The 2000 campaign was famously not a very good one for David Cone. While he played for parts of other seasons after 2000, his run as a top-of-the-line MLB starter was pretty much over. In that year’s World Series, he was notably only used for one batter in the entire series, although it did end up being a very important out that he got.
That being said, when you do get one of the handful of good outings that Cone had in probably the worst year of his career, you have to take advantage of them. On
this day 25 years ago, the Yankees annoyingly did no such thing.
August 20: Yankees 4, Angels 5 (box score)
Record: 67-53 (3 GA in AL East)
With the Yankees taking on the Angels in the Bronx, it was Whitey Ford Day, as the Yankees celebrated their legendary pitcher. Fittingly, the game then started in a somewhat unexpected pitching duel between Cone and Anaheim’s Matt Ward. The thing is, at this point of 2000, the more unexpected member of that duel was probably Cone. With an ERA over six, he was struggling, while the rookie Ward was off to a solid start to his MLB career, having debuted earlier in August.
The game’s initial breakthrough came in the third inning. A Troy Glaus error allowed Chris Turner to reach base to start the inning, although an ill-fated attempt to steal second erased Turner off the basepaths. However, Clay Bellinger then walked and successfully stole second. That allowed him to score on a Luis Sojo single.
In the fourth, the Yankees picked up another run when Glenallen Hill doubled and then came around to score on Tino Martinez’s single. Then in the fifth, Bellinger and Sojo connected again, as Bellinger again walked, and again scored on a double from Sojo — though the future World Series hero soon got himself thrown out at the plate when he ran through a stop sign on a hit by Paul O’Neill.
As that was happening, Cone was putting in one of his best performances of the season. He retired the first nine batters he faced, before Orlando Palmeiro singled to lead off the fourth. Cone managed to strand him though, and did likewise with Glaus after a walk in the fifth. Palmeiro got him for another single in the sixth, but Cone then got Scott Spiezio to ground into an inning-ending double play for his final action on the day.
After the sixth, Joe Torre decided to go to his bullpen, having gotten a very nice day out of Cone. In his six innings, Cone allowed no runs on just two hits and a walk. According to Game Score, an April game against the Blue Jays stands as Cone’s only superior start of the year, but it’s honestly a toss-up between that one and this one for best of the season. In what by several metrics say is Cone’s worst season of his career, this performance was a bright spot. Considering what had happened in the year to this point, it’s understandable that Torre didn’t want to risk a three-run lead with a guy with an ERA over six and wanted to go to a reliable bullpen. However on this day, that probably wasn’t the right move. For the second time in three days, the ‘pen came up short.
With the dangerous lefty Mo Vaughn leading off the seventh, the Yankees sent in Mike Stanton, but he walked Vaughn and then allowed a homer to Tim Salmon, as the Angels got on the board. While Stanton managed to do the job against another lefty in Garret Anderson, and got a groundout, Torre then went to Jeff Nelson.
Nelson quickly ran into trouble himself, walking Glaus. In the process of Nelson striking out Bengie Molina, Glaus stole second, which put him in a spot to score on Adam Kennedy’s single, tying the game. Torre then returned to the bullpen yet again (much to Nelson’s chagrin), and brought in Randy Choate, likely to again try and play matchups. The switch didn’t work, as Kevin Stocker got Choate for a bloop single that managed to just evade a triangle of Yankees’ fielders. Kennedy had also swiped second, meaning the single scored him, giving the Angels their first lead of the day. Torre then brought in a fourth pitcher on the inning, as Dwight Gooden came in and finally managed to end the frame.
Doc remained in for the eighth, but a Spiezio walk and a Vaughn double to start the inning gave Anaheim an insurance run. In the bottom half of the inning, Hill struck back, launching his eighth homer in his last 11 games to get the Yankees back within a run, where the deficit stayed as the game went to the bottom of the ninth.
With Shigetoshi Hasegawa on the mound for the Angels, the Yankees sent up two pinch-hitters in José Canseco and Jorge Posada but neither of them could get anything going. However a four-pitch walk to Derek Jeter and a José Vizcaíno single gave the Yankees hope with them down to their last out. O’Neill couldn’t do anything with that, as he lined out to end the game.
Cone obviously did plenty over his career that he doesn’t have to dwell on his struggles in the 2000 season. That being said, it probably wasn’t pleasant for him as the season went along. Failing to get much help when he finally did have an excellent performance probably didn’t improve his mood.
Read the full 2000 Yankees Diary series here.
