Section B·Page4
Baseball
Monday, April 9, 2001
Royals get big win at home
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — This was the game Kansas City's slumping hitters were waiting for.
Mark Quinn drove in a
five runs and A.J. Hinch and Mike Sweeney had three RBIs apiece as the R o y a l s scored more runs yesterday than they had in the five previous games combined routing the Minnesota Twins 15-4.
"It's just one day, but it was a good day of offense," said Royals manager Tony Muser. "When we're hitting balls the other way, things are going pretty good for us."
Quinn had an RBI grounder in the third and an RBI double in the seventh before hitting a three-run homer in the eighth.
While going 1-4 their first five games, the Royals had scored just 12 times.
"We have way too many good hitters on this team to be slumping," said Quinn, who had been about the only regular not struggling at the plate.
"When we all get together and get the rallies going, we're going to be unstoppable," Quinn said. "We've got a lot of talent on this team."
Mac Suzuki (1-0), who lost all five decisions last September before undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder, held the Twins to three hits and one run through five innings, including a solo homer to David Ortiz. He struck out five and walked only
one.
The Royals had three singles, three walks and Hinch's three-run home in a seven-run third inning.
After J.C. Romero (0-1) walked in a run, Joe Randa had an opposite-field two-run single and Quinn an RBI ground-out before Hinch greeted reliever Hector Carrasco with a three-run shot for an 8-0 lead.
Romero allowed seven runs, five hits and four walks in 2/2 3 innings. In his last 10 starts, Romero is 0-7 with a 9.07 ERA. "This was not much of a ballgame," said Minnesota manager Tom Kelly. "Romero was just missing. I thought the Royals did an excellent job of hitting the ball up the middle and the opposite way."
Cristian Guzman, who led the AL last year with 20 triples, tripled twice, giving him four in five games. He tripled in the eighth and scored on Luis Rivas' single. Jason Maxwell had an RBI single in the seventh for the Twins.
Rovals notes
- Minnesota first base coach Jerry White was ejected by ampire Drake after the first out of the game. White argued on a close play at first when Guzman made a headfirst slide but was called out. White was replaced by Paul Molitor.
Carlos Febles' leadoff single was the first time this year the Royals' first batter in a game reached base.
Romero fell to 0-3 lifetime against Kansas City while Suzuki went to 3-0 against Minnesota.
- Maxwell's RBI single in the seventh was just the fourth run scored this year against the Royals' bullpen.
Carlos Beltran had three hits for Kansas City.
Yankee bats help beat Blue Jays
NEW YORK — Jorge Posada crushed a curveball for one of those picture-perfect drives at Yankee
The Associated Press
stadium, the ball arcing four rows into the right-field upper deck for his first career slam.
"I thought in my career I'd
never get one," he said. "Even minor leagues, I don't think I ever had one."
Posada's first-inning drive gave Roger Clemens a six-run lead, and the New York Yankees went on to rout the Toronto Blue Jays 16-5 yesterday.
New York, which had lost two straight to the Blue Jays after opening with three wins against Kansas City, took a 12-10 lead in the third inning. Toronto had gotten
just 10 outs by the time every Yankees starter scored.
"Hitting is contagious," said Derek Jeter, who got his first two RBIs of the season.
Tino Martinez was 3-for-4 with four RBIs, and Chuck Knoblauch had three hits for the Yankees. New York had 20 hits and stopped a six-game losing streak against the Blue Jays.
"It's too early to think there's a payback," Posada said. "We're just trying to win."
In winning the last three World Series titles, the Yankees haven't been the Bronx Bombers of old, instead relying on premier pitching and timely hitting. In 2000, Posada had a breakout year in his first season as a fulltime starter, hitting.287 with 28 homers, 66 RBIs and 107 walks, providing a reliable source of power.
Yankees manager Joe Torre says the switch-hitting catcher is still
getting better at age 29. Posada said he looked to his teammates and learned.
"They don't just let down because the game is 15-0," he said. "They keep going and going."
Although his numbers suggest he's a power hitter, Posada claims to be more of a "gap-to-gap guy."
Posada's third homer provided Clemens with a lead the five-time Cy Young Award winner called "a luxury."
Clemens (2-0) won for the 11th time in 13 decisions, holding Toronto to one hit in the first three innings. Up 12 runs, he lost his command and struggled through a five-run fourth before settling back down.
