PHILADELPHIA – The only thing that smelled worse than the stale South Philly air hovering over Veterans Stadium Monday and Tuesday nights was the stench filtering out of the Yankees’ bullpen.
That’s why the Yankees had their fingers firmly crossed that David Conecould work deep enough in the game to get to Mike Stanton before bringing in Mariano Rivera and split their personal house of horrors with at least one win in three cracks against a team that is improved, but still not in the Yankees’ class. It isn’t in payroll and shouldn’t be in performance.
Yet, during the first two games of the series, the equalizer was the Yankees’ pen which played a big part of the Bombers’ taking two of three from the Mets over the weekend. More specifically, it was Jason Grimsley’s first patch of rocky road that hurt the Yankees.
Monday night he did most of the damage himself, walking five in 11/3 innings in a 6-5 loss. Tuesday night Grimsley had help since Ramiro Mendoza and Dan Naulty were equally ineffective. Still, Grimsley, who was brought into the game with the bases loaded and no outs in the fateful seventh inning, gave up one hit, one walk and two runs in one-third of an inning and was charged with the loss.
The sour outing only added to a miserable two days in the city Grimsley broke into the big leagues in at the end of the 1989season.
“I get my first loss as a Yankee, we had a chance to win the game and didn’t and my wife got robbed at the mall, other than that it’s been a real nice trip,” Grimsley said.
Monday afternoon, hours before Grimsley lost control of the strike zone really for the first time this year, a pregnant Dana Grimsley was the target of a sting that netted the crooks $90.
Tuesday, things went smoothly with the Grimsley family but not so well on the mound and Joe Torre had an idea why.
“You can’t be,” Torre said when asked if he were concerned about his 5-1 reliever’s two bad outings. “He has been too good too long. Maybe being back in his old park he was trying too hard.”
Grimsley, a Phillie from 1989 to 1991 before he was dealt to Houston for Curt Schilling, said there might be something to what Torre said.
“It might be a little bit,” Grimsley said when asked about trying too hard at The Vet, a place the Phillies believed he was destined to be better than an average major league pitcher based on his minor league numbers.
“Last year, against their Triple-A team (Scranton) I gave up 14 runs in three uniforms. So there might be something with the uniform,” he said.
Since Torre didn’t plan on using Grimsley last night, the pitcher planned a post-game ceremony to celebrate leaving Philly.
“I write everything I do down in a book and it has helped me,” Grimsley said. “Well, everything I wrote about Monday and Tuesday I am going to take the pages out and burn them. That will officially download this place from my mind.”
Of course, Grimsley wasn’t the only reliever who struggled since the bullpen gave up nine runs, eight hits, four walks and hit a batter in 32/3 innings. And that includes Stanton’s shutout eighth.
Ramiro Mendoza, who was coming off a strong effort against the Mets, worked two-thirds of an inning in which he gave up three runs (two hits), two hits and a walk. Dan Naulty, who appeared in his third straight game, followed Grimsley and gave up four runs, three hits one walk and hit a batter in two-thirds of an inning.