Missing A-Rod, but Yanks get job done

Logically, you can't prove a negative. You can't conclude that the Yankees are any worse off without Alex Rodriguez the last 11 games -- just because they are 6-5 during that span -- than they were for 18 recent games without Derek Jeter (14-4).

All Sunday's shaky 7-5 victory over the Oakland Athletics proved was that converting a hit batsman and a walk into two runs (on Eduardo Nuñez's subsequent double), and pushing across what proved to be the winning run with an infield hit (by Andruw Jones) ultimately were just as helpful as one of Rodriguez's 626 career homers.

"He's definitely missed," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said of Rodriguez, rehabilitating a surgically repaired knee and expected to be unavailable for another month. "But you've got to find a way to get it done; that's the bottom line."

Sunday, they got by well enough. Russell Martin followed his two-out single in the second inning -- the Yankees' first hit of the game -- by stealing second and motoring home on Jones' single to left. With two outs in the fourth, with the Yankees down 2-1, Martin was hit by a pitch, Jones walked and Nuñez delivered the inning's only hit, a two-run double over leftfielder Josh Willingham's head.

Yet another walk, to Jeter leading off the fifth, set up Curtis Granderson for the Yankees' one real show of offensive muscle -- a two-run home run into the second deck in rightfield. Granderson, who entered the game on a 1-for-14 skid and struck out in three of his five plate appearances, judged that his homer wasn't "huge" because "we already had the lead at the time."

Despite a team-leading 27 home runs, "I still need to make some adjustments," Granderson said, "to get back to where I was -- just putting the ball in play. Three more strikeouts; I've got over 100 already this year , and that sticks out a lot."

Meanwhile, without top banana Rodriguez and "the constant lineup changes we've had," Granderson said, "we're going to have to be able to handle whatever happens."

Even without Rodriguez's .295 batting average, 13 home runs and 52 RBIs, Girardi could argue that "we still have accomplished hitters in our lineup. Yes, you take the fourth hitter out of any lineup, you're taking a huge bat out of your lineup. And our lineup is not as deep as when he's in it. We've had some games where we've struggled to score runs, we've had some big outbursts and some five-, six-run games. But we miss him."

Jones, 34, a former All-Star who is hitting only .218, acknowledged that his platooning role "is tough, but that's why they gave me a contract. I know when I'm going to play, I know when I'm going to be in the lineup, so I've just got to got out there and produce."

Sunday's seven runs and nine hits were not exactly a bad day at the office, offensively, even if there were some soft rallies. Besides, a victory never is a negative.