Thursday, June 20, 2002
Yankees 20, Rockies 10
The Associated Press
DENVER — Bash ball is back at Coors Field and the New York Yankees are taking full advantage. Robin Ventura and John Vander Wal each drove in four runs as the Yankees kept up their hitting barrage in at Coors, overwhelming the Colorado Rockies 20-10 Wednesday night.
“You get to the point where, unlike in other ballparks, you just relax and let things happen because there is nothing you can do about it,” Yankees manager Joe Torre said. “It is fun because everybody comes in and just sort of shakes their heads.”
Ventura, Jason Giambi and Alfonso Soriano homered for the Yankees. New York now has 30 runs, 35 hits and six homers in two days at Denver, and will try for a sweep Thursday.
After hitting just .218 and scoring six runs in three games against the Mets last weekend, the Yankees posted their highest run total since beating Boston 22-1 at Fenway Park exactly two years earlier.
Even though scoring at Coors is down this year, it was hard to tell as the Yankees continued their first-ever trip to the park. Pitcher Andy Pettitte contributed his first major league extra-base hit and RBI, and Jorge Posada scored four times.
“I'm exhausted right now, but you have to keep running and going around the bases, and you can't quit,” Giambi said. “You can't even let down when you get a big lead here because like what happened tonight, you can score quite a few runs and get right back in the ball game.”
The Rockies have lost 12 of 15 games and five straight series. They have dropped nine of their past 11 interleague games.
Colorado scored seven runs in the fourth to take an 8-4 lead behind Mike Hampton, but New York answered with nine over the next two innings.
The Rockies got two in the sixth to cut the lead to 13-10. But the Yankees followed with four in the seventh, and Nick Johnson's RBI double capped a three-run ninth.
“Their line looked like a zip code,” Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said. “It wasn't pretty. I don't know of many games I've been involved in where the team I've been associated with scored seven runs in an inning and lost.”
Soriano and Giambi homered in the sixth, and Vander Wal added a two-run single. Justin Speier also walked in a run.
Soriano's homer, a solo shot off Rick White (1-5), was his 16th of the season. Giambi put the Yankees up 10-8 with a two-run shot to the second deck in right, his 18th.
Vander Wal also had a two-run double in the seventh and finished 2-for-4 after entering the game in the sixth.
Ventura had a two-run homer in the fourth, his second in as many games and 18th of the season.
Ramiro Mendoza (4-2) allowed two unearned runs in 1 2-3 innings to get the victory.
Colorado's Larry Walker drove in three runs. He had two hits, including a solo homer, in Colorado's seven-run fourth. Juan Uribe had second homer of the season and Benny Agbayani added two-run double in the inning.
Walker's homer was his 15th of the season and fourth in five games. He is 14-for-29 with four homers, four doubles and 12 RBIs during an eight-game hitting streak.
Pettitte, making his second start since missing nearly two months with elbow tendinitis, allowed eight runs — five earned — on eight hits in 3 2-3 innings. He also had a run-scoring double in the fourth.
“I wasn't able to get the balls in when I wanted to,” Pettitte said. “I gave up a lot hits on four-seamers that I was trying get in and left over the plate.”
Hampton, who had not allowed a run in 11 1-3 career innings against New York, gave up seven runs on seven hits and hit three batters in five innings. He has allowed seven runs in three straight starts.
“We have some issues that needed to be addressed and I addressed some of those issues after the game,” Hurdle said. “I'm not going to go into it any further than this, but baseball is a game of individual responsibility aimed toward collective gain. And that is my main focus, individual responsibility on our ballclub.”
Posada, who had two hits in his previous 23 at-bats, was 3-for-6. Bernie Williams had three hits and drove in a run.
Notes: A moment of silence was held before the game to honor Hall of Fame broadcaster Jack Buck, who died Tuesday. ... Soriano stole consecutive bases in the third inning to give him 19 on the season. ... The seven runs in the fourth inning was the most New York allowed since Cleveland scored seven in the sixth inning of an 8-7 Yankees' win on June 25, 2001. ... Colorado has scored 70 runs in the first inning and New York 67, the best totals in the majors. ... The game was delayed by rain for 38 minutes in the sixth inning.
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Yankees 20, Rockies 10 
