Brown, Vazquez flop for Yanks in Game 7
Pitchers lit up by Red Sox in decisive contest
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NEW YORK - Kevin Brown had a chance to claim a place in Yankees postseason history with his start in Game 7 of the AL championship series.
He certainly did, but for all the wrong reasons.
Brown lasted just 1 1-3 innings and gave up five runs and four hits in New York’s 10-3 loss to Boston on Wednesday night.
Before the Yankees even had a chance to bat, Brown had them in a two-run hole.
“We just didn’t pitch well enough,” Yankees manager Joe Torre said.
Brown gave up a leadoff single to Johnny Damon, who stole second and was thrown out trying to score on Manny Ramirez’s single. But David Ortiz, the ALCS MVP, homered to give the Red Sox a 2-0 lead.
Things got worse in the second inning. After getting Trot Nixon to ground out, Brown gave up a single to Kevin Millar and walked Bill Mueller and Orlando Cabrera to load the bases and end the right-hander’s night.
Javier Vazquez came in and Damon sent his first pitch over the right-field wall for a grand slam — and a 6-0 lead.
“It’s just too bad it happened,” Torre said. “You go out there and all of a sudden, you give up a two-spot and a four-spot and that’s a hell of a hill to climb.”
Vazquez fared slightly better than Brown, but that’s not saying much. He gave up three runs and two hits — including Damon’s second homer of the game — in two innings. Vazquez also walked five.
“You don’t want it to end like that,” Vazquez said.
Olerud available
John Olerud’s bruised left instep improved overnight, and he came off the bench for the Yankees late in Game 7.
Olerud took batting practice and grounders at first base before the game Wednesday, moving gingerly. He also did some running to test his foot, and said that was his biggest concern.
“It feels better as far as putting weight on it. I think I was able to move around all right at first base,” he said. “I felt like I was able to take some good swings.”
Olerud pinch hit for Tony Clark in the seventh inning and struck out against Pedro Martinez, who allowed a two-run homer to the first baseman in Game 2. Olerud stayed in at first, but was pinch hit for in the ninth by Ruben Sierra, who grounded out to end the Yankees’ season.
Just a day earlier, Torre said his first baseman was out for the series.
Olerud was injured in Game 3 last Saturday when the knob of his bat apparently hit him on the foot as he stumbled out of the batter’s box. X-rays were negative. He later had a bone scan and a CT scan, which showed a bone bruise.
“Something like this couldn’t come at a worse time,” Olerud said. “It’s frustrating.”
Clark made his fourth consecutive start at first base in Game 7. He went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts the night before, fanning with the potential tying runs on base to end the game.
Beware of flying objects
One thought crossed Terry Francona’s mind when fans began throwing debris on the field after umpires reversed a call in the eighth inning of Game 6.
“I actually said to (left-field umpire) Jim Joyce last night when I was out on the field: ’If something hits me in the head and I go down, there’s a lot of people watching so get my hat back on,” the Red Sox manager said, drawing laughs.
Francona was actually a bit worried about his team’s safety and almost had them pulled off the field. It all stemmed from Alex Rodriguez being called out for interference when he swatted at Boston pitcher Bronson Arroyo’s glove and knocked the ball loose during a play near first base. Rodriguez was originally called safe, but the umpires convened and correctly reversed the call — drawing the wrath of the crowd of 56,128 at Yankee Stadium.
Police officers, wearing helmets, kneeled shoulder-to-shoulder down both foul lines in an attempt to prevent any further incidents. The officers left the field for the bottom of the ninth.
“I had to tell one policeman, ’Can you relay the hit-and-run to the third-base coach because you’re right in my way,”’ Francona said with a laugh. “They were everywhere.”
Grave situation
Just hours before Game 7, there was a steady procession of people to Babe Ruth’s grave at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, N.Y., about 20 miles north of Yankee Stadium.
Carol Monaghan, 41, of Dobbs Ferry, took her 2-year-old daughter, Emma, to the cemetery to repeat a ritual that worked last year, when the Yankees won the pennant by beating Boston in a seventh game.
“We came before the seventh game and left a 1986 penny and a 1978 penny, because those were bad years for the Red Sox,” she said. “This year we left an ’86, a ’78 and a 2003, because it worked last year.”
A few Red Sox fans ventured to the gravesite, warily. Derek Schwindeman, 37, of Fairfield, Conn., wore his Boston T-shirt under his sweater. He said he visits his father’s grave nearby and “this year I vowed to come here if there was a Game 7. I think the Red Sox are destined to win.”
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