By the time the Baltimore Orioles' mascot grabbed a broom and swept the Yankees off the Camden Yards field Sunday, George Steinbrenner was already roaring.
Moments after the Yankees' 8-4 loss, Steinbrenner, their principal owner, issued a blistering indictment of his team. Off to their worst start in eight years, at 4-8, the Yankees are playing like a US$200 million bust.
"Enough is enough," Steinbrenner said in a statement through his publicist, Howard Rubenstein. "I am bitterly disappointed, as I am sure all Yankee fans are, by the lack of performance by our team. It is unbelievable to me that the highest-paid team in baseball would start the season in such a deep funk.
PHOTO: REUTERS
"They are not playing like true Yankees. They have the talent to win and they are not winning. I expect Joe Torre, his complete coaching staff and the team to turn this around."
Steinbrenner, who watched the game from his home in Tampa, Florida, had time to work on his missive. This game was over early.
In his first start of 2005, Kevin Brown virtually repeated his disastrous effort in Game 7 of the ALCS last fall. Brown gave up six runs in the first two innings, the last four coming on a grand slam by Miguel Tejada.
It doomed the Yankees to their eighth loss in 10 games, including five of six on this trip. They have not been this far below .500 since 1997, when they started 5-10. It is early, but it has come to this: When the Yankees play the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at home Monday, the loser will take over last place in the AL East.
Rubenstein did not know if Steinbrenner would attend the game, or if he planned to talk to Torre. But Torre could not question Steinbrenner's remarks.
"I can't disagree with any of that," Torre said, after reporters read him the statement. "You'd like to believe that when he does spend the money, he expects more than he's obviously gotten here so far.
"But it's a long season, and by no means do I feel we're not capable. It's just a matter of being able to turn it around as soon as possible, just because the longer you're in this type of thing, the more you chip away at the confidence you have to have to do it."
Like Steinbrenner, Torre had also seen enough by the end of Sunday's game. He addressed the team in the clubhouse, never raising his voice but getting the players' attention.
"When he has to come down on us, he does," right fielder Gary Sheffield said. "When we're playing well, he doesn't have to say much. But obviously, we're not. He just reminded us of the little things that we're not doing, and that's having confidence. That's the main thing: playing the game hard and playing the game right."
Torre used the words flat and ragged to describe the team's play, and he also blamed himself, which must have resonated with Steinbrenner.
"I've got to do a better job," Torre said. "My job is to get these guys ready to play. I'm not saying it's my fault, because there's no one guy that's responsible for this. We just need to find a way to get it done, and that's from me all the way through the team."
Torre said he believed the players were trying, but that did not excuse their performance.
"I base it on effort, and we're certainly getting effort," Torre said. "The only thing you remind them is that effort still has to be given with some thought to it. Wanting to do it isn't enough. You've got to really prepare yourself and think about it.
"It's probably the culmination of everything, the frustration of not being able to play nine innings. That's what you have to do to win ballgames, and we haven't really been able to sustain that, in every aspect of the game."
The offense is batting .208 with runners in scoring position, including 4-for-21 over the weekend. The starters have not had a quality start (at least six innings and no more than three earned runs) in nine games. The bullpen has been abysmal, and the Yankees have given up at least seven runs in every loss.
With a start like that, the players almost expected to hear from Steinbrenner and Torre.
"What do you expect them to say, `We're doing great, continue to keep up the good work?'" Derek Jeter said. "We haven't played well; that's the bottom line. That's easy to see. We've just got to turn it around. That's basically it. You go through stretches during the course of the year, and it looks a lot worse when you begin the season that way. But we have to play better."
Brown retired the first two batters Sunday. But he threw a splitter too hard -- the pitch was 93 mph, said catcher John Flaherty -- and Melvin Mora ripped it into the left-field seats.
That began a stretch in which nine of 11 Orioles reached base, ending with Tejada's grand slam. Brown, who had walked two of the three hitters before Tejada, tried to bury a sinker inside because Tejada had gone the other way for a double in the first.
The pitch was a ball, Brown thought, but Tejada destroyed it and thrust his arm in the air as he rounded first base. Brown whipped his body to face center field and cursed as the ball flew away.
"Everything they do right now is golden," Brown said of the Orioles, who are 8-4. "We're at the opposite end of the spectrum. We're stone cold."