Clemens, 18-10 against Toronto in his career, allowed eight hits in 62-3 innings with five strikeouts, raising his AL record to 3.514. He also got his 262nd career win.
Steve Parris (0-2), hit hard last
week by Tampa Bay, saw his ERA skyrocket from 9.00 to 16.88, getting ripped for seven runs — six earned — and eight hits in 1 1-3 innings. Kevin Beirne (18.00) and Lance Painter (17.18) did little better.
"I thought I threw some good fastballs down, but they weren't biting," Parris said. "The breaking stuff was un, and it got hammered."
David Justice drove in the first run with an infield single that hit Parris' backside and rolled toward third. Martinez singled in a run and Posada homered.
Right fielder Raul Mondesi overran a ball in the second for an error, allowing another run to score.
New York then scored five in the third off Beirne on Jeter's RBI single, Justice's bases-loaded walk and Martinez's double off the glove of left fielder Shannon Stewart, who had a tough play on a ball slicing toward the foul line.
Cleveland rookie survives first start
The Associated Press
CLEVELAND — C.C. Sabathia was just two batters into his big league debut when he thought, "Uh oh, I'm not in Kinston anymore."
Sabathia, who had never pitched in a game above the Double-A level before yesterday, lived up to the hype and overcame a shaky first inning as the Cleveland Indians rallied in a 4-3 victory against the Baltimore Orioles.
Sabathia, 20, handled everyone in Baltimore's lineup except Jeff Conine and got a no-decision when the Indians rallied from a 3-0 deficit and won on Juan Gonzalez's two-run single in the seventh.
"It's about what I expected," Sabathia said. "It's a big relief. Now I can just concentrate on pitching. It's old now. My next one is going to be a lot easier."
But after giving up Conine's homer, the 6-foot-7, 260-pound Sabathia held the Orioles to just one hit during the next 5 1/3 scoreless innings and retired 16 of the last 18.
"He's in the wrong business," said Baltimore starter Chuck McElroy. "He should be playing tackle somewhere. As long as he stays composed, he's going to be devastating. He was throwing 99 (mph) with no effort."
Sabathia said Conine's shot did
Sabatha admitted he peaked at the radar gun scoreboard in the first when he threw 28 straight fastballs. He gave up a one-out double to Mike Bordick and walked Delino DeShields before Conine hit a three-run homer — Baltimore's first this season
Facing a weak-hitting Orioles squad batting just. 176 coming in, Sabathia allowed three runs and three hits in 5 2/3 innings, walked two and struck out three.
n't rattle him as much as Bordick's double off the wall in right. And it was only then the unflappable lefty realized he was pitching to big-leaguers and not one of the Batavia Muckdogs.
"I was 0-2, he took a pitch and then doubled off the wall." Sabathia said. "And I was like, God, dang. That was up and out."
Sabathia's debut created quite a stir in Cleveland as most fans had only heard about the organization's No.1 draft pick in 1998. He didn't disappoint the Indians, who are rolling the dice that he's ready, or a Jacobs Field crowd of 40,754.
"C.C. did exactly what we wanted him to do," Indians manager Charlie Manuel said. "He was probably cooler than I was."
With the Indians trailing 3-2,
Einar Diaz doubled to open the
seventh off Calvin Maduro (0-1)
and Omar Vizquel drew a one-out
walk. With two outs, Willis
Roberts came in to face Gonzalez, who lined his single.
Orioles manager Mike Hargrove said he chose to pitch to Gonzalez instead of walking him to get to Burks, who had six of Cleveland's 19 hits in the series.
"You pick your poison there," Hargrove said. "It's tough to do something with a 94 mph, but Gonzalez did. That's good hitting."
As he walked to the Indians dugout from the bullpen, Sabathia got a warm ovation from the crowd. Then, on his way to the mound, he said he made eye contact with his mother, Margie, who was flown in from California by the Indians so she could see her son pitch.
Tigers sweep White Sox in Chicago for the first time in a decade
"When I looked into the stands and saw her, that was my proudest moment," Sabathia said. "She's always more nervous than I am. I could see it in her eyes this morning."
The Associated Press
CHICAGO — White Sox pitcher David Wells doesn't want to hear
that he pitched well or that he didn't get enough run support.
The Chicago White Sox lost, and that's all that mattered to Wells.
should be enough."
