2000 Yankees Diary, August 11: Catastrophe on the West Coast
After their 12-run outburst versus the Oakland Sports at Yankee Stadium the day previously, the 2000 Yankees gotten on an airplane and headed to Anaheim for a mid-August West Coast journey. As in some cases happens when a group crosses the nation to play without an off day, however, the Yankees came out flat versus the Angels, as Orlando Hernández saw his struggles continue.Record: 62-49(1st in AL East, 4.0 games ahead)The Angels leapt out to an early lead in the bottom of the first. Darin Erstad opened the frame with a line drive single to right, and Orlando Palmeiro followed that up by working a walk. Mo Vaughn then laced a 2-2 pitch down the line in best field for a two-run double. After Hernández struck out Tim Salmon– the Angels actually like their fish-themed outfielders, do not they– for the very first out of the inning, Garret Anderson doubled in Vaughn. Following a Troy Glaus strikeout, Adam Kennedy singled in Anderson. When Matt Walbeck flew out to left to end the inning, the Yankees found themselves in a 4-0 hole.Both teams traded zeroes in the second before the Yankees lastly struck in the
top of the third. Derek Jeter grounded a one-out single up the middle. Jorge Posada then struck a groundball to third base for what should’ve been an easy 5-4-3 double play. The 2nd baseman, however, botched the toss to initially, and Posada advanced to third on the two-base mistake. Paul O’Neill followed that up with a grounder up the middle for the Yankees’first run of the ballgame.In the 4th, the Bombers appeared to cut the deficit to one, as José Canseco opened the inning with a walk and Glenallen Hill struck
what appeared initially glimpse to be a home run to right field. After conferring with each other, however, the umpires ruled fan disturbance on the play– correctly, as replay would later on show a fan reaching down from the high wall in right and catching the ball in the field of play. Hill was granted a double, and Canseco was held at third. Regardless of having 2 runners in scoring position with no one out, the Yankees failed to capitalize, as both Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius started out looking, and Luis Sojo lined out to end the inning.The Yankees did handle to tack on two runs in the 5th, thanks to a Posada double and a Bernie Williams home run. Unfortunately, El Duque
handed those runs right back. Erstad doubled to lead off the bottom of the fifth and advanced to third when Palmiero grounded out to second. Vaughn was hit by a pitch, putting runners on the corners with one away. Anderson doubled for the second time that day, however, driving in both Erstad and Vaughn, to offer the Angels a 6-3 lead.After a scoreless sixth, the Yankees handled to load the bases in the top of the seventh, however were when again unable to capitalize. Erstad then singled to lead off the bottom of the inning, and after Palmeiro popped out for the very first out, Joe Torre turned to Randy Choate, unwilling to let the having a hard time Hernández face the middle of the order again. The relocation sort of backfired, though, as Erstad stole second and third off Choate, permitting him to score on a Vaughn sacrifice fly. Then, in the 8th, Glaus hit a solo crowning achievement with one away. That brought the score to 8-3, where it would stay.Read the full 2000 Yankees Journal series here.