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Bronx Bombers pummel Indians with homers to avoid series sweep
By Sheldon Ocker
Beacon Journal sportswriter
Published on Friday, May 09, 2008
NEW YORK: Throughout most of baseball history there have been far fewer Yankee killers than Yankee victims.
Paul Byrd can count himself among the latter group, inasmuch as he has a career record of 1-5 with and 4.75 ERA against the Bronx Bombers, including Thursday's 6-3 loss that denied the Indians their first sweep of the New Yorkers in 19 years.
Percentage-wise, no team has treated Byrd with more disrespect than the Yankees, one of only five American League teams with a winning record against Byrd.
But the Bombers made it difficult for him twice this season, using the same hammer, the home-run ball. By the time Byrd left Thursday's game, with one out in the seventh, three Yankees had gone deep, including, of course, Jason Giambi.
Giambi tormented Byrd each time the competitors faced one another. On Thursday, Giambi put the finishing touches on a three-run rally in the fourth inning by whacking a
two-run homer into the seats in right.
Johnny Damon began the inning with another blast to right. In fact, all five runs Byrd gave up were the result of home runs, with Robinson Cano delivering the final blow by going deep with nobody on in the seventh, seconds before manager Eric Wedge led Byrd away for good.
''That was the difference, they hit the ball out of the park,'' said Wedge, who also included in his summation Wilson Betamit's solo homer off Masa Kobayashi, who replaced Byrd. ''Byrdie was OK, but the big ball hurt him.''
In Byrd's two starts against the Yankees, who are through playing the Tribe in the regular season, he gave up nine runs in 12 innings, posting a 1-1 record. All nine runs came on home runs, and Giambi hit three of them, driving in five runs.
''He's really hit me this year,'' Byrd (1-3, 4.28 ERA) said. ''I don't know when I'll face him again, but hopefully I'll get him out.''
For his career, Giambi is 6-for-19 against Byrd with four homers, one every 4.75 innings.
Byrd doesn't possess a fastball that radiates white heat or a breaking pitch that buckles the knees. His effectiveness is based on throwing pitches to spots. If he misses, it's not unusual for the ball to end up over the fence.
''I just couldn't keep the ball down,'' Byrd said.
Wedge did not lay the loss at the feet of Byrd. In most Indians defeats, the pitching is the least of their problems, though Byrd certainly didn't advance the cause of victory Thursday.
''Offensively, we were really having trouble with Mussina changing speeds, adding and subtracting,'' the manager said. ''Byrd gave us a chance to win, but we weren't able to take advantage.''
When Byrd left the game, the Tribe was trailing by two runs, 5-3.
In five innings, Mussina (5-3, 4.36 ERA) gave up three hits and no walks but the Tribe got to him for three runs in the fifth.
The spark was provided by Mussina himself when he hit leadoff batter Ben Francisco with a pitch. Franklin Gutierrez followed with a single and one-out later, Casey Blake doubled to score both runners and took third on the throw to the plate.
Kelly Shoppach singled home Blake, but the rally ended when Grady Sizemore flied out and Jamey Carroll struck out.
Whenever Mussina pitches these days, there's a feeling that he's doing a revised version of The Emperor's New Clothes. It's been a long time since Mussina's fastball and his ability to snap off breaking pitches made him a feared starter.
Now he takes a kind of sleight of hand approach, nibbling at the corners and throwing pitches below hitting speed. And maybe he succeeds, when he does, because he is Mike Mussina and hitters give him more respect than he currently deserves.
''He's a different pitcher than he was back in the day,'' Wedge said. ''But like a lot of veterans, he has learned how to get guys out. I'll tell you one thing: He throws the ball where he wants to. . . . And he's still a great competitor.''
For four innings, the only base runner Mussina allowed was Sizemore, who led off the game with a single. After that, Mussina retired 12 batters in a row to set the tone.
''Mussina is pretty much the same guy from a few years ago,'' Blake said. ''The only difference is that he used to have a few more miles per hour on his fastball.
''He has the confidence to throw any pitch at any time to any location. He relies on deception and getting guys off balance, chasing pitches.''
At times, Tribe batters seemed to be hallucinating. Mussina's arm would move toward the plate, the hitter would swing, and the ball seemingly would follow several seconds later.
Yet another reason the Indians have scored three or fewer runs in 18 out of 34 games.
Sheldon Ocker can be reached at socker@thebeaconjournal.com.
NEW YORK: Throughout most of baseball history there have been far fewer Yankee killers than Yankee victims.
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