July 29, 2006: Tampa Bay 19, N.Y. Yankees 6
Well, it was Christmas in July for the Devil Rays, with Randy Johnson as Santa, handing out hits. It was clear he had nothing pretty early in the game. Joe left him in far too long, but you can't really blame him. The last thing the overworked bullpen needed was to pitch seven or eight innings.
Unfortunately, Chacon did not look as sharp today as he did the other night. He was as bad as Randy. So were Myers and Beam. Finally, Villone stopped the bleeding, but it was way too late.
Despite the pitching mess and the lopsided score, Torre didn't wave the white flag until the 8th inning. Bubba took over CF then. Green came in for Jeter, Andy moved to 3B, and Guiel took over 1B.
Yes, I said Guiel at 1B. Even though he is not a first baseman. And yes, it showed.
It really was not the Yankees' night. Everything that could go wrong, did. It was downright comedic. Nick Green's bat was stuck in the bat rack, and he could not get it out. He struggled with it so long I wondered if it had grown roots. (Well, it had been a long time since he's used it.) Bubba had a hard grounder to field. The ball had a lot of spin, moving away from where he expected it to be. He recovered, and threw it in, but it bounced up and hit Cairo in the mouth. Not really his fault, but ugh, did it look bad.
Bubba got one at bat, in the 8th. He grounded out to 1B. He was swinging for the fences. Might as well, I guess, at that point in the game.
All in all, a pretty awful game. Can't blame it on anyone but Randy Johnson, though. The best thing to do is forget it. "Turn the page," as Bobby Murcer says.
