“I have been feeling better lately, trying to go the other way and stuff.”CHUCK KNOBLAUCH
BOSTON – Chuck Knoblauch stood behind the batting cage fitting his frigid bat with a weighted donut as he prepared to step in and find a strokethat has vanished faster than a mob informant.
“It’s coming,” Knoblauch said as he walked toward the cage for his hacks.
The Yankees can only hope Knoblauch is on the rebound because without him on base, the Bombers had hit the skids, losing seven of eight going into last night’s game against the Red Sox and veteran right-hander Mark Portugal at Fenway Park.
“Last year we were winning and it was no big deal because it didn’t cost us games,” Joe Torre said of Knoblauch’s off-year in which he hit .265 but did score 117 runs as he worked pitchers for walks and served as a catalyst. “Now, everybody is blaming themselves and taking the game home with them thinking if I had gotten a hit we could have won the game.”
There is no denying the Yankees’ chances lately would have improved had Knoblauch not gone 3-for-33 (.091) in the nine games since he returned from a badly bruised lower left leg he suffered May 6 against the Twins in Minneapolis.
Knoblauch, who was hitting .333 when injured, missed three games and started last night’s action batting .273 after going 2-for-8 in the first two games against the Red Sox. Going back before the injury, Knoblauch is 3-for-42 (.071).
Having watched Knoblauch in person from a Yankee Stadium box, on television from his Westchester home and for the two games he was back in the dugout, Torre simply sees his leadoff hitter in a slump.
“I see a guy who goes up there with the intention of being patient and can’t talk himself into it,” Torre said of Knoblauch, who even at his lowest point last year worked pitchers to death, allowing the other hitters to see every pitch in the hurlers’ arsenal.
Most disturbing for the Yankees is watching Knoblauch draw one walk in the previous eight games and fan five times in the last four games. And he hasn’t been smooth in the field where he has committed seven errors to share the team lead with Derek Jeter.
“Unfortunately, when things aren’t going well, all those demons come out,” Torre said. “You open the wrong door and all these things come flying out of the closet as opposed to opening the door with serenity behind it. That’s how you earn your money here, knowing how to handle it and where to go to get it back. A lot of times, even when you know how to get it back, it’s still something you have to feel. That’s when it’s work.”
Two singles in two games hardly signifies a hitter is coming out of a slump. However, you have to start turning it around at some point, and Knoblauch believes he is beginning to see some light.
“I have been feeling better lately, trying to go the other way and stuff,” Knoblauch said.
Had the Yankees not lost seven of eight to fall 1 games behind the Red Sox in the AL East, Torre may have inserted Luis Sojo at second and given Knoblauch a day off to clear his mind.
“Maybe,” Torre said when asked if a day off would be beneficial. “But right now he is too much of an offensive threat. We aren’t scoring a lot of runs so I am a little reluctant to do it. I would be more apt to do it when we start winning some ball games.”
Knoblauch, of course, wasn’t the sole reason the Yankees had scored 11 runs in seven games were shut out in three of those contests. Wednesday night, the Yankees did very little against 23-year-old right-hander Brian Rose, who blanked them and allowed six singles in seven innings in his first start of the season.
Paul O’Neill started last night in a 5-for-29 (.172) funk. Promoted from Columbus (Triple-A) to supply pop to the lower third of the order, Shane Spencer was hitless in 11 at-bats and hitting .222 (8-for-36) with one homer and 4 RBIs in 12 games.
Spencer was a late scratch last night with a stomach virus. Chad Curtis, who was hitting .153 (9-for-59), filled in for Spencer looking to break a 1-for-16 (.063) slide.
