A-Rod begins Yankees' first triple play since 1968

OAKLAND, Calif. - The Yankees' first triple play in 42 years was overshadowed a bit by Dallas Braden's rant against Alex Rodriguez. After irritating the A's starter, Rodriguez hurt him more by starting a triple play.

The A's led 4-2 as Daric Barton led off the sixth with a single and Ryan Sweeney walked. Kurt Suzuki followed with a smash to third that Rodriguez fielded on a hop to his right. "I didn't think that was a triple play," Joe Girardi said.

But A-Rod stepped on third and quickly threw to second, and Robinson Cano's relay to Nick Johnson completed the 5-4-3 triple play. It was the Yankees' first since June 3, 1968, and snapped a streak of 6,632 regular-season games without one.

Rodriguez said he was playing even with the bag because he thought Suzuki might bunt. "When the ball was hit, I just threw it to Robby and let him do his thing," he said.

Cano said he knew the Yankees had done something special when he saw the fans' reaction. "It feels like a double play,'' he said, "but when you walk off the field, you see the fans give you a standing ovation, you say, 'Oh, we did something good.' "

Extra bases

Mark Teixeira started at DH and went 1-for-4 with a home run. His average is .125. "Today was probably the four best at-bats I've had all year," said Teixeira, who hit the ball hard each time. "For me it's a very fine line between being really good or really bad. Unfortunately, I've been on the really bad side most of the year. Hopefully, this means I'm turning the corner because it felt really good today." . . . Cano's throwing error in the fourth snapped the team's errorless streak at 12 games . . . Chan Ho Park, on the 15-day DL with a hamstring injury, has thrown the last three days without pain.