Thursday, June 23, 2005
Yanks' momentum stalls as Rays rally
Just hours after the Yankees' 20-run explosion, Carl Pavano took the mound hoping to carry that momentum into Wednesday afternoon's start against the Devil Rays.
For three innings, he did just that. Unfortunately, the rules of the game require you to play all nine.
Pavano allowed a two-run homer in the fourth and a three-run shot in the seventh, giving Tampa Bay a comeback win of its own, as the Rays downed the Yanks, 5-3, at Yankee Stadium.
"He's been inconsistent, and he'd be the first one to tell you that," said manager Joe Torre. "It's all about location. Today, he didn't locate two pitches and it wound up costing him the ballgame."
Pavano lost his fourth straight decision, giving up five runs on six hits to extend his winless streak to six starts. Pavano's last victory came May 22 at Shea Stadium against the Mets.
"The wins are going to come," Pavano said. "I just want to go out and pitch better."
The loss was just the second in the last nine games for the Yankees, who are now 7-2 on their 13-game homestand.
"This is a tough loss after last night," Torre said. "We had a couple of leads today and just couldn't hold on to them."
Coming off the 13-run eighth inning that sparked the unlikely comeback on Tuesday night, the Yankees opened the game right where they left off, as Gary Sheffield drilled a 1-2 offering from Scott Kazmir over the wall in left, giving the Yanks a quick 2-0 lead in the first.
"It got us the lead," Torre said, "which was exactly what we needed after last night."
Pavano, who entered the game with an 0-3 record and 6.49 ERA in his last five starts, looked good in the early innings, allowing just a leadoff single by Carl Crawford through the first three frames.
But the right-hander fell victim to the long ball in the fourth, as Jonny Gomes belted a two-run shot to left-center, tying the game.
During the fifth, pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre and assistant team trainer Steve Donahue came to the mound to check on Pavano, who had a blood blister on his middle right finger. After the game, both Stottlemyre and Torre said that Pavano had the blister drained before the fifth, but Pavano wouldn't even acknowledge the blister's existence.
"I don't know what they're talking about," Pavano said.
Regardless of the contradiction, all parties involved said that the blister had no impact on Pavano's performance.
"We just wanted to make sure it was OK," Stottlemyre said. "He was fine. It didn't create a problem."
Sheffield heating up
Devil Rays at Yankees, June 22
After going 2-for-4 with a home run and a pair of RBIs, Gary Sheffield has a 10-game hit streak, during which he is batting .405 with 28 total bases:
DATE Opp. AB R H 2B HR RBI TB
6/11 @SLN 5 0 1 0 0 0 1
6/14 PIT 2 2 1 0 0 1 1
6/15 PIT 5 1 1 0 0 0 1
6/16 PIT 4 0 1 1 0 2 2
6/17 CHN 3 3 2 1 0 0 3
6/18 CHN 5 1 3 0 0 1 3
6/19 CHN 4 0 1 0 0 1 1
6/20 TBA 4 1 1 0 0 1 1
6/21 TBA 6 3 4 0 2 7 10
6/22 TBA 4 1 2 0 1 2 5
Totals 42 12 17 2 3 15 28
Sheffield increased his season RBI total to 53 and career total to 1,406, through June 22. He now has 428 homers in his career. His career-best hit streak is 24 games (7/26/2003-8/20/2003).
New York regained the lead in the fifth on Robinson Cano's RBI groundout, and after a 1-2-3 sixth by Pavano, the Yankees were poised to win their eighth game on the homestand.
But Pavano couldn't hold the lead, walking Gomes to start the seventh, then hitting Toby Hall with two outs to put the tying runs on base.
Nick Green brought them home in a hurry, roping a 1-2 inside fastball over the left-field wall for a three-run shot, putting the Rays ahead, 5-3. Pavano has now allowed 16 homers in his 16 starts this season.
"I thought it was a good pitch, but he made a good swing," Pavano said. "That's baseball. You've got to make pitches when you need to get outs. Today, I did that at times, and at times I didn't. That cost us the ballgame."
"The way our season has gone, it doesn't matter much who we're playing," said catcher John Flaherty. "We have to go out and play hard every day. Today, we played a good game, they just beat us on two swings."
The Yanks threatened in the eighth, but unlike their 13-run outburst on Tuesday, they were unable to complete a comeback on Wednesday. With men at second and third and two outs, closer Danys Baez struck out Ruben Sierra, stranding the tying runs in scoring position.
Cano tripled with two outs in the ninth, bringing Derek Jeter to the plate as the tying run. But Baez struck out Jeter to end the game, giving Tampa Bay its sixth win in nine games against New York this season.
