 C.C. Sabathia (W, 19-5) dominated Oakland today, throwing 8 scoreless innings while giving up 1 hit in a 5-0 win that earned New York their 6th series sweep of 2010. (Photo by Bill Menzel) YANKEE STADIUM -- Oakland, California may be as tough a town as there is west of the Mississippi, but over these last four days the Bronx Bombers were the ones who kicked some serious A's.
Today, behind ace C.C. Sabathia's 8 shutout innings and Curtis Granderson's 6th career multi-home run game, the Yankees (84-50) were able to complete a 4-game sweep of the Oakland Athletics (65-68) with a 5-0 win.
Sabathia (W, 19-5), the one source of certainty in a starting rotation that has endured dreadful stretches of ineffectiveness by pitchers A.J. Burnett and Javier Vazquez and a strained left groin that has kept Andy Pettitte off the field since July 20, allowed a single hit in 8 innings while striking out 5, proving yet again that he is the consummate staff ace worth every cent the Yankees pay him.
"It's as good as it gets: 1 hit in 8 innings. He's been the one constant," New York manager Joe Girardi said of Sabathia's performance.
"This is a really big, strong man," the manager added, referring to Sabathia's durability. "This is a football player playing baseball."
"I was there to try to be aggressive in the strike zone," Sabathia said in the clubhouse. "I spotted the fastball pretty good, but my changeup was good, too.
"[The staff] needs to pick up the slack until [Andy Pettitte] gets back," Sabathia continued. "I look at every start as being important."
In response to Girardi likening him to a football player, Sabathia quipped, "I could see myself playing offensive line."
New York grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second inning on catcher Jorge Posada's solo home run (17) to left-center off starter Dallas Braden (L, 9-10), who is infamously known to Yankee fans as the pugnacious 27-year-old who scolded 3-time AL MVP Alex Rodriguez at Oakland for jogging over the pitcher's mound on his way back to the Yankee dugout earlier this season.  Que Santo Palo! Jorge Posada crushed a solo home run (17) to left that gave New York a 1-0 lead in the second. (Photo by Bill Menzel)
Besides the expected booing from a crowd of 46,644, there weren't any discernible, newsworthy exchanges between Braden (5.0 IP, 2H, 1R, 4 SO,1 HR) and the fans during his outing, which was abbreviated by heat-induced cramps he experienced while facing Curtis Granderson with Derek Jeter on first and no outs in the sixth.
Granderson, after Jeter was picked off at first by Braden's replacement, left-handed reliever Jerry Blevins, proceeded to hit a full-count, solo home run (16) deep into the second deck in right that increased the Yanks' lead to 2-0.  Curtis Granderson homered twice today, picking up his 16th and 17th of the season to power the Yankees past the lowly A's before a crowd of 46,644. (Photo by Bill Menzel)
"Curtis has been huge and hopefully he can keep it up," Sabathia told writers.
In the seventh, Granderson struck again, this time hitting a homer (17) off right-handed pitcher Michael Wuertz to right with a man on to make it 4-0.
"I'm more comfortable with what I'm doing at the plate," said Granderson, whose last multi-homer game came against the Kansas City Royals on July 24. "There are still some things I have to work on, but I feel better than earlier in the year."
The 2-day tutorial in Texas (on August 10 & 11) with hitting coach Kevin Long, which focused on limiting Granderson's excessive movement in his upper body, is paying dividends for the center fielder, who has smacked 7 homers since Aug. 14th.
"There seems to be less movement in his stance," said Girardi. "He's just in a better position to hit."
Reliever Jonathan Albaladejo replaced Sabathia and pitched a scoreless ninth.
The last hitter Albaladejo retired, Jack Cust, hit a routine fly out to right fielder Austin Kearns, who knocked in New York's fifth run with an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth.
INJURY NOTE: Right fielder Nick Swisher left today's game with stiffness in his left knee in the first inning. He is day-to-day.
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