David Cone didn’t make Joe Torre’s life easy this season as he muddled through a 4-14 campaign. But Cone made up for it early this week.
While mulling over his Game 4 starter, the Yankees manager got some advice from an unlikely source–Cone.
The veteran right-hander told Torre that he would be comfortable working from the bullpen. That left Torre with an obvious choice for Wednesday night’s game: Denny Neagle.
“David knows my decisions are not easy,” Torre said. “And he understands I’m doing what I think is right for the team.
“He has made my job easier than someone else in his shoes would have. But it’s still not easy.”
Torre also had a feeling that Wednesday’s game would not be easy. With Neagle having struggled in his two postseason starts, Torre put Cone on alert, telling the 37-year-old right-hander that Game 4 “belongs to both of them.”
“If someone gets in trouble early,” Torre said, “the other person’s going to come in and pick him up.”
That’s what happened in the fifth inning–at least the second part.
Neagle was not in trouble in the fifth, having retired the first two batters, Timo Perez and Edgardo Alfonzo, on weak fly balls.
But that didn’t stop Torre from taking a walk to the mound. When he asked Neagle for the ball, the veteran left-hander looked stunned.
Torre made the move because the on-deck hitter, Mike Piazza, had been treating Neagle like a punching bag.
Piazza, who entered the game 10-for-27 (.370) against Neagle, crushed a first-inning changeup into the left-field seats. But instead of putting the Mets on the board, the ball hooked foul by a few yards.
Neagle ended the at-bat with a strikeout, but Piazza exacted revenge in the third, ripping his ankle-high breaking ball into the left-field seats.
Still, those were the only runs Neagle had allowed. Yet Torre pulled him after 4 2/3 innings, negating his chance to pick up the victory with his team leading 3-2.
Cone, whose postseason activity had been limited to one scoreless inning against Seattle, made his manager look good. Cone jumped ahead of Piazza and induced an infield pop on a 1-2 slider.
Torre intended to stick with Cone for at least one more inning, but that plan changed in the sixth when Scott Brosius lined a single to left. With two on, two out and Cone due up, Torre went for a shot of offense.
He ordered pinch-hitter Jose Canseco, who looked at strike three from Glendon Rusch. So with three innings to play, both Neagle and Cone were done for the night.
Neagle, a member of the 1996 Braves who became the 16th pitcher to start a World Series game in both leagues, entered with a great track record at Shea Stadium.
He was 6-2 with a 2.11 ERA and had thrown seven shutout innings here in July to end the Mets’ seven-game winning streak.
But in the process of losing both of his postseason starts, Neagle also had lost some of Torre’s confidence.
“When he throws strikes, he gets people out,” Torre said. “But he has a tendency to change his arm angle when he gets in trouble, and that causes his ball to be on the same plane rather than sink.”
Neagle’s pitches looked fine Wednesday. He allowed just four hits and two walks while striking out three.
But in the end, Torre stuck to his tag-team plan. Cone was going to get a chance one way or another.
