Blue Jays 7 Yankees 2
TORONTO – To many Yankees he has been a friend from the moment they donned pinstripes. Along the way he served as a mentor and confidant for others who have experienced the tumultuous Yankee universe. Until this tortured season, he has been the heart of the best team in baseball across the previous five years.
Now, after getting punished by the Blue Jays last night at SkyDome, David Cone is an aging pitcher with a lot more losses than wins on this year’s ticket.
Not only is his spot on manager Joe Torre’s postseason staff in question – you have to wonder if Monday night’s start against the Tigers at Yankee Stadium will be the last of a borderline Hall of Fame career.
Pitching for the second time since dislocating his left shoulder on Sept. 5, and pitching without a real fastball, Cone was the loser last night in a 7-2 defeat that extended the Yankees’ losing streak to four games and was witnessed by 28,463.
“The fastball was really flat and I tried to throw off-speed stuff and pitching backward,” said Cone, who gave up seven runs in 32/3 innings, dropped to 4-13 and saw his ERA soar to 6.55.
“It caught up to me in the fourth. That’s been my whole year.”
Torre won’t commit on what his 10-man postseason pitching staff will look like, but Cone didn’t offer much to Torre last night – leaving the very real possibility that Jason Grimsley, Randy Choate or Ted Lilly might be a better way to go.
“It looked like he wasn’t proud of his fastball,” Torre said of Cone, whose heater was clocked between 85 and 88 mph. “It’s tough to pitch without a fastball.”
The loss was the Yankees’ sixth in seventh games. During the four-game slide, Yankee pitchers have given up 40 runs.
While Cone wasn’t sharp, the Bomber bats remained stifled. Monday night it was the Indians’ Bartolo Colon throwing a one-hit shutout at them. Tuesday night, Steve Trachsel, an 8-13 pitcher, limited them to three runs and four hits in 71/3 innings. Last night it was Esteban Loaiza’s turn to resemble Don Drysdale.
Loaiza worked seven innings, allowed one run and five hits and is 5-5 as a Blue Jay.
Since the Red Sox were swept by the Indians in a Fenway Park double-header, the Blue Jays moved past the Bosox into second place in the AL East and are 5 ½ lengths behind the Bombers, whose magic number over the Blue Jays is seven.
During the four-game slide, the Yankees have scored nine runs. As a team, the Yankees are hitting a putrid .154 (19-for- 123). Last night they were 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
The biggest culprit was Tino Martinez. He went 0-for-3 and hit into a double play in the clutch. Martinez, who is hitless in 21 at-bats, was ejected by plate umpire Tim Timmons before the start of the ninth for questioning Timmons’ eighth-inning strike zone from the dugout.
What little life the Yankees showed was snuffed by the Blue Jays turning double plays in the first, sixth and seventh innings.
For Yankee fans looking for the silver lining behind heavy black clouds, Torre sensed more energy in his struggling club than Tuesday night, when the Blue Jays romped, 16-3. Torre held a closed-door meeting after that embarrassment.
“I thought the energy was better, they were biting and scratching,” Torre said. “We just need a well-pitched game. I think we are better but not where we want to be.”
Cone was most depressed over not being able to keep the Blue Jays from breaking open the game with four runs in the fourth that upped their lead to 7-1.
“It’s disappointing you can’t keep your team in the game,” said Cone, who is 0-2 with a 12.50 ERA in his last two starts and admitted his velocity problem could stem from the left shoulder problem. “I can only assume my left shoulder is not 100 percent.”
Asked if he expected to pitch Monday night, Cone didn’t hesitate.
“I am willing to keep battling through this thing,” Cone said. “The last thing I want to do is give up. Until they tell me they have seen enough, I am going to continue to work and battle through it.”
