Jorge Posada came up with the bases loaded and no one out in the bottom of the second and promptly struck out.
It turned out to be a sign of things to come for the Yankees yesterday, as they wound up not scoring in that frame – or any other – despite having multiple opportunities, especially in the first few innings against Daryl Thompson, who was making his major league debut.
“We let him off the hook early,” Posada said after the Yankees dropped their second straight to the Reds, 6-0, at the Stadium. “We got guys on base and really didn’t capitalize.”
Posada wasn’t alone. Robinson Cano followed by popping out to the catcher and Melky Cabrera ended the threat by striking out. An inning later, Johnny Damon and Derek Jeter both reached base, but were stranded by Bobby Abreu, Alex Rodriguez and Hideki Matsui.
“We had the kid on the ropes and then Dusty [Baker] came out and I don’t know what he told him,” Rodriguez said of Baker’s second-inning trip to the mound. “Maybe a little magic.”
The Cincinnati manager simply told Thompson to calm down. The Yankees took care of the rest. They left 12 runners on and had just one hit in 11 at-bats with runners in scoring position.
“It’s just a shame because we had so many opportunities to score runs and we didn’t,” said Johnny Damon, who walked three times, including twice leading off an inning. “We didn’t find a way to put any pressure on them.”
Pressure wasn’t the problem. Taking advantage of it was.
“Give him credit, he made pitches,” Rodriguez said of Thompson. Now the Yankees offense, which had seemingly hit its stride last week, scoring eight or more runs in four straight games, has been held to two or less in their last three.