Andy Pettitte pitched another solid game, and the Yanks survived a three-error to defeat the Royals, 6-3. With the Yanks cruising 6-0, Alfonso Soriano made two errors in the seventh; Nick Johnson made one and the Royals scored three times. But the bullpen held the lead, and the Yanks were propelled by home runs from Soriano, Bernie Williams and Karim Garcia.

Jason Giambi did his best Rickey Henderson impression in the sixth. Leading 5-0, Giambi walked. Kevin Appier wasn’t paying him much mind, and the Royals didn’t hold him on the bag, so Giambi swiped second. Yeah, that’s right. Standing up. He then came around to score on Godzilla Matsui’s bloop single to center.

Garcia crushed a first-pitch breaking ball off the upper deck facade in right field, and has provided nice pop during the last three games. The Yanks recalled Juan Rivera to play right and face right-handed pitchers today. But between Karim Dellucci and Juan Sierra, the Yanks have a four-headed right field platoon that is similiar to the left field rotation they’ve had in recent years.

Derek Lowe and the Red Sox were holding the A’s down for much of the game last night in Boston, but the bullpen couldn’t close the deal. Two walks and a Ramon Hernandez dinger later, the A’s walked away with a dramamtic 3-2 win, which moved Oakland a game ahead of Boston in the wild card race. The Sox now trail the Yanks by 6 1/2 games.