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Bombers explode Martinez says Yankees were patient
The New York Yankees broke out of their hitting funk by going 8-for-8 to start the eighth inning and posting a 7-1 win over Seattle. The series is tied 1-1 as the teams head to Seattle for the next three games. Tino Martinez led New York with three hits including a single in the game-breaking eighth. CNNSI.com's John Giannone was on the field right after the game where he caught up with Martinez.
John Giannone: Tino, take us through that eighth inning. How much anxiety, how much frustration was there for you and your teammates not to be able to hit this whole series? Tino Martinez: It's been a little frustrating. The good part of it was we were only down one game. So we messed up in the first inning. We had the bases loaded and we couldn't get anything going there. That was a little bit of a setback. But to get it going there in the eighth, Bernie [Williams] had a huge hit, [Paul] O'Neill had a big sacrifice fly. So we feel pretty confident about ourselves going on the road now. Giannone: What was said on the bench before the bottom of the eighth? Was there a certain sense of helplessness? Martinez: Not really. We just kept saying every inning, "Let's get the lead man on, get the lead man on and try to work him around somehow. Let's try to get something going and put some pressure on their defense." And it just so happens it took us until the eighth inning. We battled the whole game and never lost our confidence. But David [Justice] had a huge double and got us rolling.
Giannone: Bernie's at-bat, your at-bat, [Jorge] Posada's at-bat, you seemed like you were working the count more in the eighth. Was that a conscious effort? Martinez: Well a little bit. But [Seattle reliever] Arthur Rhodes comes basically right at you. He's throws hard, he comes right at you so you have to be ready to hit. He couldn't find the strike zone on a couple of pitches and fell behind. But he's always a tough at-bat. But we just tried to work our count and try to put the ball in and play hard. Giannone: Because there was such an explosive inning, maybe some people will overlook the job of [starting pitcher] Orlando Hernandez. How clutch was he? Martinez: That was awesome. To give up one run there, if I had caught that ball and tagged the guy out on the pick-off play, there might've been a zero on the board. But he picked us up huge. We needed a good pitching performance and we found a way to win. He was huge for us. Giannone: Tino, thank you. Martinez: Thank you. Giannone: Tino Martinez, one of the hitting stars as the Yankees finally find their bats and now go to the West Coast with the Series tied one game apiece.
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