"This one was a bit of a setback and a surprise, because it felt like we were going to win the game," Torre said. "You get to the seventh inning, one run has to be enough. We weren't able to make it stand up for us."
Source: http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/
For three innings, he did just that. Unfortunately, the rules of the game require you to play all nine.
Pavano allowed a two-run homer in the fourth and a three-run shot in the seventh, giving Tampa Bay a comeback win of its own, as the Rays downed the Yanks, 5-3, at Yankee Stadium.
"He's been inconsistent, and he'd be the first one to tell you that," said manager Joe Torre. "It's all about location. Today, he didn't locate two pitches and it wound up costing him the ballgame."
Pavano lost his fourth straight decision, giving up five runs on six hits to extend his winless streak to six starts. Pavano's last victory came May 22 at Shea Stadium against the Mets.
"The wins are going to come," Pavano said. "I just want to go out and pitch better."
The loss was just the second in the last nine games for the Yankees, who are now 7-2 on their 13-game homestand.
"This is a tough loss after last night," Torre said. "We had a couple of leads today and just couldn't hold on to them."
Coming off the 13-run eighth inning that sparked the unlikely comeback on Tuesday night, the Yankees opened the game right where they left off, as Gary Sheffield drilled a 1-2 offering from Scott Kazmir over the wall in left, giving the Yanks a quick 2-0 lead in the first.
"It got us the lead," Torre said, "which was exactly what we needed after last night."
Pavano, who entered the game with an 0-3 record and 6.49 ERA in his last five starts, looked good in the early innings, allowing just a leadoff single by Carl Crawford through the first three frames.
But the right-hander fell victim to the long ball in the fourth, as Jonny Gomes belted a two-run shot to left-center, tying the game.
During the fifth, pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre and assistant team trainer Steve Donahue came to the mound to check on Pavano, who had a blood blister on his middle right finger. After the game, both Stottlemyre and Torre said that Pavano had the blister drained before the fifth, but Pavano wouldn't even acknowledge the blister's existence.
"I don't know what they're talking about," Pavano said.
Regardless of the contradiction, all parties involved said that the blister had no impact on Pavano's performance.
"We just wanted to make sure it was OK," Stottlemyre said. "He was fine. It didn't create a problem."
Sheffield heating up
Devil Rays at Yankees, June 22
After going 2-for-4 with a home run and a pair of RBIs, Gary Sheffield has a 10-game hit streak, during which he is batting .405 with 28 total bases:
DATE Opp. AB R H 2B HR RBI TB
6/11 @SLN 5 0 1 0 0 0 1
6/14 PIT 2 2 1 0 0 1 1
6/15 PIT 5 1 1 0 0 0 1
6/16 PIT 4 0 1 1 0 2 2
6/17 CHN 3 3 2 1 0 0 3
6/18 CHN 5 1 3 0 0 1 3
6/19 CHN 4 0 1 0 0 1 1
6/20 TBA 4 1 1 0 0 1 1
6/21 TBA 6 3 4 0 2 7 10
6/22 TBA 4 1 2 0 1 2 5
Totals 42 12 17 2 3 15 28
Sheffield increased his season RBI total to 53 and career total to 1,406, through June 22. He now has 428 homers in his career. His career-best hit streak is 24 games (7/26/2003-8/20/2003).
New York regained the lead in the fifth on Robinson Cano's RBI groundout, and after a 1-2-3 sixth by Pavano, the Yankees were poised to win their eighth game on the homestand.
But Pavano couldn't hold the lead, walking Gomes to start the seventh, then hitting Toby Hall with two outs to put the tying runs on base.
Nick Green brought them home in a hurry, roping a 1-2 inside fastball over the left-field wall for a three-run shot, putting the Rays ahead, 5-3. Pavano has now allowed 16 homers in his 16 starts this season.
"I thought it was a good pitch, but he made a good swing," Pavano said. "That's baseball. You've got to make pitches when you need to get outs. Today, I did that at times, and at times I didn't. That cost us the ballgame."
"The way our season has gone, it doesn't matter much who we're playing," said catcher John Flaherty. "We have to go out and play hard every day. Today, we played a good game, they just beat us on two swings."
The Yanks threatened in the eighth, but unlike their 13-run outburst on Tuesday, they were unable to complete a comeback on Wednesday. With men at second and third and two outs, closer Danys Baez struck out Ruben Sierra, stranding the tying runs in scoring position.
Cano tripled with two outs in the ninth, bringing Derek Jeter to the plate as the tying run. But Baez struck out Jeter to end the game, giving Tampa Bay its sixth win in nine games against New York this season.
"This one was a bit of a setback and a surprise, because it felt like we were going to win the game," Torre said. "You get to the seventh inning, one run has to be enough. We weren't able to make it stand up for us."
Source: http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/