"When it comes down to it, it's the pitching," he said after a 5-3 loss to the Detroit Tigers yesterday. "We can keep the other teams to two or three runs. That
Wells gave up five runs and 11 hits in eight innings.
Weaver gave up just five hits in seven scoreless innings, striking out three and walking two. In his last three starts against Chicago, the right-hander has a 1.23 ERA and has allowed only 12 hits.
Deivi Cruz and Tony Clark drove in two runs apiece for the Tigers, who got their first three-game sweep at Comiskey Park since August 1991. And Jeff Weaver (1-1) continued his mastery of the team that drafted him in 1997 but never signed him.
something. Every person can hit it."
"I don't know about figuring them out. I just know you can't ever let up against this team." Weaver said. "Every pitch means
After being held scoreless for eight innings, the White Sox finally did start to hit in the ninth. Tigers reliever Matt Anderson gave up three runs, but only one was earned.
Chris Singleton and Royce Clayton hit RBI doubles and another run scored on an error.
Todd Jones, pitching for the fourth-straight day, got two outs for his third save.
"I called down there and told them," I can get an out or two," said Jones, who didn't even bring his glove to the bullpen.
"I'm just thankful they gave me the ball. To sweep these guys is great. I'm just happy I could do
my part."
Part of the reason the White Sox acquired Wells (1-1) in the off season was for his defiant persona, a refuse-to-lose attitude that can lift an entire team. And the White Sox could have used a big lift yesterday, going winless since Wells' opening day victory in Cleveland.
The defending AL Central champs are now three games below .500 for the first time since the end of the 1999 season, with Cleveland coming to town today.
But Wells got into trouble with two-run innings in the fourth and sixth, and the White Sox didn't give him any run support. Chicago stranded 10, including runners in scoring position in
the fifth and sixth innings.
"A couple of their guys aren't swinging the bats that well right now, and we took advantage of it," Tigers manager Phil Garner said.
Damion Easley got the Tigers' offense going with a leadoff double in the fourth, and Clark drove him home with a single. Cruz made it 2-0 with an RBI double that carried all the way to the fence in right field.
Cruz tried to stretch the hit into a triple, but was thrown out on Jose Valentin's sweeping tag.
Easley had another double to start the sixth, and Bobby Higginson drove him home with a double. Higginson tried to stretch his hit into a triple too,
only to get thrown out just as Cruz did.
Clark then singled, and Cruz lined an RBI double down the third base line just past a diving Valentin.
The Tigers added another run in the eighth on Clark's sacrifice fly.
"You get a couple of key hits, it has a tendency to build confidence on the team," said Easley, who finished three for four with three runs scored. "Anytime you play a ball club like the White Sox, you have to play good baseball, play sound baseball.
"For us to come out on top all three games, it definitely boosts our confidence. At the same time, we have to keep it going."
WAL★MART
ALWAYS LOW PRICES. ALWAYS WAL-MART.
Always:
3303 Iowa (K-68) • 242-4555
NOW HIRING
GUARANTEED
$8.75/hour
(full-time)
OUTBOUND
Telephone Service Representatives
Full and Part-Time Available
(Formerly QSM)
AFFINITAS
One Customer...One Relationship...One Source
1601 W.23rd St. Suite 101
785-830-3002
e-mail: tgoetz@affinitas.net
401K (After 90 Days)
GREAT PAY, Dental,
$200 Referral BONUS!
Advancement Opportunities,
We have the key to comfortable & affordable living
Whether you prefer to live alone or with roommates, we have a home designed with you in mind. You pick your apartment and we'll do the rest. At MANHATTAN apartments we have a number of features to make your life easier. From the convenience of our
nished apartments and managers to our numerous locations across Lawrence, you will find that caterers to your needs with convenience.Call today and make an appointment to see for yourself.
NOW LEASING FOR FALL 2001!
Models Open Daily: Studios,1 BR,2 BR,3 BR,4 BR 2BR Townhomes & 3 BR Townhomes
Regents Court
Hanover Place
19th & Massachusetts
749-0445
Campus Place
14th & Massachusetts
841-1212
Tanglewood
10th & Arkansas
749-2415
Sundance Orchard Corners
12th & Louisiana 841-1429
7th & Florida 841-5255
OFFICE HOURS: M-F 9-5 Sat 10-4 Sun 1-4
15th & Kasold
749-4226
For more information, call 842-4455