Brown retired 13 of his last 15 hitters, shutting out the Orioles for his last four innings. But that was hardly enough to appease Steinbrenner, whose ranting seemed to make perfect sense.
"He's right," Torre said. "What are you going to do? He's not saying anything we certainly don't know ourselves."
Mariners 5, White Sox 4
In Chicago, Ichiro Suzuki and Raul Ibanez homered, and Adrian Beltre had a tiebreaking, two-run single to lead Seattle over Chicago.
Randy Winn had three singles and Gil Meche (1-0) allowed three runs and five hits in 6 2-3 innings as Seattle snapped an eight-game losing streak against the White Sox.
Eddie Guardado gave up a sacrifice fly in the ninth but earned his third save in four chances.
Freddy Garcia (1-1) allowed five runs and nine hits in seven innings, his first loss in a day game since Sept. 7, 2003, with the Mariners.
Red Sox 3, Devil Rays 1
In Boston, Tim Wakefield gave the Red Sox their third straight strong start to lead Boston to a three-game sweep of Tampa Bay, which went hitless for the last seven innings.
The Red Sox won their fourth consecutive game, scoring only in the third inning off Scott Kazmir (0-1) on Edgar Renteria's second homer and Jay Payton's two-run single.
Wakefield (2-0) allowed one run and four hits in six innings, improving to 10-0 against the Devil Rays since they beat him April 16, 1999, in Boston. The knuckleballer's five strikeouts pushed him past Cy Young and into third place on Boston's career list with 1,343. He trails Roger Clemens (2,590) and Pedro Martinez (1,596).
Athletics 7, Angels 6
In Oakland, California, Marco Scutaro hit a two-run homer and Oakland finally got some offense in a victory over Los Angeles.
Jason Kendall hit a two-run double for the Athletics, who scored two runs in the first inning -- matching their total from the first 19 innings of the series. Scott Hatteberg and Mark Ellis had run-scoring singles, while Huston Street and Octavio Dotel provided solid relief pitching in the A's third victory in four games.
The Washington Nationals extended their winning streak to five on Sunday, completing a sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks with a 7-3 comeback victory before 35,463.
Eight starters had at least one hit -- only slumping Cristian Guzman didn't, but even he contributed an RBI with a bases-loaded walk -- and five players each drove in at least one run. the Nationals improved to 8-4, first in Major League Baseball's NL East Division.
Washington trailed 3-1 heading into the seventh, then sent 11 batters to the plate en route to scoring six times off four pitchers.
Nick Johnson hit a two-run triple off Mike Koplove (1-1), Brian Schneider had an RBI single, Guzman had his walk and Vidro had a two-run single -- his second hit of the inning.
Marlins 5, Mets 2
In New York, A.J. Burnett pitched a four-hitter for his second straight complete game, and the Marlins took advantage of Tom Glavine's wildness to end the Mets' six-game winning streak.
Glavine (0-2) struggled with plate umpire Angel Hernandez's strike zone as he tried to work the corners, throwing 96 pitches in six innings -- only 52 for strikes.
Cubs 4, Pirates 2
In Pittsburgh, Derrek Lee hit a tiebreaking two-run single in the eighth and drove in three runs as the Cubs took advantage of 300-game winner Greg Maddux's first effective start this season.
The Cubs (6-6) are .500 for the first time since being 3-3. The Pirates are 4-8 for the first time since their last 100-loss season in 2001 and have dropped 10 of 11 to the Cubs dating to last season.
Cardinals 3, Brewers 2
In Milwaukee, Scott Rolen had three hits and three RBIs, including a tiebreaking home run in the top of the ninth inning, to help the Cardinals sweep the Brewers in Milwaukee.
Rolen, a triple shy of hitting for the cycle, hit his second homer of the season on the second pitch he saw from reliever Mike Adams (0-1).
Giants 8, Rockies 6
In Denver, Michael Tucker hit his second grand slam against the Colorado Rockies this season and drove in five runs to rally the Giants.
Dodgers 6, Padres 0
In Los Angeles, Jeff Weaver pitched a five-hitter for his fourth career shutout, Jeff Kent and Milton Bradley hit consecutive homers for the second time in three days, and the Dodgers completed a three-game sweep of the Padres.
Weaver (2-0) threw his 11th complete game in 177 career starts, just two days after Derek Lowe beat the Padres with a three-hit shutout. Weaver struck out seven, walked one and retired his final 10 batters.
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