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Tampa Bay 11, NY Yankees 8 By FRED GOODALL, AP Sports Writer May 4, 2005 ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) -- The Boss didn't stick around for the finish. The New York Yankees tumbled to their lowest point in a decade Wednesday night, losing their second straight to the last-place Tampa Bay Devil Rays -- this time 11-8 with owner George Steinbrenner watching part of the game from his suite at Tropicana Field. "We're just not playing good. There's really nothing else you can say,'' captain Derek Jeter said. `"We're not doing the job, bottom line.'' The loss was the sixth in eight games for New York, which made significant lineup changes the previous night to try to break out of a rut. The Yankees are six games under .500 for the first time since after games of July 19, 1995, when they were 34-40. At 11-17, the Yankees are just a game ahead of fifth-place Tampa Bay, which stopped an eight-game losing streak by beating up on Kevin Brown on Tuesday night. The Devil Rays scored 22 runs in their first consecutive victories over New York in almost two years, despite hitting just one homer. Rookie Damon Hollins led the way, going 3-for-3 with a solo homer and four RBIs. The Devil Rays also took advantage of a throwing error by new Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano, which led to a four-run third against Sean Henn (0-1), making his major league debut as a fill-in for Randy Johnson. |