Bleacher Creature Feature

8 August 2001

Victor Zambrano (who?) has come in to pitch, with the score 9-1. He is the Rays' third pitcher.

Derek Jeter, the one Yankee who hadn't had a hit until that point, singles to right center. Then Bernie Williams walks. Then Tino Martinez walks. Then Jorge Posada walks, making it 10-1. Shane Spencer annoys everyone by hitting into a fielder's choice, where the fielder chose to throw Bernie out at home. Then David Justice, who has learned that there is absolutely no point in swinging at anything Zambrano is throwing, walks on four pitches, making it 11-1. (Justice, BTW, was 2-for-3 with two walks, two runs scored, four RBI, and a two-run homer; since his one out was a fielder's choice, he had a 1.000 OBP and a 1.600 SLG for the game. I think the Yanks are glad to have him back, yeah?)

Hal McRae finally wakes up and realizes that Zambrano and the strike zone just don't have anything to say to each other (or maybe he just is secure in the knowledge that the rest of his bullpen sucks, too) and brings in Doug Creek, who promptly hits Alfonso Soriano with a 2-2 pitch, making it 12-1. Three runs, bases loaded, one out, and only two people have actually hit the ball, and only one of them out of the infield (Jeter's leadoff hit). Clay Bellinger, the third head in the can't-hit-for-squat Cerberus that is Scott Brosius's replacement (the others being Luis Sojo and Enrique Wilson), decides that someone really should hit the ball (besides, he hit his first homer earlier in the game, and he was probably feeling cocky), and pops a sac fly to deep left that scores Spencer to make it 13-1.

I think the Yankees had the bases loaded for something like twenty minutes. Apparently the Rays coudn't handle having only two people on base, however, as Creek walked Gerald Williams to load 'em back up again. Jeter and Bernie then hit a couple of singles to make it 16-1 (which would be the final score) before Enrique Wilson (who had come in to pinch run for Tino and was probably rather shocked to find that he had to bat, too) struck out looking.

The Yanks walked eight times in the game, including five in that 8th, with Soriano's HBP thrown in for good measure. The Rays, by contrast, walked all of once, it was in the ninth inning when the team was down 15 runs, and the next batter hit into a double play that ended the game.

Yowza.

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