The Yankees may not win in 2006

[Pavan]

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- Chan Ho Park limited Boston to just three hits over seven innings and Alfonso Soriano hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the Texas Rangers' 7-2 victory over the Red Sox on Friday night.

Park (3-1) had a season-high seven strikeouts. Except for a rough fourth inning, the right-hander had little trouble against the World Series champions, who lost their third straight game.

Tim Wakefield (2-1) retired 12 in a row until David Dellucci led off the decisive sixth with a single. Dellucci scored on Hank Blalock's single to tie the game 2-all, and Soriano followed with his fifth homer.

Blalock, 5-for-37 his previous nine games, also had an RBI double.

The Red Sox played without manager Terry Francona. Bench coach Brad Mills filled in as Francona served the first of his three-game suspension resulting from the bench-clearing scuffles in Tampa Bay last weekend.

Park faced the minimum 11 hitters through the first 3 2-3 innings until walking Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz. Kevin Millar drove them home with a triple for a 2-1 lead.

Millar's drive deep into the gap hit off the heel of the glove of right fielder Gary Matthews Jr., who was in a full sprint when he lunged trying to make the catch. He ended up sprawled out on the warning track.

Park then struck out Bill Mueller to end the fourth. He struck out five of the last 12 batters he faced, including Ramon Vazquez to end the seventh.

Ron Mahay pitched two perfect innings for his first save.

Wakefield left with two outs in the seventh and pinch-hitter Chad Allen, the only batter faced by reliever Mike Myers, then had an RBI single.

Filling the rotation spot of injured Curt Schilling, Wakefield gave up five runs and six hits with four strikeouts. His AL-leading ERA of 1.75 increased to 2.78.

The Red Sox played for the first time since Tuesday, having been rained out Wednesday in Baltimore before their scheduled off day Thursday. They have lost five of six.

Boston pitcher Bronson Arroyo, who starts Saturday, was suspended six games and right fielder Trot Nixon two games for their roles in the brawls in Tampa Bay. Both will appeal, and Nixon played Friday night, going 0-for-3. Ortiz plans to appeal his fine, but wasn't suspended.

The Red Sox didn't allow a run in the first inning of their first 19 games, the only team to manage that. They have since allowed first-inning runs three straight games.

Texas led 1-0 in the first after Mark Teixeira hit a two-out single that dropped in front of Ramirez in left field. He scored when Blalock's high popup turned into a double when it fell between Ramirez and center fielder Johnny Damon, both players seemingly expecting the other to make the catch.

Laynce Nix added an RBI single in the eighth for Texas, then scored on Kevin Mench's double. Nix was 2-for-4, his fourth multihit game in eight starts since being recalled from the minor leagues.

Notes

Boston (11-11) has 11 losses in April for the first since 1999. ... RF Richard Hidalgo was out of the Texas starting lineup for the fourth time in seven games. He is mired in a 7-for-61 slump in his last 16 games and hitting just .181. ... Soriano's last four hits have been for extra bases.

[Janice]

Originally Posted by pavanbadal

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- Chan Ho Park limited Boston to just three hits over seven innings and Alfonso Soriano hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the Texas Rangers' 7-2 victory over the Red Sox on Friday night.

What's up with the recap of a losing Red Sox game? You plan on posting their winning games too?

[Pavan]

Originally Posted by Janice

What's up with the recap of a losing Red Sox game? You plan on posting their winning games too?

No, since he doesn't, why should I?

[Brian Damage]

Both the Red Sox and Yankees suck so far this year. At least the Sox have an excuse that their top two pitchers Wells and Schilling are out.

[Janice]

Originally Posted by pavanbadal

No, since he doesn't, why should I?

Is he a Sox fan? Why are you posting about the Sox? Just curious.

[Dr. Jazz]

Originally Posted by Janice

Is he a Sox fan? Why are you posting about the Sox? Just curious.

Janice, this bschmale guy said that if the Yankees kept losing, he would post about it. The Yankees lost last night, so he posted the whole article about it. If someone's gonna post about it everytime the Yankees lose, then I see no problem in someone posting about it when the Sox lose. Like Pav, I'm a Yankees fan & I got tired of bschmale always downing my team. Pav was just responding to bschmale with his post about the Sox. I still don't know whether bschmale's a Sox fan or an unsatisfied Yankees fan lol I want to see my team win, but as long as the Sox are losing too, I'm happy

[Janice]

Originally Posted by Dr. Jazz

Janice, this bschmale guy said that if the Yankees kept losing, he would post about it. The Yankees lost last night, so he posted the whole article about it. If someone's gonna post about it everytime the Yankees lose, then I see no problem in someone posting about it when the Sox lose. Like Pav, I'm a Yankees fan & I got tired of bschmale always downing my team. Pav was just responding to bschmale with his post about the Sox. I still don't know whether bschmale's a Sox fan or an unsatisfied Yankees fan lol I want to see my team win, but as long as the Sox are losing too, I'm happy

I see bschmale made a brief comment on the Sox as well as posting other team's standings. He's also a Yankee's fan, so posting about the Sox losing isn't to piss him off.

