THIS time the Red Sox and Yankees went to extra innings in The Bronx and there was no Aaron Boone, no magic.
Yet again this April the Yanks looked like a team that has no October about it. They can’t hit, pitch or field, so the surprise should not be that they have 10 losses, but they have somehow managed eight wins.
With each passing setback there is less shock and awe at just how poorly the Yanks are playing and more difficulty believing this is just a phase.
George Steinbrenner has invested in a $185 million roster that is currently committing two unpardonable sins, losing too much in general and losing too much to the Red Sox in specific. The Boss has responded, as you would expect, with several phoned tirades toward his executives this weekend.
But what can be done? The Yanks thought it was a blessing to accumulate all this starry talent. Right now, though, it looks like untradeable, overpriced pieces.
Thus the Red Sox won a Bronson Arroyo-Kevin Brown matchup for the second time in a week. They won yesterday despite Alex Rodriguez’s finest game as a Yank. And they won though they went hitless in 25 at-bats with men on base, including 0-for-19 with runners in scoring position.
Mariano Rivera had given the Yanks two shutout innings of relief, but was not pushed to a third because this really is April, not October. So Paul Quantrill took over in the 12th and permitted Boston’s third sacrifice fly of the game to produce the wining run in a 3-2 loss.
Thus the Yanks fell to 1-5 against Boston, though the Red Sox have yet to play any of those games with Nomar Garciaparra or Trot Nixon. The latest loss came though A-Rod prevented two runs with a spectacular play at his new position, homered for what would be the Yanks’ only hit through six innings and legged out an infield single to ignite a tying rally in the seventh. But it should have been more than a tying rally.
The Yanks had the bases loaded with one out before Bernie Williams grounded into an inning-ending double play. Rodriguez also walked in the ninth and 10th innings, but the Yanks went 0-for-8 with men on base after Gary Sheffield’s single delivered A-Rod in the seventh.
Before the seventh, the Yanks had not put a runner into scoring position since the first inning Friday night and Arroyo, Boston’s sixth starter, had permitted just one hit (A-Rod’s homer).
Scott Williamson, Alan Embree, Keith Foulke and Mike Timlin followed Arroyo with six hitless innings of relief. Too bad for the Yanks their personal punching bag, Byung-Hyun Kim, was in Pawtucket making an injury-rehab start yesterday. Because the Yankee offense needs help.
Derek Jeter has no hits in his last 21 at-bats and the Red Sox are actually playing him as if he were a pitcher with their outfield shallow and right fielder Kevin Millar pulled toward the line. Bernie Williams is a toothless 2-for-22. Thus, the Yanks scored three or fewer runs for the 11th time in 18 games. So much for the new Murderers’ Row.
Brown created his own problems. He walked the first two hitters to lead to one run and committed errors on the first two batters of the second inning to lead to an unearned run.
What saved him was holding the Red Sox to 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position, which was helped considerably by A-Rod. With two on and one out in the third and Boston already up 2-0, Millar blistered a two-hopper that Rodriguez lunged to snare in foul territory before straightening up to fire across the diamond for the out.
And yet even with Rodriguez’s overall brilliance and Boston’s clutch problems, the Yankees found a way to lose. They looked cursed these days. It is only April, but there is nothing October about these Yankees.
