Contrary to what I had thought a few weeks ago, the Yankees are continuing their slide:
BALTIMORE, June 27 — It feels like falling off a cliff, Joe Torre said Wednesday night after another loss, and the metaphor is appropriate. The Yankees had reached a high point before this trip, but suddenly they are plunging to depths never experienced in Torre’s 12 years as manager.
The Baltimore Orioles, who were in such disarray that they fired their manager last week, throttled the Yankees’ offense for the second night in a row. The score was 4-0 on Wednesday, when Roger Clemens worked six innings and failed to strike out a batter for the first time in 200 starts.
Then again, Clemens could have pitched the game of his life and he still would not have won. The Yankees scratched out only two hits in seven innings against Erik Bedard and did not put a runner in scoring position until the ninth inning.
“I see this lineup,” Clemens said. “I know they can play and they can hit. Just like Andy and I have talked about, we are used to that.”
Clemens and Andy Pettitte spent the past three seasons in Houston, helping carry an Astros team that often struggled to score. They had reason to believe the Yankees’ hitters would treat them better, but this offense lacks punch, too.
The Yankees scored five runs in three losses last week in Colorado. After a victory on Friday in San Francisco, they left 16 runners on base in a loss on Saturday. In their past three games, they have scored four runs.
And it was a new low for Roger Clemens as well:
Roger Clemens had gone 200 starts with at least one strikeout, dating to a 2000 start for the Yankees when he left after one inning with a groin injury. But he had gone 600 starts since his last one of at least six innings with no strikeouts. That came July 21, 1987, for Boston, when he shut out the Angels on five hits.
New York is once again below. 500, 11 games behind Boston in the AL East, and 8 games back in the Wild Card race.
