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		A’s fall to Yankees, 3-1 By George Devine, Sr. April 21, 2010

	The Athletics again faced the New York Yankees at the Coliseum, this time with the visitors throwing Phil Hughes (1-0, 3.60 ERA) against fellow righty Ben Sheets (1-0, 2.65). The home team hoped to bounce back after a 7-3 loss to the pinstripers that took 3 hours and 40 minutes in the first meeting of the season between the two teams on the previous evening. It was not to be, though the A’s battled to the end, only to lose, 3-1. The pitchers’ duel lasted into the fourth inning, when New York racked up back-to -back triples: Alex Rodriguez tripled past a diving Ryan Sweeney in right, and slid into third. Then Robinson Cano grounded along the right field line and also slid into third, scoring Rodriguez. Jorge Posada ground out to third, bringing Cano home. In the eighth, Hughes’ potential no-hitter was broken up when Eric Chavez hit a comebacker at him and Hughes couldn’t find the ball in time to make a play. Kevin Kouzmanoff struck out, then Gabe Gross walked to end a ten-pitch at-bat. At that point RHP Joba Chamberlain came in to relieve Hughes. After Adam Rosales popped out to Randy Winn in right, Jake Fox came in to pinch-hit for Eric Patterson and hit a short, high single into right scoring Chavez. That was the end of Oakland’s scoring for the night. In the ninth, the Yanks’ lead was extended when Jorge Posada singled past second. Curtis Granderson reached on a fielder’s choice which retired Posada, and came home when Brett Gardner singled over Kouzmanoff’s head. The winner is Hughes (2-0, 7.1 ip, 1 h, 1 er, 2 w, 10 k) and the loser Sheets (1-1, 6 ip, 4 h, 2 er, 3 w, 4 k). Mariano Rivera picked u p his 532nd career save and his sixth this year. The two teams meet for the final game of the series on Thursday, April 22 at 12:35 p.m. PDT. Bay Area product C.C. Sabathia (2-0, 2.84) will face fellow southpaw Dallas Braden (2-0, 2.20). The A’s have placed second baseman Mark Ellis on the 15-day disabled list with a strained left hamstring, the club announced today. To take his spot on the roster, the A’s have recalled catcher Landon Powell from Triple-A Sacramento. Ellis was batting .323 with three RBI in eight games with Oakland. He started each of the A’s first seven games before missing seven games with the hamstring injury. Ellis returned to the starting lineup last night against New York and went 0 for 2 before leaving the game in the sixth inning. This is his fifth career stint on the DL. Powell hit .162 in 20 games with Oakland this spring and was one of the A’s final cuts on April 3. He is batting .217 with a home run and two RBI in six games with Sacramento, appearing in three games at catcher, two at designated hitter and one at first base. The 28-year old switch-hitter spent the entire 2009 season on the A’s roster but appeared in just 46 games as the back-up to Kurt Suzuki. Powell hit .229 with seven home runs and 30 RBI in his Major League debut.