Blue Jays 7 Yankees 2
TORONTO – To many Yankees he has been a friend from the first day they donned the most famous uniform in sports.
Along the way he has worn the mentor hat for countless others who have entered and exited the Yankees’ tumultuous 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 muscular Blue Jays last night at SkyDome, David Cone is an old pitcher with a lot more losses than wins on this year’s ticket.
Not only is his spot on 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.
Nobody chucks forever. It stopped for Whitey Ford and Tom Seaver, a pair of New York pitching icons in whose company Cone belongs.
Pitching for the second time since dislocating his right shoulder on Sept. 5, Cone last night was the loser in a 7-2 defeat that extended the Yankees’ losing streak to four games and was witnessed by 28,463.
Cone couldn’t get out of the fourth inning, allowed seven runs and six hits and dropping to 4-13 with his second straight loss.
Torre won’t commit to what his 10-man postseason staff will look like, but Cone didn’t offer much for Torre to believe in last night.
The loss was the Yankees’ sixth in seventh games. During the four-game slide, Yankee pitchers have given up 40 runs. And that includes the two they limited the Indians to Monday night.
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 7 innings. Last night it was Esteban Loaiza’s turn to look like Don Drysdale.
Loaiza worked seven innings, allowed one run and five hits and is 5-5 as a Blue Jay.
Since the Red Sox dropped both ends of a twinbill last night to the Indians, the Yankees’ magic number was reduced to six over the Bosox despite the Bombers’ loss.
During the four-game slide, the Yankees have scored eight runs. 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.
What little life the Yankees showed was snuffed by the Blue Jays turning double plays in the first, sixth and seventh innings.
Those Yankee fans looking for the silver lining behind heavy black clouds, there was Dwight Gooden. Pitching for the first time since Sept. 10, Gooden relieved Cone with two on in the fourth. And while he allowed those inherited runners to score when he gave up a double to the red-hot Dave Martinez, Gooden didn’t allow a run the rest of his stay, which consisted of 4 innings.
Chuck Knoblauch broke an 0-for-16 slide with two hits and Bernie Williams had two hits.
Cone didn’t make it out of the fourth, leaving immediately after Alex Gonzalez drove a hanging breaking ball at the knees into the left-center field gap for a two-out, RBI ground-rule double that scored Tony Batista from second and hiked the Blue Jays lead to 5-1.
Gooden, who hadn’t worked since Sept. 10 in Boston, replaced Cone with runners on second and third and Dave Martinez ready to step into the batter’s box. Martinez, who went 3-for-6 with three RBIs Tuesday night and had an RBI triple in the third inning, fell behind Gooden, 0-2. He battled back to get the count full and then slapped an opposite-field double into the left-field corner that scored two runs and upped the Blue Jays’ bulge to 7-1.
Cone’s long night started immediately when Blue Jay leadoff hitter Shannon Stewart opened the first inning with a double to right-center. After talking about playing a cleaner game than Tuesday night’s debacle, Torre watched Jorge Posada field Gonzalez’ sacrifice bunt and throw high to first as Gonzalez was called safe.
Cone traded two outs for a run when he fed Dave Martinez a 4-6-3 double play ball.
Cone hitting Stewart to start the third wasn’t a good sign, and when Dave Martinez tripled home Stewart for a 2-1 lead, the beating was just beginning. Carlos Delgado made it 3-1 with a sac fly.
Cone walked Batista on four pitches to start the fourth and then gave up a single to Darrin Fletcher on a 1-2 pitch. Cone used a splitter to fan Jose Cruz before Mickey Morandini’s single to right scored Batista. Stewart flied to center before Gonzalez chased Cone with an RBI double.
The Blue Jays attempted to jump-start the lethargic Yankees’ offense in the second and third innings but the Yankees refused the charity.
Loaiza walked Knoblauch to start the game but Knoblauch negated the free pass when he was thrown out trying to steal second with Derek Jeter at the plate. Following Jeter’s single to right, David Justice bounced into a 4-6-3 double play.
Posada’s two-out smash to Gonzalez glanced off the shortstop’s glove and allowed Williams to score from second and tie the score, 1-1, in the second. Williams opened the frame with a double in to the right-field corner. However, Loaiza rebounded to retire Scott Brosius on a fly to center.
