10 in a row! Tonight is Pedro vs. Beckett (if it doesn't rain out).
As for the Spankees, well... (let me eek out a tear for A-Rod)
Braves 5, Yankees 2
Boos for Rodriguez and Farnsworth Are Soundtrack of the Yankees' Defeat
By TYLER KEPNER
It is hard to imagine a reigning most valuable player more unloved than Alex Rodriguez. Every time he makes an out in a home game the Yankees are losing, Rodriguez is booed by the fans at Yankee Stadium.
It happened four times last night in a 5-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves. The last time, Rodriguez struck out as the potential tying run in the eighth inning. After the game, he admitted the booing is making it harder.
"A little bit, and then I try to do a little bit too much, and that's not going to help," Rodriguez said. "I've got to just try to tune that out and do what I do, not let it affect me. It was difficult tonight."
It was a brutal night for the Yankees for many reasons, not just Rodriguez, who is batting .213 in June. Before the game, they placed another regular, second baseman Robinson Canó, on the disabled list. And after a strong start by Jaret Wright, the bullpen gave up four runs in three innings.
Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox were winning their 10th game in a row, beating the Mets to push the Yankees to three and a half games back in the American League East, their largest deficit since April 19.
"We're Mets fans right now," Manager Joe Torre said before the game, but he was less jovial later.
"It was one of those old-fashioned battles, one to nothing," Torre said. "And it got ugly."
When Torre came to take the ball from Kyle Farnsworth in the ninth inning, he did not even pat Farnsworth on the back. Farnsworth, who has a 4.98 earned run average, had faced five batters and allowed three hits and two runs.
He also threw a wild pitch and a pitch that became a passed ball. After the passed ball, Torre said catcher Jorge Posada got "a little heated" as he spoke briefly to Farnsworth, prompting a visit from the pitching coach Ron Guidry.
Posada said he simply missed the ball, though he clearly seemed to be expecting a different pitch. Torre said Farnsworth and Posada had their signals crossed, and Farnsworth said that was true. But he denied any confrontation with Posada. "There's nothing going on," Farnsworth said.
There is something wrong with Farnsworth, who may be as big a target of fans' anger as Rodriguez. He has two and a half seasons left on a three-year, $17 million contract and has been wildly inconsistent.
"They hit the ball," Farnsworth said, describing what happened last night. As for his theory on his overall performance, Farnsworth said, "No idea." He added that he was not hurt.
Torre has relied heavily on Scott Proctor, who has not sustained his dazzling start. Within a week or so, the Yankees could promote the veteran Jesus Colome from Class AAA Columbus, and Octavio Dotel may arrive in July. For now, Farnsworth remains Torre's best option.
"He'll be back out there tomorrow in the eighth inning if we get a lead," Torre said.
Rodriguez, the A.L. player of the month in May, thought he had broken his slump during the Yankees' last road trip. He was 7 for 24 (.292) in those six games, but he now has one hit in his last 14 at-bats.
"His front side is just flying open, and he's reaching for everything," Torre said. "He's more frustrated than anything else, because it left him so quickly. It seemed to show up very quickly and it looked like he had a grip on it. But he's fighting himself right now."
Derek Jeter had singled to start the eighth and gone to second on a dribbler up the third base line by Jason Giambi, who was thrown out at first on a close play. Rodriguez took two balls from Braves starter Horacio Ramirez, then fouled off three pitches.
That should have meant he was timing Ramirez, waiting for just the right pitch. But Ramirez followed with a tight slider, down and in. It was the perfect pitch, and Rodriguez swung and missed as boos descended.
"That was the nastiest pitch that I saw all night," Rodriguez said. "It's not an at-bat that I threw away. It was a good at-bat, it's just an at-bat that, after reviewing it, he didn't leave one pitch where I could really hurt him with a two-run lead."
Posada flied to left to end the inning with the Yankees still trailing, 3-1. It had been 1-0 for six innings, with Wright allowing five hits in six innings. The one extra-base hit he surrendered was a double to Andruw Jones that turned into a run.
"If I can stay right around where I am right now, as far as fastball command and the off-speed stuff, I would definitely take that the rest of the year," Wright said.
Torre removed him before the top of the seventh, after Wright had thrown 90 pitches. The next four Braves hitters were left-handed, and Torre called for the left-hander Ron Villone. A similar strategy worked last week in Philadelphia, but this time, Villone allowed a homer to Adam LaRoche on his first pitch.
That made it 2-0, which was not an insurmountable deficit. Melky Cabrera singled in a run in the seventh and homered in the ninth for the Yankees' runs. But the Yankees had let the game get away by then, and now they are deeper in the standings.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/28/sports/baseball/28yanks.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print
