The New York Yankees tied a franchise record on the eve of August 1 by slugging 8 homeruns in a 16-3 route of the Chicago White Sox. The fireworks may have been set for Alex Rodriguez’s chase of 500 career homeruns, but for as many balls that left the park Tuesday night, none of them carried the 500 insignia. Bobby Abreu led off the homerun assault clubbing a three run shot in the first inning. Hideki Matsui continued his tear through the month of July with his 12th and 13th homeruns of the month and 20th and 21st of the season. Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera, Jorge Posada, Johnny Damon and Shelley Duncan followed with blasts of their own to tie the record set back on June 28, 1939 against the Philadelphia Athletics. Duncan continued his best impression of Shane Spencer circa 1998 with his 4th homerun in 21 career at-bats, drawing the crowd to demand yet another curtain call from the new fan favorite.

After cooling off on their road trip, the Bombers picked up at home right where they left off, scoring 16 runs to add to the 21 and 17 they scored in their last two games at home. But the story of the night centered around Alex Rodriguez and his pursuit of career homerun 500. And after getting some oohs from the crowd on a few warning track shots, A-Rod continued his mini-slump going 0-5, and 0-15 since hitting 499. A-Rod may fair better against Thursday’s starter, Jon Garland, whom he has a career .400 batting average against with 2 homeruns. He is 0-3 career against Wednesday’s starter, John Danks.

The Yankees were quiet during this season’s trade deadline making only one move by unloading dead-weight from the bullpen in Scott Proctor for struggling one-time infield prospect Wilson Betemit. Betemit will bring a .231 average and 10 homeruns in a utility role for his first appearance in the American League. Whether he will make any significant impact is unlikely, but the move does allow for room in the bullpen where the Yankees are hoping the Joba Chamberlain experiment will take center stage by season’s end.

(7 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

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