It's been a few years since the Yankees visited Coors Field so maybe they didn't get the memo that you need to actually hit the ball while playing there. They put up 41 runs in a three game visit in 2002 and so much ink has been spilled about the runs scored in Denver through its big league existence that it's easy to forget that part of the equation. Just stand in the batter's box and wait for the pitcher to deliver a pitch that gets caught in the thin air and flings itself toward the outfield wall. As if by magic!
Alas, it's not so simple and the Bombers will need to post a 39-spot against Rodrigo Lopez today if they hope to match the output of that 2002 series. They were shutdown by Jeff Francis last night for a second straight loss and the second straight night that they could muster just one run. But Andy Phillips was back with the team, you say. How could that happen with such a fine specimen of major league player in the lineup? Somehow Francis was able to carve up Phillips like a Christmas goose, getting him to bounce into a double play and striking him out on three pitches in the seventh for his final out of the game. Not to blame Phillips for the loss, Francis did have eight other whiffs, but it did appear that playing in a National League ballpark forced Joe Torre into putting out a National League lineup.
Andy Pettitte matched Francis for five innings before he hung a changeup to Matt Holliday in the sixth. Holliday bashed it off Pike's Peak for a 2-1 lead and the Rockies pulled that thread to unravel Pettitte the next inning. He got two outs around two hits before Willy Taveras singled and Kaz Matsui tripled to post three more runs and chase the lefty from the game. Luis Vizcaino put the finishing touches on the 6-1 loss and the Yanks fell back to 10 games out of first.
(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
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