Yanks drop Rays, Rekar 5-1 in Bronx

By JOHN ROMANO

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 24, 2000

NEW YORK -- Bryan Rekar says he enjoys a challenge. Says he likes the idea of facing Greg Maddux in one start and Denny Neagle in the next. Says those kind of moments make baseball fun.

At this point, Rekar and the Devil Rays could do with a little less fun in their lives.

Neagle pitched a four-hitter for his 100th career victory before an announced 45,528 at Yankee Stadium Sunday as New York beat Tampa Bay 5-1.

"I've enjoyed the challenge of the last two starts," Rekar said. "It's fun going up against Maddux and Neagle and first-place teams. It makes it exciting, trying to keep it as close as possible, so maybe we have a chance to slip in a few runs on them."

The Rays have not helped Rekar with many runs in his last two outings. They scored two against Maddux and one against Neagle.

[AP photo] Bryan Kekar started strong but couldn't escape the Yankees.

Rekar did not pitch well enough to beat Maddux and the Braves on Tuesday, but he did deserve a better fate Sunday.

For three innings, he matched up perfectly against Neagle. Rekar gave up one hit and did not allow a runner to get in scoring position. The Yankees got a pair of run-scoring doubles from Derek Jeter and Gerald Williams in the fourth, but Rekar still had a grasp on the game.

That grasp slipped away in the fifth. A pair of leadoff singles were bad enough, but then Rekar threw away a Jose Vizcaino sacrifice bunt, leading to a three-run inning.

"I got to it quickly but instead of crow-hopping, I got it and threw it too fast," Rekar said. "I saw Miguel (Cairo) was a couple of steps away, moving to the base, so I tried to aim it. I guess my aim wasn't very good."

Rekar regained command and gave the Rays seven innings of work, the fourth time in five starts that he has pitched into the seventh. Considering the Rays had called on relievers 10 times for nine innings of work over the previous three days, the bullpen needed the break.

"Early on, he was pretty crisp and made some good pitches and then had a couple of innings in the middle when he didn't make good pitches, and didn't help himself with the bunt play," Rays manager Larry Rothschild said. "I don't know if (saving the bullpen) is a consolation or not. I'd rather use the whole bullpen and win the game."

Neagle needed no bullpen help in his second start with the Yankees after being acquired in a trade from Cincinnati.

"He hits his spot with his fastball and uses the changeup to get you out," Rays rightfielder Bubba Trammell said. "I know he didn't make any mistakes to me. Everything was down in the strike zone and when he came up, he got his fastball on top where you couldn't handle it."

The Rays had one decent shot at Neagle and let it slip away with hardly a whimper. Greg Vaughn led off the seventh with a double and Fred McGriff followed with a double. Vaughn had to hold up at third because he was waiting to see if the ball would be caught.

That gave the Rays runners on second and third with no outs and the No. 5-7 hitters coming up. They did not get the ball out of the infield. Jose Canseco hit a weak grounder back to Neagle, Trammell drove in Vaughn with a grounder to short and Mike DiFelice struck out.

"I thought we had a chance in the seventh inning when Jose made the weak out back to him," Rothschild said. "That could have changed the game. Those are runs you've got to get home with the guys up that are supposed to get the job done. He got fooled by a breaking ball."

Canseco was not the only one fooled by Neagle. And the Rays are not the only team. Between Cincinnati and New York, the left-hander is 10-2 with a 3.21 ERA. He has given up two runs in his first two starts with the Yankees.

The Rays, meanwhile, dropped to 1-4 on a 12-game road trip that moves to Detroit today. Facing Kelvim Escobar, David Wells, Dwight Gooden and Neagle, the Rays scored nine runs in the losses.

"Neagle's whole game is to keep you off-balance, Canseco said. "You think you're on his pitches, but you're really not. That's how he pitches, he keeps you guessing what's coming next."

Somehow, that doesn't sound like a lot of fun.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.

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