Mo faulters, Yanks lose in 11
BY JIM BAUMBACH
Newsday Staff Correspondent
August 9, 2006, 12:09 AM EDT
CHICAGO -- The Yankees took the field for the ninth with all the ingredients
for a victory they would have all but stolen. But two innings later they
walked off as losers.
Mariano Rivera gave up a game-tying homer to Paul Konerko in the ninth and
Jermaine Dye's one-out single off Scott Proctor gave the White Sox a 6-5 win
in the 11th, sending the Yankees back to their hotel surely frustrated about
what could have been.
Tadahito Iguchi led off the 11th with a single that Robinson Cano knocked
down to his right but couldn't recover to make an accurate throw to first.
Proctor walked Jim Thome and then got Konerko to fly out before giving up
Dye's game-winning single.
But the more shocking development happened in the ninth.
The Yankees took a 5-4 lead into the bottom of the ninth but the usually
unflappable Rivera blew his third save of the season.
When the ball landed in the seats behind the right-centerfield wall, Rivera
kicked the rubber twice in frustration, and surely every one of his teammates
felt the same way.
The Yankees certainly believed they were on their way to beating the White
Sox after snapping a tie at 4 in the eighth. After Alex Rodriguez's hard
single to center loaded the bases, Ozzie Guillen brought in lefthander
reliever Neal Cotts to face Jason Giambi.
Cotts' third pitch drilled Giambi on his right elbow, forcing in the go-ahead
run and giving the Yankees the momentum.
But that momentum didn't last long, and when the Yankees look back, they
surely know they can't put all of the blame on their closer. The Yankees
failed to add to their one-run lead when they had prime opportunities in the
eighth and ninth innings.
After Giambi was hit by a pitch, the bases were still loaded with one out,
but Cotts recovered to get Jorge Posada to hit into an inning-ending double
play to second.
Giambi left for a pinch hitter in the 10th because of a bruised elbow.
The Yankees also had a chance to add an insurance run in the ninth inning
when Robinson Cano -- playing in his first game back from the disabled list
-- led off with a double and was on third with one out.
But Bobby Jenks came in and retired two straight, vigorously pumping his fist
after striking out Johnny Damon to keep the deficit at one.
But as the longtime Yankees players always say, as long as they can get the
game into the ninth inning with a lead, they have no doubt they are going to
win because they have arguably the best closer of all-time. On this night,
however, that didn't happen.
The closer's failure took the focus off starter Chien-Ming Wang, who had his
worst outing in a month. He gave up four runs, seven hits and two walks in
five innings, ending his scoreless streak at 19 innings, but he left the game
with the score tied at 4.
Rodriguez's monstrous two-out, two-run home run off Freddy Garcia in the
third inning -- his first since July 26 -- gave Wang a 4-3 lead, but Wang
gave it right back in the bottom of the inning when Joe Crede launched a
two-out solo shot.
Wang developed into the Yankees' most effective starter over the last few
weeks by keeping his sinker down in the zone all of the time -- something he
wasn't able to do last night during his shortest outing since going only four
innings in Detroit on June 1.
Wang took the mound in the second with a 2-0 lead thanks to an RBI single by
Bobby Abreu in the first and Craig Wilson's first home run as a Yankee an
inning later. But Wang quickly flushed the lead away, not to mention his
19-inning scoreless streak.
The White Sox began the inning with consecutive doubles by Konerko and
Jermaine Dye, making it 2-1. Wang had a chance to stop it there, but with men
on second and third, he gave up a two-out, two-run single to Alex Cintron,
Chicago's ninth hitter.
Adding to what was already a tense night for Joe Torre, the Yankees manager
tripped twice on his way out of the dugout to argue a close play at first
base in the seventh inning.
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