Saturday, May 19, 2001 (L: NYY 2-SEA 1 31-11)

Sasaki's back!!!

I still hate the Yankees!!!

Jamie Moyer was great tonight, facing one over the minimum in 7 innings (a Jeter single was his only blemish). Rhodes was electric in the 8th.

M's up, 1-0 in the 9th, Kazuhiro came in for his first appearance in six days, gave up a one out bloop single to Soriano, followed by a flyout. Then Kazu decided, "I just wanted to get [Jeter] out, I wasn't concerned about the runner at all," so Soriano stole 2nd, stole 3rd, and scored on a Jeter single.

That was the tying run Sasaki ignored! And, once Soriano got to third, Kazu couldn't throw the forkball in the dirt, so he hung one to Jeter up in the zone.

Then, in the 10th, Bernie Williams hit a leadoff double off Sasaki, and later scored on a groundout that could have been turned into a double play to end the inning.

To be honest, I think Kazu blew the save intentionally, trying to get his countryman Ichiro another at bat to try to continue his hitting streak, after El Duque plunked him in the 8th. Ichiro grounded out in the bottom of the 10th, ending his streak at 23 games, one short of Joey Cora's team record.

And, if you've been reading this blog, you'll realize that means my Beat the Streak entry at MLB.com has now ended. I've been tied for first, so I'll check in the morning to see if the guy I've been tied with also failed to get a hit. Is there an MLB.com interview jinx (kind of like the Sports Illustrated cover jinx)?

Tonight's game also guarantees the M's will lose the series, only the 2nd time it has happened all year.

Still no word on where Kazu's been for most of the week.

There was a scary moment in the top of the first, when Al Martin took a Carlos Guillen knee to the head making a diving catch to end the inning. He only suffered a mild concussion, and as my high school football coach once told me, "The most important thing is he held onto the ball." Sounds like Martin will be ok. We'll know he isn't if he starts telling crazy football stories.

Sele vs. Clemens tomorrow afternoon in the series finale.