The Yankees were going through it down the stretch as the 2000 season limped to a close. They were an awful 3-11 in the their last 14 contests entering this one and were fresh off the heels of an 11-1 drubbing at the hands of the lowly Tampa Bay Devil Rays.
Any hope that this day would be different was extinguished early. The Devil Rays scored early and often en route to their second straight game with double-digit runs scored versus Yankee pitching, and they sealed a three-game sweep in which they outscored
New York 24-5. The “Bronx Bombers,” indeed. The only silver lining was that the division lead they’d built up before the collapse seemed like it would hold, though that was perhaps despite the Yankees’ efforts.
September 28: Yankees 3, Devil Rays 11 (box score)
Record: 87-71, .551 (3.5 GA)
Roger Clemens got the start for the Yanks in Tampa. In his previous outing, Detroit rocked The Rocket to the tune of seven runs, all earned, in five innings. It was quickly apparent that in his final start before the playoffs, Clemens still hadn’t found equilibrium.
He retired the top of the Devil Rays’ order, in order, to start the game. But it was all downhill from there. Tampa Bay put tallies in the run column in each of the second, third, and fourth innings. The latter was enough to end Clemens’ day. He managed to get the final out of the fourth but when the home fifth came around, he was in the showers.
All told, the Rays put a six-spot on the Yankee flamethrower over his four frames. In his final two starts of the season, Clemens’ ERA jumped from 3.27 to 3.70. It’s not what you want, you might say.
Meanwhile, at the plate, you can’t say the Yankees didn’t have their chances. Unfortunately, their entire late-season swoon can be encapsulated in one ridiculous sequence in the top of the second inning. With Jose Canseco on first and one out, Tino Martinez drove a double deep into left center field. The outcome: a double play in which both outs occurred at home and no runs scored. Words can’t do it justice. Just watch.
Derek Jeter managed an RBI single the next inning to get the Yankees on the board. But I’d have been hard-pressed to have any faith they were winning this game after that second-inning car crash.
Dwight Gooden relieved Clemens and fared no better. Tampa Bay continued to pile on the runs. A single run in each of the fifth and sixth gave the Devil Rays a touchdown lead. In the bottom of the seventh, with Jason Grimsely in to pitch, Mike Difelice put the exclamation point on the game and the series with a three-run home run that extended the Tampa Bay lead to 11-1.
New York managed single runs in the eighth and ninth to move within 11-3. But that’s where this one, mercifully perhaps, ended.
The loss left New York with a 3.5-game lead with four games to go. A win would have clinched the AL East. Instead, they postponed clinching the division and any possibility of getting guys some rest in advance of the playoffs. Many of the Yankees had put some extra miles on the past two seasons en route to World Series titles. A little downtime likely would have come in handy. Alas, their September swoon necessitated all hands on deck to try and clinch the division during the season-ending series in Baltimore.
Read the full 2000 Yankees Diary series here.
