Nothing like the New York Yankees in the Bronx to remind you of where you stand in the baseball world.
Just ask Trevor Cahill and the Oakland Athletics, thoroughly humbled tonight in New York.
The A's took a 3-0 lead in the first inning, but the Yankees just laughed, scored three of their own in the bottom of the opening frame and danced away from Oakland by the third inning on their way to an 11-5 win tonight.
Ho-hum.
The Bronx Bombers hit three home runs off A's pitchers -- including two off Cahill to send him to the showers early -- and banged out 13 hits while making four Oakland hurlers throw 179 pitches on the night (in only eight innings).
Yeah, it was that ugly.
The A's came into this series high off two straight wins in Texas, but clearly, there's a big difference between the Ballpark at Arlington and Yankee Stadium.
Of course, it doesn't matter where Oakland plays New York: the Yankees will usually win it. This year, the A's have lost six of seven to the defending World Series champions, the only victory coming on April 22 when Dallas Braden told A-Rod to stay off his mound.
Thankfully, Oakland only has the next three games left against the Yankees in 2010.
But this gap between the top of the American League and the A's is clearly noticeable, and if Oakland can hang with the Texas Rangers, the eventual AL West champion has no chance in the playoffs come October.
The A's basically had their best starter on the mound tonight, facing someone named Dustin Moseley starting for the Yankees.
And it didn't matter.
His career 5.22 ERA withstanding, Moseley was gone before the fifth inning ended, as the A's knocked him around for four runs.
Unfortunately, the modern version of Murderer's Row torched Oakland's All-Star pitcher for eight runs in only four innings -- making Cahill look like the green, inexperienced guy on the mound.
From there on, all the Yankees had to do was outlast the A's, and with their deep pockets, New York has the depth to send out a "reliever" making $11.5M this year to finish the game.
It's hard for Oakland to compete against that, even when they throw their best guy to the wolves.
And tonight, the wolves ate well.
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