Devil Rays 2 – Yankees 1
Bernie Williams lashed an RBI single to left field and suddenly everything changed.
Suddenly, in the bottom of the eighth inning, it didn’t matter that the Yankees had been stymied by Tampa Bay pitching all afternoon. Or that Roger Clemens had already exited, falling short of career win No. 296 despite another fine performance.
None of that was an issue anymore. Williams’ single had tied the game at 1-1 and, with runners on first and second and none out, here came the Yankees to grab the lead, win their sixth straight and begin the year a franchise-best 10-1.
Was there any reason to expect anything less?
“We’ve been spoiled,” Joe Torre said afterwards. “Any time something needs to be knocked in, we’ve knocked it in.”
“Bernie gets the big hit, tie game,” Jorge Posada said. “We’ve got ’em where we want ’em.”
But as it turned out, it was the other way around. None of the Yankees’ 5-6-7 hitters (Hideki Matsui, Posada and Robin Ventura) could deliver the go-ahead RBI. And an inning later, it was the Devil Rays who scrapped out the winning run to send the Yankees to a 2-1 loss in front of 39,725 at the Stadium.
“To come in and beat a good Yankee team on their own field – or anywhere,” Tampa manager Lou Piniella said, “it feels good.”
Especially since typically shoddy Tampa scored the go-ahead run on some sloppy play by the home team. After Marlon Anderson opened the ninth with a single off Juan Acevedo, Damion Easley laid down a sacrifice bunt. Posada pounced on it, but after quickly checking second base for a possible force, he dropped the ball and both runners were safe.
“The ball slipped out,” Posada said. “I can’t explain it. It was just weird.”
Acevedo insisted he wasn’t rattled by the miscue – “I’m pitching the ninth inning, tie game. Why would it unnerve me?” – but immediately after, he uncorked a wild pitch that moved up both runners. Toby Hall then brought in the go-ahead run with a sac fly.
Tampa starter Victor Zambrano came into the game with a 9.90 ERA and since the Yankees pounded out five runs against him in his last start, there was no reason to expect that this would become the first game this season in which the Yankees would never have the lead.
But yesterday Zambrano was a different pitcher, walking six but holding the Yankees to no runs on three hits in six innings.
That’s not to say the Yanks didn’t have their chances. They left seven stranded in the first five innings alone and were an overall 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
The best opportunity, of course, came in the eighth. Trailing 1-0 and now batting against reliever Bobby Seay, Nick Johnson singled and Jason Giambi drew a walk. Williams then singled, and Johnson came chugging home with the tying run.
That brought up Matsui with a chance to play hero again. But Saturday’s star popped out to first.
“It was just a mistake,” Matsui said. “I’m sorry I stopped the team’s winning.”
Next up? Posada, who fouled out to the catcher. “When they were on the ropes,” Posada bemoaned, “we couldn’t get them to fall.” That left it up to Ventura, who grounded out to second. “You’re just trying to get a good pitch to hit,” he said. “It just didn’t happen.”
Neither did a 10-1 start. Of course, 9-2 is pretty fair through 11 games. Hardly a catastrophic loss yesterday. But as Torre said, with this team, you get spoiled.