Blue Jays 6
Yankees 3
Spank Pedro Martinez one day. Submit to Gustavo Chacin the next.
No wonder people go broke betting on baseball.
One day after drilling a future Hall of Fame lock, the Yankees barely put a glove on Chacin, a 23-year-old lefty making his major league debut, as all the buzz generated taking two of three from the Red Sox dissipated in a 6-3 loss to the lowly Blue Jays at the Stadium last night.
Since the game wasn’t on the original schedule (it was moved from Thursday night), it only drew 10,732 and left the Stadium feeling and looking like a Mets game was in progress.
Chacin, who won 18 combined games for Double-A New Hampshire and Triple-A Syracuse this summer, limited the Yankees to three runs and four hits in seven-plus innings.
The prospects for a Yankee losing streak are strong tonight when Esteban Loaiza makes his first start since August 27 in Toronto. He is 0-2 with an 8.51 ERA in seven games (five starts) since coming to the Yankees on July 31.
Last night, Javier Vazquez (14-10), suffered the loss, his fourth in his last five decisions, and remains a big mystery two weeks prior to the start of the ALDS.
“I think our intensity was good and we came out ready. [But] The kid handed it to us,” said Alex Rodriguez, who drove in two of the Yanks’ three runs with a single in the eighth. He also brought their first run home by banging into a double play with runners on first and third and no outs in the sixth to make it 3-1, Toronto.
Thanks to the Red Sox dropping their third straight, a 9-6 decision to the Orioles in Boston, the Yankees didn’t lose ground in the AL East. Their magic number fell to nine and they still lead the Red Sox by 4½ games with a dozen tilts remaining.
“We forgot our bats today,” George Steinbrenner said.
As for Vazquez, he is a puzzle.
“I don’t know what I am doing,” admitted Vazquez, who gave up four runs and nine hits in 62/3 innings. “I have to stay with the basics. There has been too much [emphasis] on mechanics. I am better off trusting my stuff.”
The Yankees, playing without Gary Sheffield (who received cortisone shots in his left shoulder Sunday night), didn’t help themselves by hitting into four double plays.
The one A-Rod hit into was a killer.
“I don’t know what I swung at,” said A-Rod who hacked at the first pitch. “It was a dead fish [turned over fastball] or a change-up. That was a horrific at-bat.”
The Yankees stirred in the eighth when third baseman Eric Hinske failed to field Miguel Cairo’s grounder over the bag; the hit was ruled a ground-rule double when a fan grabbed the ball. Miguel Batista replaced Chacin with the bases loaded and no outs to face Jeter. Batista needed one pitch to retire Jeter on a routine fly to right that wasn’t deep enough to score the heavy-legged John Olerud from third.
A-Rod hiked his RBI total to 101 with a two-run single, bringing Bernie Williams, the potential tying run, to the plate. Williams walked, but watched Hideki Matsui bounce into a rally-killing 1-2-3 double play.
The Yankees had a last chance in the ninth when Jeter batted with the bases loaded and two outs, but he grounded to short.
“He pitched well, we didn’t know what to expect,” Jeter said of Chacin.
Nor did the people who figured Chacin had no chance against the team that punished Pedro.
