Yankees 16 – Blue Jays 5
The Yankees had lost to this team six straight times, couldn’t buy a big hit when it mattered the past two days, and came to the Stadium yesterday in danger of getting swept by the Blue Jays for the first time in nine years.
But it took them just one inning to send a clear message back to Toronto – and the sight of catcher Jorge Posada’s first-ever grand slam carrying into the upper deck was far more eloquent than any words he could’ve spoken.
The Yankees scored the game’s first dozen runs – including six in the first inning – and rolled to a 16-5 rout of Toronto in front of 31,970 at the Stadium. The Blue Jays had won five of their first six games with the AL’s most potent offense, but it was the Bombers that made a winner out of a so-so Roger Clemens (2-0) and left Toronto’s pitching a battered wreck.
“We just wanted to get back into the swing of things. This is too good a team to go on losing streaks,” said Posada, whose upper-deck job led a 20-hit assault. “It was my first grand slam. Even minor leagues, I don’t think I ever had one. I thought in my career I’d never get one, so I’m happy with that.”
He crushed Steve Parris’ 1-1 curveball three rows into the upper deck in right, a shot that left the yard so quickly Parris’ head immediately slumped and the outfielders didn’t bother to move. Parris (0-2) was gone with just one out in the second, but the Yanks roughed up reliever Kevin Beirne just as badly, touching him for seven hits and six runs in his two innings of work.
Tino Martinez (3-for-4, two runs scored) drove in four runs and Derek Jeter, in his second game of the season, went 3-for-5 with two RBI. In his debut Saturday, after returning from a quad injury and a DL stint, Jeter fanned against Toronto closer Billy Koch to end a 3-2 loss. But yesterday’s game was over by the third inning.
The game was played in a steady drizzle and misty conditions, but it was Toronto’s pitching that seemed in a fog. The Yankees put on their finest hitting clinic since a 19-1 beating of Baltimore last July 25, and Posada was at the head of it.
“I’m not a home-run hitter. I like to go out and hit gap-to-gap, line drives. If I think I’m a home-run hitter, it throws off my game,” Posada said. “There’s a lot of areas I can really improve on, even though I had a good year last year. It’s better to know you can improve than think you have it all figured out.”
But on a Yankee team that no longer has overwhelming home-run hitters, Posada has matured into one of their biggest power sources. He hit .287 last year in his first season as a full-time starter, with 28 home runs and 86 RBI. And manager Joe Torre said the 29- year-old switch-hitter is just going to get better.
“I don’t know what limit he can get [to]. He has a lot of things going for him: catching, he hits from both sides of the plate, arm strength, and he’s surrounded by a lot of people who know how to play the game,” Torre said. “They don’t give at-bats away. They don’t just let down because the game is 15-0. They keep going and going.”
That’s what they did yesterday, even after Clemens, who was dominating early, struggled in the fourth. He seemed to lose concentration after the Bombers’ long bottom of the third, and lost the plate as well. He walked shortstop Alex Gonzalez on four pitches to lead off the inning, gave up three straight singles – including a two-RBI single to right by DH Brad Fullmer – and hit Tony Batista in the hand.
He seemed to settle in, getting Darrin Fletcher to fly meekly to right; but with the bases loaded, Jose Cruz Jr. ripped a two-RBI single to right that Paul O’Neill bobbled. Rookie Ryan Freel added an RBI fielder’s choice to cut the lead to 12-5.
“The guys came out hitting and made my day a lot easier,” Clemens said. “We did what we wanted to do.”