Both the Yankees and the Red Sox suck so far this year, but the Yankees suck more, truth be told. I normally don't say bad things against the Yankees out of respect for my best friends here who are from New York (Brian D, TJL and dlemond).

Also, compare last night's losses, the Yanks got shut out. Steinbrenner must be going insane with all the money he spends. Over two hundred million. Someone's not getting their money's worth.

The Sox top pitchers are injured. What's the Yankees excuse? My husband thinks it's the lack of steroids rearing its ugly head on the Yankees. Giambi, Sheffield....and who knows who else. My husband also believes that the Yankees and the Sox will finish 1 and 2 in the end because talent, like cream, rises to the top.

[TJ]

The Yankees and Red Sox both suck - go Orioles!

[Janice]

Originally Posted by TJ

The Yankees and Red Sox both suck - go Orioles!

Not the Atlanta Braves?

[Pavan]

Originally Posted by TJ

The Yankees and Red Sox both suck - go Orioles!

We'll see come around June who'll be in first place. Brian Roberts will come back down to earth by then.

[bschmale1113]

NEW YORK -- Hastening to back up first base on a third-inning play Sunday, Toronto second baseman Orlando Hudson banged into umpire Rick Reed.
Hudson went one way, Reed went the other. They looked the way the Yankees feel.

"We've gotta move forward and forget about the 25 games we've played so far," Derek Jeter said after No. 25 turned into an 8-6 loss to the Blue Jays.

"We just need to be able to get people out," Joe Torre said, after his hurlers allowed the Jays to score five runs once his hitters had scored their last.

"Five innings is not going to cut it," said Carl Pavano, who lasted only that long and could not hold onto a 6-3 lead.

Adding it all up equalled the Yankees' 11th loss in 17 games, a 10-15 record and an eight-game deficit in the loss column to American League East leader Baltimore.

Shea Hillenbrand and Eric Hinske lined consecutive doubles in the seventh to snap a 6-6 deadlock.

The rally off Mike Stanton (0-1) lowered the curtain on a 3-6 homestand for the Bombers. Pete Walker (1-0) hurled two shutout innings in relief of Ted Lilly to earn the win.

Pavano, unable to get an out after the Yankees presented him with a 6-3 lead with four runs in the bottom of the fifth, pitched five-plus shaky innings to earn a no-decision. He allowed nine hits and six runs in five-plus innings.

Gary Sheffield, who launched his third homer in the fourth, and Hideki Matsui, dropped to No. 6 in the lineup, combined to drive in five runs to give the Yankees that 6-3 lead.

Frank Menechino's two-run single off reliever Paul Quantrill had keyed a three-run tying rally in the top of the sixth.

On a bright Bronx day, the glare blinded New York relievers. Most of a restless sellout crowd's boos were directed at the trio which couldn't contain the Blue Jays.

Stanton was only the middleman in this link.

"When they hand us a lead," said Stanton, who this time actually was handed only a tie, "we have to hold it. We just didn't do a very good job."

Before Stanton, Quantrill had only come close to bailing Pavano out of a bases-loaded, none-out jam in the sixth. Instead, all three men scored, tying the game at 6.

Except for Alexis Rios' sacrifice fly, all of that damage came after batterymates Quantrill and catcher Jorge Posada thought they had Frank Catalanotto struck out -- an opinion not shared by plate umpire Alfonso Marquez.

"I've been doing this a long time. You've got to shake it off and come back with a good pitch," said the veteran Quantrill, who wound up walking Catalanotto -- and giving up Menechino's tying single on a 1-and-2 sinker that didn't.

"Supposed to be down and away, but I left it up a bit. It was a good piece of hitting, taking me the other way," Quantrill said.

Torre was most bugged by the fact Quantrill had both Catalanotto and Menechino 0-and-2 before losing them.

"He was in good position, just couldn't put them away," the manager said. "Obviously, that was a huge part of the game. He'd put himself in position to get out of the inning, and couldn't do it. I'm sure it's frustrating for him."

