YANKEE NOTES
Joe Torre stayed with Kenny Lofton as his DH last night over Ruben Sierra against Pedro Martinez one night after Lofton was the DH versus Curt Schilling.
“He has 41 at-bats, that’s significant,” Torre said of Lofton, who was 13-for-41 (.317) against Martinez. “Ruben is pretty good, too (8-for-29, .276). I like Ruben for a situation if it presents itself.”
Pedro-killer Enrique Wilson was on the bench despite being a .440 (11-for-25) against Martinez. Miguel Cairo, a .250 (6-for-24) hitter against Martinez, started at second and went 0-for-2 with a walk against Martinez.
Lofton, who homered off Tim Wakefield in the sixth inning of Game 1, ripped a one-out single off Martinez in the second that gave the Yankees runners on first and second. But Derek Jeter flied to center and Alex Rodriguez looked at a third strike.
Lofton fanned in the fourth and popped out in the sixth against Martinez. He whiffed against Keith Foulke with runners at the corners in the eighth.
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Yankees are 14-2 when leading, 2-0, in postseason series. A team falling behind 0-2 has lost 13 straight series in LCS play since the 1985 Cardinals rallied to beat the Dodgers and since the Royals came back from a 2-0 deficit against the Blue Jays that same year.
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If Curt Schilling can’t pitch for the remainder of the ALCS due to a barking right ankle, Torre isn’t going to throw a pity party.
“It wouldn’t aggravate me,” Torre said when informed Schilling said he wouldn’t take the ball if he didn’t feel better than he did in Game 1, when he was shelled by the Yankees.
“You can’t pay attention to that. That’s like Pedro and the remarks he made that he can’t beat us.”
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After going 5-for-11 with runners in scoring position in Game 1, the Yankees were 1-for-9 in the clutch last night and stranded 11 runners.
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The ball looking fuzzy as it approaches his left eye is a sensation Tom Gordon must live with for a while.
“He was better [Tuesday],” Torre said of Gordon, who took a champagne cork near the eye during Saturday’s ALDS victory celebration in Minnesota. “It will be a while before it totally goes away.”
Appearing in his second straight ALCS game, Gordon worked two-thirds of an inning, gave up a hit that allowed an inherited runner to score. He was replaced by Mariano Rivera with two outs in the eighth.
