GAME 1 Yankees10 White Sox2
GAME 2 White Sox2 Yankees1
CHICAGO – As soon as Chili Davis’ scalding remarks about umpire Tim Welke’s ability to be a big league umpire drifted off to the showers, calmness returned to the Yankees’ clubhouse.
Welke had called Davis out on a full-count strike with the bases loaded to give the White Sox a 2-1 victory in the nightcap of a doubleheader in which the Yankees copped the opener, 10-2, at Comiskey Park.
And while Davis had the right to go ballistic – the pitch was at least 10 inches off the plate – the bigger picture in the Yankees’ universe was a lot brighter than the salty language spewing from Davis’ mouth.
“What’s going to carry us is our pitching and we had two outstanding performances,” Joe Torre said of Roger Clemens’ and Andy Pettitte’s mound work.
In his first game back after three weeks on the DL with a balky left hamstring, Clemens allowed two runs (one earned) and six hits to win the first game when he set an AL record with his 18th straight victory. Clemens also tied Hall of Famer and Yankee legend Whitey Ford for 49th place on the all-time victory list with his 236th win.
More importantly, the Yankees have their ace back.
Clemens was backed by a five-RBI game by Jorge Posada, who like Tino Martinez and Bernie Williams, hit a two-run homer. Williams went 4-for-4, drove in two runs and scored three times.
Working on five days rest, Pettitte was hard-luck loser in the nightcap, losing a scintillating duel to Mike Sirotka, a lefty Pettitte nipped, 2-1, last Sunday at Yankee Stadium. In seven innings, Pettitte gave up two runs and six hits.
Bigger than the defeat, Pettitte’s confidence has returned after two consecutive solid outings.
“This is all building for him, confidence-wise,” Joe Torre said of Pettitte, who fell to 2-2. “That’s what we are looking for. Anything we do now is for long range. When he can put them back to back for us, it’s big for us.”
Had Welke not punched Davis out on a 3-2 fastball from Bill Simas to end the game and make a winner out of Sirotka (2-5), Pettitte would have slithered off the hook. But Welke called the pitch a strike and three runners were stranded.
“The [bleeping] ball wasn’t a strike,” screamed Davis, who was hitting for Scott Brosius, who was 1-for-7 in the twinbill. “Strike two wasn’t a strike, either.”
As for moving past Baltimore’s Dave McNally and Cleveland’s Johnny Allen into the AL record book and tying Ford, Clemens was moved.
“To be undefeated for that long is pretty special,” said Clemens, who hasn’t lost since the Mariners beat him on May 29, 1998 in Seattle and was planning to distribute game balls in the clubhouse. “I want to make sure Joe and [Don Zimmer] Zim get one and the catchers get one because you never do it alone.”
Clemens, who is 3-0, drove the anxiety level in the Yankees’ dugout up in the third when he dove for Mike Caruso’s sacrifice bunt between the mound and first. After gloving the ball, Clemens threw to first from his knees.
On the bench, the Yankees nervously waited to see if the hamstring so many hours of work had gone into had been tweaked.
“I didn’t need that,” Clemens said when asked if a play like that was necessary to let him know the leg was fine. “After I dove, the right hamstring got a cramp in it but it went away.”
Until the ninth inning of the second game, the Yankees did very little against Sirotka. The only two hits they got were singles by Chad Curtis in the first and fourth and Curtis was erased trying to steal second in the opening frame.
But when Curtis walked on a 3-2 pitch to start the last inning, Sirotka was replaced by White Sox closer Bob Howry, who walked Derek Jeter, fanned the slumping Paul O’Neill, retired Williams on a liner to left and walked Posada to load the bases. With Martinez at the plate, Howry balked Curtis in to make it a 2-1 game.
One ball to Davis and manager Jerry Manuel called for Simas. Davis fouled off the next pitch, took a ball, a strike and a ball to run the count full.
“It was a foot outside, some of them are in your favor and some of them are not in your favor,” Torre said. “Unfortunately this one was the last strike of the game.”