Yankees Show Their Strength in Return

After eight days of unimaginable horror in the city where they live and play, the New York Yankees found some solace by doing what they do best.

“I think everybody was ready to move on,” Yankee Manager Joe Torre said after New York returned to the baseball field Tuesday night and routed the Chicago White Sox, 11-3, in a game filled with displays of patriotism and solidarity at Chicago.

“Baseball is what we do, it’s our form of entertainment. It’s our form of relief,” Torre said, admitting he was choked up during a pregame ceremony.

“I told the players we’re not here to save civilization, we’re here to do our part and maybe we can subtract from the grief.”

Their city reeling from terrorist attacks, the Yankees played like the champions they are, winning easily behind the strong pitching of Orlando Hernandez and three seventh-inning homers, including a grand slam from Jorge Posada.

All through the night, the United States and New York were saluted, from the small flags handed out to fans, to signs like “Chicago Luvs N.Y.,” “God bless America” and “Baseball Has Players, America Has Heroes,” to a continuous flow of music over the public address system.

The Yankees remained 13 games ahead of the second-place Boston Red Sox in the American League East.

Minnesota 8, Detroit 3--Brad Radke took a no-hitter into the eighth inning and got 18 hits of support as the Twins defeated the Tigers at Minneapolis.

Shane Halter’s solo homer leading off the eighth broke up Radke’s bid for his first no-hitter.

Chris Wakeland hit his first major league homer with two outs to chase Radke, who was replaced by Bob Wells.

Cleveland 11, Kansas City 2--Travis Fryman hit a grand slam, Kenny Lofton homered twice and the Indians came back from baseball’s weeklong layoff to rout the Royals at Cleveland.

In a videotaped message shown before the game, Fryman thanked Cleveland’s fans for their support and asked them to pray for victims of last week’s terrorist attacks.

He then homered during Cleveland’s seven-run fifth inning.

Oakland 6, Texas 5--Mark Mulder earned his 19th victory, and the Athletics came from behind twice to defeat the Rangers at Arlington, Texas, for their ninth consecutive victory.

Not even a week off could slow down the A’s, who are 43-14 since the All-Star break and have an 11-game lead over Minnesota in the AL wild-card race. They haven’t lost since Sept.1.

Mulder (19-7) gave up four runs and six hits before being pulled after Mike Lamb’s leadoff single in the seventh.

Boston 7, Tampa Bay 2--Hideo Nomo struck out 11 and Manny Ramirez hit his 40th homer in the Red Sox victory at Boston.

It was only the second Red Sox win in 15 games over a three-week span that saw them fall out of contention.

Toronto 8, Baltimore 5--Alex Gonzalez hit two homers at Toronto, including a tiebreaking three-run shot in the eighth inning off Jorge Julio (1-1), as the Blue Jays sent the Orioles to their ninth consecutive loss and 15th in 16 games.

Red Sox ace Pedro Martinez said he will miss the rest of the season because of inflammation in his right shoulder. “I would like to pitch, but there’s nothing I can do,” he said. “I have to be smart.” ...

Paul Shuey, the top setup reliever for the Cleveland Indians, was activated after being sidelined since July because of an elbow injury.