Back On Track

Alex Rodriguez homered for the 600th time in his career and the Yankees defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 5-1 at Yankee Stadium today.

In addition to A-Rod's home run, Derek Jeter went 4-for-4 with three runs and Mark Teixeira went 2-for-3 with three RBI to anchor the Yankees offense. Meanwhile, Phil Hughes did a good job, lowering his ERA under 4.00 and picking up his 13th win of the season by going 5 1/3 innings allowing one run and striking out five.

While the Yankees pick up a half game in the standings as they wait for the Tampa Bay Rays to play tonight, the story was Rodriguez and his milestone.

On a 2-0 pitch in the bottom of the first, A-Rod bombed a pitch off Shaun Marcum to straight-away center field and the ball landed in Monument Park to give the Yankees an early 2-0 lead.

In fact, this game started the same as the last two games. Yankees get off to an early 2-0 lead, but crumble in the middle innings. However, Hughes knew the Yankees needed to win, and although it was not his best performance, he worked himself out of trouble, limiting the damage to just one run.

An overlooked aspect of the game may be the Yankees bullpen. Boone Logan finished off the sixth after inheriting a runner with just one out. And Joba Chamberlain, David Robertson, and Mariano Rivera all pitched scoreless innings to seal the deal.

Today's game was a step in the right direction. Jeter had a good day, Tex continued his hot streak, A-Rod got the 600 monkey off his back, and the Yankees got back on track and can now rest up and get ready for Yankees-Red Sox this weekend as they try and get back into first place in the AL East.