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That's what the A's Big Three has been reduced to lately. One game after Tim Hudson had his worst outing of the season, it was Mark Mulder's turn to struggle Tuesday night. After living on the edge for the first six innings, the New York Yankees knocked Mulder out in the seventh and notched a come-from-behind 10-8 victory in front of 35,081 at Network Associates Coliseum.
Mulder allowed seven runs on 13 hits in 6-1/3 innings. The Yankees came back from deficits of 7-1 after three innings and 8-3 after six. Mulder wasn't involved in the decision.
Mulder wasn't sharp in his previous start either, also against the Yankees.
He allowed four runs in six innings and took the loss. He has an 8.03 over his
past two starts and is 3-6 with a 6.91 ERA in his career against the Yankees.
Today's starter, Barry Zito, has a 13.50 ERA over his past two starts and is
2-3 with a 6.83 ERA on the season In their past five starts combined, the Big
Three is 0-4 with a 9.82 ERA.
"We've been riding those guys' coattails for five years now. We can't really
complain too much about it," said A's third baseman Eric Chavez, who blasted
a pair of home runs. "There's no reason to believe they won't (turn it
around). They've had so much success for so long."
It's not like the A's bullpen has been able to bail out its Big Three. Mulder
left the game with one out in the seventh after surrendering a three-run home
run to Alex Rodriguez and a walk to Jason Giambi. The A's were still leading
8-6. Chad Bradford came on and walked the only two he faced. Ricardo Rincon
replaced Bradford and struck out Hideki Matsui, but Ruben Sierra tagged him
for a three-run double to give the Yankees a 9-8 lead.
It was a scene eerily similar to last Tuesday in New York, when Sierra hit a
two-run double off Rincon to give the Yankees a 9-8 advantage.
"Three walks in a row after the home run, that's unacceptable," A's
manager Ken Macha said. "Right now, (the bullpen) is a concern."
The A's bullpen is 3-5 with a 4.88 ERA.
You could almost see Mulder's seventh-inning implosion coming. He put at least
two runners on base in four of the first six innings, and had only one 1-2-3
inning. But the A's turned double plays in the second, third and fifth to help
his cause.
Mulder allowed a leadoff single to Enrique Wilson in the seventh and a one-out
single to Bernie Williams. Rodriguez followed by crushing a 1-1 pitch deep into
the center field seats for his 350th career homer. At 27 years, 282 days, he
is the youngest player in major-league history to reach that plateau. It also
gave him 1,000 career RBI, making him the third-youngest player to reach that
level.
"It's embarrassing when you can't hold a 7-1 lead," Mulder said. "It's
7-1 and you can't get a win out of it, that's ridiculous. It's not frustrating.
It's just embarrassing. The offense gives you all those runs and you can't hold
that lead."
Chavez hit a two-run home run off Yankees starter Jose Contreras in the first
and led off the fifth with a homer. That was the last A's player to reach base.
A head-scratching incident happened in the third, when the A's scored four runs.
With runners on first and third, Bobby Crosby struck out. Erubiel Durazo was
running on the pitch, but Yankees catcher Jorge Posada faked a throw to second
and got Jermaine Dye hung up in a rundown between third and home instead. Posada
chased Dye back to third, but Dye ducked and Posada ran past him without successfully
applying the tag. Dye took off for the plate, and Posada's throw home to Rodriguez
covering hit Dye in the arm and bounced away.
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