Indians swat Yankees in 11
CLEVELAND – These were truly sacrifice flies.
Swarming bugs, millions and millions of them, bombarded the New York Yankees at the worst possible time Friday night, covering and rattling rookie reliever Joba Chamberlain and helping the Cleveland Indians to a 2-1 win in 11 innings and a two-game lead in their A.L. playoff series.
“It’s like somebody let them go,” Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter said. “Just when you think you’ve seen it all – that’s home-field advantage.”
Midges 1, Yankees 0.
Where was the Sultan of Swat when they needed him?
Travis Hafner hit a bases-loaded, RBI single with two outs in the 11th to score Kenny Lofton as the Indians, who trailed 1-0 before the flying pests invaded in the eighth inning, won a game their fans will never forget.
Unreal. Surreal. Hitchcockian. Call it whatever you’d like. October baseball has rarely witnessed something like this.
At times, it was like watching a low-budget, late-night horror flick: “The Bugs Who Ate the Yankees.”
For some reason they feasted on Chamberlain, who stood on the mound struggling to see catcher Jorge Posada’s target as the tiny pests buzzed around his head. As some of them stuck to his muscular, sweaty neck and back, Chamberlain threw a wild pitch in the eighth that gave Cleveland the tying run.
Three innings later, the Indians won it and swarmed Hafner like their little helpers did to the Yanks.
“They bugged me,” Chamberlain said. “But you’ve got to deal with it.”
Umpire crew chief Bruce Froemming said he never considered stopping the game, which will surely go down as one of the strangest in postseason history.
“It was just a little irritation,” he said. “We’ve had bugs before. I’ve seen bugs and mosquitoes since I started umpiring. It might not be a perfect scenario. Within about 45 minutes, basically they were gone.
By the end of the night, the Indians were celebrating and heading to New York looking for a sweep.
Lofton, a gnat-like nuisance to the Yankees – one of his many former teams – so far in this series, walked on four pitches to lead off the 11th against Luis Vizcaino.
Franklin Gutierrez failed twice to get down a sacrifice before hitting a single.
Casey Blake moved the runners up with a bunt before the Yankees walked Grady Sizemore to load the bases. Rookie Asdrubal Cabrera missed his chance at being a hero by popping up right in front of the plate, but Hafner, who has struggled all season, delivered.
Game 3 will be Sunday at Yankee Stadium, with Cleveland’s Jake Westbrook facing Roger Clemens.