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 Slow start Wright backed off mound by Yankees
Posted: Wednesday October 07, 1998 01:41 AM
NEW YORK (AP) -- Jaret Wright was the one who got brushed back -- back into the Cleveland Indians' dugout. Wright, singled out as Public Enemy No. 1 in New York for beating the Yankees twice last October and hitting them with beanballs this year, didn't get out of the first inning Tuesday night as Cleveland lost the American League championship series opener 7-2. "I didn't locate my fastball, and I didn't get my curveball over," Wright said. "And against a team like that, it makes for a short night. ... I just didn't get it done." One year after strutting to the mound as a cocky kid from California and winning his first start in Yankee Stadium, Wright strolled somberly back to the bench after throwing just 36 pitches and allowing five runs and five hits. Cleveland's postseason hero in 1997 has become its problem child in '98. It was the second straight Game 1 the right-hander has been rocked after giving up seven hits and six runs in 4 1-3 innings last week in an 11-3 loss to Boston. When he was finally pulled after getting just two Yankees out, he never changed his expression or broke his stride on the trip to the safety of the bench as the Bronx screamed in his ears. After grabbing a seat, he slipped on his jacket and sat stone-faced as a few teammates stopped by to offer encouragement. "It's frustrating when you go out there knowing you can do it and knowing you have to do it and you just can't do it," he said. Manger Mike Hargrove said that although he was not angry at Wright, "I don't anticipate bringing Jaret back before Game 5." "Jaret went out there and gave us his best shot for the night," Hargrove said. The Yankees had waited a year for a chance to exact revenge on Wright for bouncing them from the '97 postseason. Their dislike for the 21-year-old rookie grew to hatred this spring in Florida when during a March 2 game in Winter Haven, Wright fired an inside fastball that ran up in the strike zone and almost up in Luis Sojo's face. The ball broke Sojo's hand. Sojo still says it was intentional, and Wright never directly said it wasn't. Instead, he offered some shoulder shrugs and lines like, "I am not trying to hurt anybody or hit anybody. That's just the way I was taught to pitch." On Monday, Wright said he had enjoyed his first experience in baseball's most famous ballpark and was looking forward to his second postseason start here. This visit wasn't so pleasant. He was in trouble from his first pitch, a high inside fastball that Chuck Knoblauch took for ball one. Knoblauch then fisted a 2-2 pitch to right for a single and Derek Jeter followed with a base hit to right-center. Paul O'Neill, who was drilled by Wright earlier this season and needed an umpire escort to stop from going after the pitcher, singled to right to score Knoblauch. Bernie Williams' single made it 2-0 and brought pitching Cleveland coach Mark Wiley out for a talk with Wright as Chad Ogea began warming up in the bullpen. Things didn't get any better, though. With O'Neill at third, Wright threw a pitch in the dirt past catcher Sandy Alomar to make it 3-0. After a walk, Jorge Posada hit another RBI single and Wright's night was mercifully over. A few hours later, surrounded by cameras and reporters in Cleveland's clubhouse, Wright offered no excuses. "I was trying to make good pitches and I didn't," he said. "That's about it." |