After Stanton, Tom Gordon sounded an eighth-inning alarm, allowing singles to Catalanotto and Vernon Wells before being replaced and rescued by left-hander Buddy Groom.

The mere fact that Torre chose to yank Gordon -- normally, eminently effective against left-handed hitters -- with the hot Corey Koskie up said volumes about Flash's struggles.

"But you don't let one month of a new season change what he did for seven months last year," Torre said of his eighth-inning setup ace. "We're certainly not going to give up on him."

The Yankees' out-of-sync opening month has certainly disrupted the bullpen's normal rhythm. Gordon has appeared in 12 games. Mariano Rivera's appearance Saturday had been his first in nine days.

Quantrill, the guy who has pitched 80-plus games each of the last four seasons, worked Sunday for the first time since April 23.

"I don't know if I've ever had nine days off in my career," Quantrill said with a light shrug. "All things considered, I threw as well as I can expect.

"I went out there with the bases loaded and nobody out and gave up one hit, that's about it. It's unacceptable. I'm not happy with it. I would've liked to make a better pitch."

The outcome, unfortunately, totally obscured one of those unique Jeter moments.

The Captain had made one of his signature plays to thwart a bigger Toronto surge in the fifth inning. The Jays had already broken a 2-2 tie on a run-scoring grounder by Menechino and still had runners at the corners with one out.

That's when Jeter turned one of those gems which never show up in the box score, but which define him. As Wells took off for a steal of second, Posada gunned the ball down, and Catalanotto bolted from third.

Jeter, ignoring Wells, gloved the throw in front of the bag and returned it with vigor to Posada, who put the tag on Catalanotto.

The Jays got no more that inning. Alas, they got enough the ensuing two frames to render Jeter's brilliance moot.

[bschmale1113]

ST. PETERSBURG -- Kevin Brown did not give the Yankees' revised lineup much of a chance for evaluations on Tuesday night, getting soaked by an early shower of base hits that set the Devil Rays up for an 11-4 win in Tropicana Field.
The Rays ended an eight-game losing streak by sending 11 men to the plate for eight hits and six runs in the first inning.

Brown (0-4) wound up allowing eight runs and 13 hits -- tying his career high for hits allowed -- in five innings.

The hole dug by Brown, who lost his seventh straight start dating back to last season, was too deep for the Yankees to overcome against Doug Waechter (1-1).

Solo homers by Tino Martinez and Jorge Posada and a two-run triple by Derek Jeter accounted for New York's scoring.

Robinson Cano, playing second base and batting ninth in his Major League debut, was hitless in three at-bats. He grounded out twice, with a strikeout sandwiched in-between

[Brian Damage]

As much as I hate to say it, I really do think the Yankees won't win this year.

1. Bernie Williams has passed his prime. His offensive numbers have declined each of last couple of years.

2. Jason Giambi will never be the player we got from Oakland. Whether it was the abuse of steroids, age or whatever. He's not the same player.

3. Kevin Brown is finished. He has zero left in the gas tank.

4. Jared Wright seems to be made of glass.

5. The bullpen is putrid!

6. Mariano Rivera is no longer Mariano Rivera.

7. No bench players...Aside from Ruben Sierra, the Yanks have nobody to rely on to get a big hit off the bench.

8. Jorge Posada looks beat up and tired and it is only May.

9. Randy Johnson is in his forties and can break down at any minute.

10. Carl Pavano is average.

[Dr. Jazz]

Originally Posted by Brian Damage

As much as I hate to say it, I really do think the Yankees won't win this year.

1. Bernie Williams has passed his prime. His offensive numbers have declined each of last couple of years.

2. Jason Giambi will never be the player we got from Oakland. Whether it was the abuse of steroids, age or whatever. He's not the same player.

3. Kevin Brown is finished. He has zero left in the gas tank.

4. Jared Wright seems to be made of glass.

5. The bullpen is putrid!

6. Mariano Rivera is no longer Mariano Rivera.

7. No bench players...Aside from Ruben Sierra, the Yanks have nobody to rely on to get a big hit off the bench.

8. Jorge Posada looks beat up and tired and it is only May.

9. Randy Johnson is in his forties and can break down at any minute.

10. Carl Pavano is average.

I agree with a couple of your observations, but as you said in #8, it is only May. Now if you catch me in a couple months sayin' "it's only July", then the Yankees have got major problems

[Brian Damage]

I totally understand that it is still early, it's just things that I'm seeing really disturb me. One thing the Yankees could do is make a big trade late in the season to get a big bat or add pitching. This year, they have nothing in their farm system to get anything.