A-Rod's homer beats Torre's Dodgers; Mo fans three in ninth

LOS ANGELES - Alex Rodriguez didn't really try to hide his dislike for Joe Torre this week.

He refused to discuss his former manager Wednesday in Phoenix and didn't make an effort to shake Torre's hand before Friday night's series opener - though, to be fair, Torre didn't exactly make an effort to seek out Rodriguez, either.

Regardless, A-Rod punished his former manager in the best way he knew how.

On a night when CC Sabathia and Vicente Padilla pitched gems, Rodriguez's solo home run in the sixth inning was the difference as the Yankees beat the Dodgers, 2-1, in front of a highly charged crowd of 56,000 at Dodger Stadium.

Mariano Rivera struck out the side in the ninth to earn his 17th save, allowing the Yankees (46-27) to move three games ahead of the Rays and Red Sox in the AL East. They have won five of six and 20 of 29.

Afterward, A-Rod struck a much different tone regarding Torre. In Phoenix, he said this series would be "business as usual" and said "no more of those questions, please" when asked specifically about Torre.

Friday night?

"Look, he was here for a long time," Rodriguez said. "I can't say that I have the same relationship with him that guys like Jorge and Pettitte and Mo and Jete have. I'd be lying to you. Those guys have a 10-, 12-year history and won a lot of championships together. But overall, I think our experience was good, and on the offensive side, there were a lot of things I learned from him, and to this day I use and I hear his voice. He was a good hitter and a good teacher of hitting."

As for not shaking hands with Torre before the game, Rodriguez said he also didn't speak to Dodgers batting coach Don Mattingly or Manny Ramirez, both of whom he's close to.

"I'm sure we'll get an opportunity to talk at some point," A-Rod said of talking to Torre. "We're going to be here for three days. There's no rush."

Then Rodriguez paused.

"I don't really have anything to say," he said. "If he wants to talk, I'm more than willing to talk to him."

Rodriguez said he remembered Torre, whenever he was struggling, telling him what he used to tell Dale Murphy when he managed the Braves:

"Just hit the ball in the right-centerfield seats."

On Friday night, though, it was the ones in leftfield.

With the score tied at 1 and one out in the sixth, Rodriguez, who also had a double, tore into Padilla's first-pitch fastball and slammed it halfway up the stands in left for his 10th home run of the season and 593rd of his career.

When Torre managed the Yankees, he spoke of the sinking feeling an opposing manager had to have when Rivera came into a game. He got to experience that firsthand Friday as Rivera, with whom Torre exchanged a long embrace before the game, came in for the ninth.

Rivera struck out Ramirez swinging with what the stadium gun registered as a 94-mph cutter. He then struck out Matt Kemp swinging and James Loney looking.

Loney flipped his equipment after taking three called strikes from Rivera, and as Loney returned to the dugout, Torre and Mattingly screamed at plate umpire Phil Cuzzi.

"This game has a different feel for me," Torre said. "Seeing familiar guys coming out of the other dugout was a little strange for me. But it's still baseball and we are trying to score and do some things."

Just not against Sabathia, who was coming off eight shutout innings of the Mets last Sunday and was almost as good Friday. He allowed one run, in the first inning, and four hits in eight innings to improve to 9-3.

Sabathia has won his last five starts, compiling a 2.19 ERA in the process. He has allowed nine runs and 25 hits in 37 innings with 35 strikeouts.

"He was tremendous," Joe Girardi said. "He was great tonight."

Said Sabathia: "I feel a lot better. I feel like the fastball command has been slowly getting better and my breaking stuff has definitely been carrying me through."

Padilla, who came in 1-1 with a 6.67 ERA, allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings, keeping the Yankees off balance with an occasional slow curveball - as slow as 52 mph on the gun - that drew a reaction from the crowd each time he threw it.

He also played a role in what was the most tension-filled moment of the night when Sabathia hit him in the left leg with a pitch in the fifth inning. Padilla, who had hit Robinson Cano in the fourth, stared at Sabathia as he went to first. Sabathia stared right back.

"If you have something to say, say it to me," Sabathia said. "I'm standing right there and he's looking at me, so . . . "

Both benches were warned.

Padilla, then with the Rangers, hit former teammate Mark Teixeira twice in a game last June, and after that game, Teixeira all but called Padilla a headhunter, saying the pitcher had been doing it his entire career.

Sabathia quickly got out of that inning by inducing Rafael Furcal to ground into a 1-6-3 double play. The next hit he allowed came off the bat of Ramirez - whose RBI single in the first gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead - with two outs in the sixth. Sabathia ended that inning by striking out Kemp.

Sabathia walked Dodgers leadoff man Furcal in the first and Furcal quickly swiped his 10th base of the season. Russell Martin struck out and Andre Ethier grounded out, bringing Ramirez, who had owned Sabathia in his career, to the plate.

Predictably, Ramirez, 12-for-21 (.571) against Sabathia coming in, lined a single to right to bring in Furcal and make it 1-0.

The Yankees tied it in the second. Rodriguez, the subject of so much pregame attention regarding whether there would be a handshake with Torre, doubled into the rightfield corner. Cano flew to center, but Jorge Posada lined a single to right to drive in A-Rod.

The Yankees had another scoring chance in the third as Derek Jeter doubled with one out and moved to third on Padilla's balk, but he stayed there as Curtis Granderson flew to short left and A-Rod struck out to end the inning.

Rodriguez, of course, would have his big moment later on, one that fit in on what was an emotional night. One that started with hugs and continued with the rare sight, at least for a regular-season game, of both managers bringing the lineup cards to the plate, something they discussed when they initially greeted each other almost two hours before the game.

"He's been someone that I've looked up to and felt like I could take anything to him," Girardi said. "He's been a mentor of mine and has been very influential in my career. So that was kind of neat."