abbreviated by a 2-hour and 32-minute rain delay - propelled New York (62-35) past the lowly Kansas City Royals 42-56), 12-6.
The win punctuated a 9-game home stand in which New York went 6-3. They won 2 out of 3 games versus the Tampa Bay Rays last weekend, split a 2-game set with the L.A. Angels of Anaheim on Tuesday and Wednesday, and took their Thursday to Sunday, 4-game series against Kansas City, 3 games to 1.
But before putting yesterday's game away in the eighth inning with a 5-run rally, the Yanks, along with 47,890 fans hoping to witness the 600th home run of Alex Rodriguez's career, instead found themselves shocked and concerned for him when reliever Blake Wood's 95 mph fastball dropped him to the floor.  Down goes A-Rod! It looked a lot worse at first than it actually was. (Photo by Bill Menzel)
The impact produced a pop-like sound that was heard from the pressbox. Since the at-bat took place with the bases loaded, the hit-by-pitch forced in a run that doubled New York's lead over K.C.,10-5. However, the game momentarily took a backseat to the health status of Rodriguez, who was grimacing in pain from what most people initially thought was a blow to the head area.
Luckily for Rodriguez, though, that wasn't the case.
"It got me on the [forearm] pad," said Rodriguez. "I have pretty much full strength. No question, that was the most dangerous moment. But I'm okay."
"[Alex] said he's fine; he has a purple mark and could squeeze [his hand] fine," said a relieved Joe Girardi. "It was such a scary moment when [the ball] is up there, but it grazed him."Minutes after being hit, Rodriguez got up, gingerly, and replays showed that he was, indeed, grazed in his left hand and arm.  Head athletic trainer Gene Monahan and Joe Girardi walk A-Rod off the field. (Photo by Bill Menzel)
Juan Miranda would come in to run for Rodriguez, who expects to be in the lineup tonight when his team takes on the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field.
Starter Phil Hughes pitched 5.1 innings and allowed 3 runs on 4 hits, 2 of which were home runs from Scott Podsednik and Rick Ankiel that accounted for every run K.C. scored off him.  Fortunately for Phil Hughes (W, 12-3), there was only one guy named Scott Podsednik playing for Kansas City. (Photo by Bill Menzel)
Podsednik, who led off the game with a single up the middle, gave Kansas City a 2-0 lead in the third inning with the 1st of his 2 long balls, a 2-run home run (4) off the left field foul pole.
Curtis Granderson started the Yankees' half of the inning with a leadoff, solo homer (8) to right off Royals starter Sean O'Sullivan (L, 1-1) (5.0 IP, 7H, 5R), who actually beat New York earlier this week as a member of the Angels before he was traded to Kansas City.
Later that inning, the Yankees rallied for 3 more runs to take a 4-2 lead on Derek Jeter's RBI double, Mark Teixeira's RBI, infield single to third, and Alex Rodriguez's RBI double to left that scored Teixeira from first.
Rick Ankiel cut the Yankees' lead to 4-3 in the fourth, when he hit a monstrous, solo home run (4) off the facade of the third tier in right.
Said Hughes of the blast, "That definitely made up for the distance that [Podsednik's first home run] didn't have."
In the bottom of the fourth, Granderson homered (9) for the second time in the game, which marked his 5th career multi-home run game, and his first since July 29, 2009, when he hit two against the Rangers at Texas as a member of the Detroit Tigers.
In addition to marking the 9th time a Yankee has homered twice in the same game this season, the blast made Granderson the 6th Yankee - after Teixeira, Jeter, Rodriguez, Robinson Cano and Nick Swisher - to have a multi-homer game.
"It's always good to get things started," Granderson told Latino Sports. "I was trying to go out there and get a feel for things. I got good pitches to hit and I put good swings on them."
After fouling a 2-1 pitch off his left foot in the fifth inning, Alex Rodriguez went down in pain. Rodriguez's discomfort was temporary, and Joe Girardi and assistant trainer Steve Donahue, after a brief word with the 3-time AL MVP, jogged back into the dugout. Rodriguez eventually grounded out to short (6-3) in that at-bat.
As heavy rainfall forced the exposed portion of the sellout crowd to run for cover, Phil Hughes struck Wilson Betemit out looking for the 1st out of the sixth. Then, the Stadium grounds crew, at 2:59 p.m., raced onto the field and covered the infield with the tarp.  For the 2nd time this week, the rain forced the YMCA Boys to earn their money. (Photo by Bill Menzel)
Play would resume at 5:31 p.m. (after 2 hours and 32 minutes), at which time lefty reliever Boone Logan took over pitching duties for Hughes.
Brett Gardner's sixth-inning, RBI double to left made it 7-3, and in the seventh, Rodriguez, facing reliever Kanekoa Texeira with two on and 1 out in his 4th at-bat of the day, smashed a one-hopper second baseman Mike Aviles couldn't handle that brought in Swisher.
Down 7-3 entering the eighth, the game seemed to have shut on the lowly Royals, but Joba Chamberlain kicked it back open in the eighth by yielding Scott Podsednik's 2nd homer (5) of the afternoon - a 2-run blast to right - that got his team back in it at 7-5.
Podsednik, who hadn't hit multiple home runs in the same game since April 17, 2004, vs. the Houston Astros as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers, now has 3 career multi-homer games.
In the New York eighth, Nick Swisher kicked off a 5-run rally with a 2-run single off reliever Blake Wood that provided the Yanks with more breathing room at 9-5. The next batter, Teixeira, singled through the right side to load the bases for Rodriguez.
Every fan still around after the delay stood up cheering at that point, knowing it would be Rodriguez's last chance to hit number 600 at home. Rodriguez took Wood's first pitch, a 95 mph fastball, for a called strike; laid off another heater for a ball; and came out of his shoes to swing at a 96 mph fastball he missed for strike 2.
On his follow-through, Rodriguez dropped to one knee a la Reggie Jackson. Wood's next pitch was the one that knocked the Yankee third baseman out of the game. A-Rod would be redeemed by his close friend and teammate, Robinson Cano, who, like Posada on Saturday, reached a personal milestone of his own that involved the number 1,000, only his was for hits.  In his 3, 232nd at-bat, Robinson Cano got his 1,000th career hit, making him the 3rd quickest homegrown Yankee - behind Derek Jeter (3,112) and Don Mattingly (3,042) - to reach the mark. (Photo by Bill Menzel)
Cano's 1,000th hit was a 2-run, ground-rule double to right that wrapped up the Yankees' scoring at a dozen runs.
With reliever Chan Ho Park on the mound, Ankiel, standing at third, scored a meaningless run for Kansas City in the ninth that made it 12-6 on a catching error Posada (E, 6) made at home plate. Three batters later, Park brought yesterday's protracted game to a merciful end by getting Podsednik to fly out to left for the last out.
Tonight, Javier Vazquez (8-7, 4.68 ERA) takes the hill for New York opposite the Cleveland Indians' Jake Westbrook (6-6, 4.74 ERA) at 7:05 p.m. (ET).
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