Week # 4: Bronx Bombers crush Athletics

Game 1 at Oakland Coliseum
Peterson (NYY) vs Hunter (OAK)
The Yankees started fast in Oakland, opening the scoring on an RBI single from Don Mattingly and a bases-loaded walk to Yogi Berra. The A's would answer in the third on a Rickey Henderson RBI single, but the late innings belonged to the Bronx Bombers.  Graig Nettles  hit a two-RBI triple in the seventh and Donnie “Baseball” Mattingly stuck with his second homerun ofthe year, with a man on, in the eighth. Dave Righetti cruised through the final two innings as the Yankees flew back to New York with a 7-1 win in hand.

Game 2 at Yankee Stadium
Langford (OAK) vs. Stottlemyre (NYY)
The A's started fast with a Jose Canseco two-run shot in the first. Rick Langford had an easy outing until the fifth, when things started to fall apart. Joe DiMaggio led off the inning with his first home run of the year, Roger Maris walked, and Yogi Berra drove him home with his second homer of the year to put the Yanks ahead 3-2. Graig Nettles' RBI single in the sixth gave them an insurance run, which they would turn out to need. In the eighth inning, Jerry Lumpe drove in Rick Campaneris with an RBI double. But the Yankee bullpen shut down the A's from there and Goose Gossage struck out the side in the ninth. The Yanks could breathe a sigh of relief as they took the game 4-3,

Game 3 at Yankee Stadium
Stewart (OAK) vs Ford (NYY)
This would not be a good outing for Dave Stewart, as he found himself giving up back-to-back home runs to Mickey Mantle and Don Mattingly to open the contest. Graig Nettles hit a two-run shot in the second to compound Stewart's woes, and in the fourth Stewart would give up solo shots to Yogi Berra and Nettles. That would be all Whitey Ford would need. In the sixth, Mark McGwire hit a solo shot with the bases empty, and in the seventh Eddie Joost would drive in Terry Steinbach to make it 6-2. But BIll Terry and Dave Righetti finished the job for New York and the A's would get no more. The Yankees took the game 6-2 and swept the series, improving their record to 9-3 while Oakland fell to 7-5.

--submitted by Michael Hopcroft--