Lloyd Shoulders The Load
On the evening of Oct. 1, Graeme Lloyd learned the true duration of a New York minute.
The Yankees were in the playoffs, no thanks to him. His Yankees ERA was 17.47. When fans saw Lloyd warming up, they wanted an AK-47. There is no boo like a Yankee Stadium boo; sticks and stones are never far behind.
So when Lloyd got the seventh-inning call in Game 1 of the division series, he was hoping for a wrong number. The zoo was growling already. Texas led, 6-2. Just one look was all it took. Lloyd trudged against the bitter noise like a sailor in a hurricane.
Seven pitches later, Lloyd almost had to give a curtain call. He retired the Rangers 1-2-3 and the fans decided he was Charles Lindbergh, or at least Sparky Lyle.
In the dugout, pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre took Lloyd aside.
“Remember what they sound like now,” he counseled, “not what they sounded like before.”
There are no sounds of silence in New York, especially in the star chamber that sits off the No. 4 subway line, on 161st Street in the Bronx. Since Graeme Lloyd has come to understand that every pitch brings some sort of an unconditional verdict, he has chosen to throw only good ones.
Lloyd is one of the many reasons the World Series returns here today for Game 6. The 6-foot-7 left-hander from Australia has not allowed a postseason run.
Lloyd bailed New York out of the ninth inning Wednesday night by getting a double-play ball from Fred McGriff. Ryan Klesko came up in the 10th, with Atlanta down 8-6, and sat down three pitches later.
In seven playoff appearances, Lloyd has pitched five innings, struck out five and given up one hit, and the batting average against him is .077.
Typically, George Steinbrenner has not dropped the grievance that would nullify the trade that brought Lloyd here. The Yankees shipped outfielder Gerald “Ice” Williams and pitcher Bob Wickman to the Brewers for Lloyd and utility man Pat Listach, but general manager Bob Watson did not check the certificate of authenticity. Both were hurt, and Lloyd had just taken a cortisone shot for a bone spur in his elbow. What happened next almost gave him whiplash.
On Aug. 27, Seattle’s Jeff Manto crushed a game-winning homer off Lloyd. It was the second loss for Lloyd in two nights and cut New York’s A.L. East lead to four games. On Aug. 29, Lloyd got nobody out in a 14-3 meltdown at Anaheim. As the Yankees’ edge dwindled to 2-1/2 games, Lloyd contemplated the witness protection program.
But Aussies typically work to live, not live to work, and Lloyd kept believing in better tomorrows. He went to a stopgap weight program, and soon he could throw a curveball without gulping Ibuprofen, a sure tipoff to the hitter.
“Then he picked up a few miles per hour on his fastball as well,” Stottlemyre said. “He never let the thing with the fans get to him.”
So manager Joe Torre picked Lloyd over Dale Polley for the postseason roster, although he did it with armed guards outside the door.
“But there’s nothing back home that’s close to the Yankee fans,” Lloyd said. “Maybe Australian rules football fans get on certain guys, but it’s different. The football players get to move around the field. They’re harder targets.”
Lloyd is the first Australian to appear in a World Series, a product of the worldwide web that is the Toronto scouting organization. But when Lloyd failed to romp through the Blue Jays’ system, Milwaukee picked him off in the Rule V draft. Lloyd was steady for this year’s Brewers (2-4, 2.82 ERA), but New Yorkers consider all events outside the five boroughs to be rumors.
Yankees fans have devoured newcomers before, to the point that Greg Maddux, among others, had no interest in signing here. It took Fay Vincent’s suspension of Steinbrenner, and a subsequent organizational shift, to change that.
Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera are four of the half-dozen most valuable Yankees by anyone’s count. All came up through the system, which still is a model of instruction. When Steinbrenner returned, the checkbook re-opened. But now David Cone, John Wetteland, Cecil Fielder, Wade Boggs and Tim Raines are useful accessories. The engine comes from within, and the native Yankees are the most popular - just as Thurman Munson and Don Mattingly were.
Only Kenny Rogers seems shaken by the city in his face. And, hey, Rogers is somehow 3-0 in postseason play despite a 14.14 ERA. Forget the numbers; Kenny always gets you into the second inning with a chance to win.
But maybe he, too, has a morning after, just like Graeme Lloyd. Time flies when you’re having fun in New York, or even when you’re not.
The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Mark Whicker Orange County Register