White Sox 4 – Yankees 3
CHICAGO – Joe Torre insists his high-profile lineup will hit eventually and nobody in the Yankees’ clubhouse disagrees with him. Maybe it will be this weekend against the Red Sox. Or possibly when the warmer weather locks in. But everybody is convinced The Best Lineup Ever Assembled will hit to the individuals’ track records.
“I know the type of team we are going to have,” Torre said. “We are going to score runs but we are not there yet. Our time will come when we will win seven of eight.”
That time didn’t come last night at U.S. Cellular Field where three White Sox hurlers limited the Yankees to seven hits in a 4-3 White Sox victory that sent the 8-8 Yankees home on a downer with Boston awaiting them tonight at the Stadium.
In the past, George Steinbrenner has ordered heaters in the dugouts to warm up the wood on cold nights. But even that ploy wouldn’t have worked in last night’s 46-degree temperatures when the Yankees banged into three double plays, none bigger than Travis Lee’s 6-4-3 twin-killing with runners on first and third that ended the game.
The lack of hitting for the second straight night undermined Mike Mussina’s best start of the season and ended a two-game win streak.
After a rocky first frame in which he uncharacteristically issued two walks and three runs, Mussina allowed one run over the final seven. But outside of two runs in the third and one in the seventh off Scott Schoeneweis, the Yankees never took Mussina off the hook for the bad opening.
“I had seven good innings after one lousy one,” said Mussina, who had more life on his fastball, a better plane on his pitches, improved his location after the first but still fell to 1-4.
Miguel Cairo had an RBI double and Derek Jeter drove in a run with a groundout in the third when the Yankees reduced the deficit to 3-2.
Joe Crede hit a homer off a first-pitch breaking ball in the sixth, but Hideki Matsui got that run back with a groundout in the seventh, but the Yankees stranded two.
The Yanks threatened in the ninth when Jorge Posada opened with a single and pinch runner Bubba Crosby raced to third on Matsui’s one-out single to right. Lee, who entered in the seventh, hit lefty Damaso Marte’s first pitch, a slider, to short, starting the game-ending double play. “He called me out, it was pretty close,” Lee said.
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Quote:
“I had seven good innings after one lousy one.” -MIKE MUSSINA
