Yanks Fail to Match Solid Outing by Clemens

Orioles 7, Yankees 5

BALTIMORE, July 28 — When Roger Clemens joined the Yankees last month, he gave T-shirts to his new teammates. On the front is Clemens's Rocket Man logo, and on the back, in bold letters, is a personal slogan: Tough All Day.

Clemens was tough Saturday, throwing a season-high 113 pitches on a muggy, 94-degree night. But the Yankees were tough on him, too. For the seventh time in Clemens's 10 starts, they scored two runs or fewer while he was in the game.

muggy a. 悶熱的

The Yankees' inability to handle a rookie left-hander, Brian Burres, doomed them to a 7-5 loss at Camden Yards. Despite consistently pitching well, Clemens has only three victories.

“I have plenty of wins,” said Clemens, who has 351 in his career. “We want team wins. I'm going out there trying to win every time. That's what I came back here for. I didn't come back here to get individual numbers.”

The Yankees rallied in the ninth against Cory Doyne, who was making his fourth career appearance and allowed five hits in a row, including a two-run homer by Jorge Posada. The veteran Jamie Walker restored order, getting Johnny Damon to ground into a double play.

Derek Jeter singled in a run to bring up Bobby Abreu as the tying run, with Alex Rodriguez on deck. But Walker struck out Abreu on a high curveball to end the game.

Suddenly, the Yankees are sliding, having lost their last three full games since winning six in a row. They are nine games behind Boston in the American League East and five behind Cleveland for the wild card.

“We're in a little bit of a funk right now,” said Damon, who had not grounded into a double play all season until doing it twice Saturday. “We had everything going, and our last game in Kansas City put a halt to it.”

funk n. 驚恐，畏縮

Rodriguez is 0 for 10 with four strikeouts since smashing his 499th career home run Wednesday. He struck out three times Saturday and acknowledged that the chase for 500 had made him overanxious.

“They're being extra careful, and I'm kind of playing into their hands,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez has struggled this way before, notably in the 2005 playoffs against the Angels. He went 2 for 15 then, blaming himself for swinging at bad pitches and not taking walks. The same thing is happening now.

notably adv. 尤其，顯然地

“I’ve probably gotten one pitch in the last three games,” Rodriguez said. “But that’s the key: They’re being careful, and you can’t help them. I’ve just got to pass the baton and go to first.”

Clemens reached a round number Saturday: 700 career starts, tying him with Tommy John for sixth on the career list. Clemens turns 45 in a week, but he did not consider it special to have lasted so long Saturday.

“I train to do this,” he said. “Like I told you all way back when I agreed to come back, they don't care how old I am. I came back here not just to eat innings, but to pitch quality innings. That's what I expect to do.

“I think it's obvious what happened before I was here, and how far behind the eight ball we are. There’s no room for error.”

When Clemens left with one out and one on in the seventh, he was trailing by 3-1. In all, he allowed four runs, eight hits and three walks and struck out six.

Clemens's fastball tops out around 91 miles an hour, and while he retains his excellent splitter, swings and misses are less frequent than they once were. In 31 pitches in the first inning Saturday, the Orioles swung and missed once.

Brian Roberts had terrific at-bats against Clemens, taking five pitches in the first before doubling to right on a full count. After a one-out walk to Nick Markakis, Clemens got Kevin Millar to fly out. But he fell behind Miguel Tejada, 3-1, and Tejada pulled a two-run double down the third-base line.

“I guess he kept it fair,” said Clemens, who gestured foul on the field. “I didn't see the replay, but they called it fair.”

gesture v. 用手勢(或動作)表示 n. 手勢

The score remained 2-0 until the fifth, when Roberts led off and saw nine pitches. Again, he waited to swing until the sixth pitch, with a full count. After three fouls, Roberts took ball four and scored on a single by Markakis.

The Yankees did not score against Burres until Hideki Matsui homered in the seventh. Burres worked six innings and held the Yankees to one run and four hits. It was his first career start against them.

“We didn't know the guy at all,” Posada said. “Obviously, you look at the computer and try to see what he throws. But you have no idea how to match up against a guy.”

The only pitcher the Yankees really hit was Doyne, who seemed as if he were failing at a tryout camp. The Orioles hit enough against Clemens and the bullpen to win their sixth full game in a row.

tryout n. 試用，預演