Indians 4 – Yankees 0
CLEVELAND – Slop followed more slop from Billy Traber, and it had nothing to do with the heavy pre-game rain that delayed the game for nearly an hour.
Relying on off-speed pitches and a pedestrian but well-located fastball against a lineup that was without Alfonso Soriano and Derek Jeter, Traber tossed a complete-game one-hitter, allowing only a single to John Flaherty to open the third as he led the Indians to a 4-0 victory in front of 26,540 at Jacobs Field.
Not only were the Yankees without their first two batters – both hit in the hands by Pedro Martinez on Monday – but they also had never seen the left-handed Traber. In addition, they were coming off two emotionally charged wins over the Red Sox.
So they had several excuses for getting one-hit by the soft-tossing, 23-year-old Traber, the Mets’ first-round pick in 2000, who was dealt to the Indians by former GM Steve Phillips in the ill-fated trade for Roberto Alomar.
Even so, Joe Torre would have none of it.
“None of that stuff happened,” Torre said, denying that Soriano and Jeter were missed or that the team experienced a natural letdown after the tense four-game series at the Stadium. “He was terrific.”
It’s hard to argue – because if Flaherty hadn’t singled to left, Traber may have thrown a perfect game.
“He never had to come with the fastball and challenge people,” Flaherty said of Traber, who didn’t issue a free pass after walking 29 in 57 innings.
Jorge Posada, who went 0-for-3 as the DH and didn’t get the ball out of the infield, compared Traber to a veteran southpaw from Seattle.
“He is a young [Jamie] Moyer,” he said. “We went after him and it didn’t happen. The kid was good. He threw inside and threw a lot of strikes. He had a very good change-up. The scouting report said he was 84 to 85, but he was throwing 90 to 91.”
The loss, coupled with the Red Sox’ victory over the Blue Jays, trimmed the Yankees’ AL East lead to three games.
Traber (4-5) sounded shocked to hear that the Yankees thought his heater was that fast.
“I don’t throw that hard,” Traber said. “It wasn’t very fast.”
But it was effective enough to stifle the Yankees and make a loser out of Jeff Weaver, who yielded two runs in the first and nothing more until the eighth, when Matt Lawton – another of the Mets shipped to Cleveland for Alomar – homered. Weaver (4-7) also was charged with the runner he left for reliever Chris Hammond.
The Yankee lineup gets cleanup hitter Bernie Williams back tonight and Jeter, who flied out as a pinch-hitter in the ninth, also is likely to play. Soriano, however, could remain out of action until the end of the week.
“I tried to hold the bat and it was pain,” said Soriano, who wraps his left hand around the knob of the bat and had it smoked by Martinez on a check swing in the first inning on Monday. “I can’t hold the bat so good. There is no power.”
When Soriano woke up yesterday he was hopeful the bone bruise would progress to the point where he could test it. It didn’t.
“I wanted to take BP or hit in the cage but I can’t do anything,” Soriano said. “I can’t do anything with my hands.”
Soriano dodged the issue of going on the DL, saying, “I am worried because I don’t like to miss games.”
Soriano, who is to be the AL’s starting second baseman in Tuesday’s All-Star Game in Chicago, was asked if he might miss it. “I hope it’s not that long,” he replied. “Nothing is broke, only swelling and pain.”
