Defense Rests and Indians Get Judgment

Chuck Knoblauch fiddled while Enrique Wilson burned--around the bases, that is--and reduced to ashes Wednesday were the New York Yankees, who blew Game 2 of the American League championship series in ugly fashion and then blew a fuse afterward.

The Cleveland Indians scored three runs in the top of the 12th inning, the first on Travis Fryman’s controversial bunt-and-run play down the first-base line, to defeat the Yankees, 4-1, before 57,128 in Yankee Stadium, evening the best-of-seven series at one game apiece.

The loss left a bitter taste in the mouths of the Yankees, from owner George Steinbrenner to Manager Joe Torre to every player wearing pinstripes, because they felt they were jobbed by home-plate umpire Ted Hendry, who will no doubt join Rich Garcia and Don Denkinger in postseason umpiring infamy.

But if the Yankees want to lay some blame, they should look no further than Knoblauch, their much-maligned second baseman, whose inexcusable brain cramp in the 12th probably cost the Yankees the game.

Jim Thome opened the inning with a single against reliever Jeff Nelson and was replaced by Wilson, who took off for second when Fryman dropped a bunt down the first-base line.

First baseman Tino Martinez fielded the ball and Knoblauch covered first, but Martinez’s throw hit Fryman on the back just as Fryman crossed the bag.

The Yankees thought Fryman should have been called out because he ran to the left of the line--in fair territory--and appeared to interfere with Martinez’s throw. Knoblauch pointed directly at Hendry, expecting the call almost as if it were automatic.

One problem: After the ball hit Fryman, it rolled about 20 feet behind the bag, and Knoblauch just stood there, continuing to argue.

Wilson raced to third and was waved home, stumbling near the third-base coach’s box. “I thought we’d have to get a wheelbarrow out there to get him home,” Indian Manager Mike Hargrove said.

Knoblauch, realizing his teammates were screaming at him to retrieve the ball, finally came to his senses, but his throw home was too late, as Wilson dived into the plate to give Cleveland a 2-1 lead.

Fryman made it all the way to third and, after Sandy Alomar was hit by a pitch and Joey Cora walked, Kenny Lofton lined a two-run single to left against reliever Graeme Lloyd to give Cleveland a 4-1 lead.

Closer Mike Jackson, the Indians’ seventh pitcher, threw a scoreless 12th to preserve the victory, which was made possible by starter Charles Nagy’s strong 6 2/3 innings, in which he gave up one run on five hits, and David Justice’s fourth-inning homer against Yankee starter David Cone.

Torre and Hargrove were angry at Hendry all afternoon for the umpire’s expanded strike zone, which resulted in 11 called third strikes. “I don’t think you could have reached some of those pitches with a bamboo stick,” Torre said. “The balls and strikes stunk for both sides.”

But it was the Yankees who were on the short end of Hendry’s 12th-inning call, which was upheld by first base umpire John Shulock.

Replays showed Fryman was clearly inside the baseline as he ran toward first, but crew chief Jim Evans said that because the play “occurred right at the base, and the fact that [Fryman] was on the base when the ball hit him, [Fryman] had the right to be in that position.”

Evans said a runner can be in fair territory en route to first. “The question is, did he interfere with a throw that the defensive player can catch and retire the runner?” Evans said.

“It’s a judgment call. He can be called out if he interferes with a throw prior to reaching the base. But in this case, the play happened on the base.”

The Yankees disagreed. Strongly. And not respectfully.

“I’d have to say that was one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen,” Steinbrenner said. “It’s too bad this great game had to be decided by this type of call.”

Added Torre: “It was so blatant I don’t know what to say. It was a terrible call, and for one guy to say it and another to agree with it . . . I don’t know.”

Knoblauch said he could barely see Martinez, let alone the ball.

“[Fryman] was running right at me on the grass, and I didn’t have a chance to catch the ball,” Knoblauch said. “My left foot was on the bag and most of my body was in fair territory, and I still couldn’t see it.”

But why didn’t he immediately try to retrieve the ball?

“I was expecting the call--I had no idea where the ball was,” he said. “It was not my intention to not get the ball. . . . I sure hope it isn’t portrayed that I was taking a break out there.”

It was. Most Yankee fans headed for the exits after Lofton’s hit, but it appeared many stayed until the bottom of the 12th just so they could give a hearty Bronx cheer to Knoblauch, a $6-million-a-year second baseman who hit only .265 this season and has struggled at times defensively.

“I know I play hard and try to do the best I can, and maybe over the course of time the fans will realize that,” Knoblauch said. “It’s an instant reaction on their part. I was disappointed to hear the boos. It was like the whole stadium was against me.”

It wasn’t easy to defend Knoblauch.

“There’s no excuse for Knoblauch not getting the ball,” Torre said. “You can’t do what he did. You’ve got to make the play. He was just shocked he didn’t get the call.”

Said Steinbrenner: “Knoblauch should have been looking for the ball, but he’s a young man under fire. I understand.”

Yankee third baseman Scott Brosius, who knocked in New York’s only run with a seventh-inning double, was asked what was going through his mind during the argument.

“More than anything else,” Brosius said, “stop the play and then talk about the call.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

RUNNER INTERFERENCE RULE

* RULE 7.09 (k): It is interference by a batter or runner when in running the last half of the distance from home base to first base while the ball is being fielded to first base, he runs outside (to the right of) the three-foot line, or inside (to the left of) the foul line and, in the umpire’s judgement, interferes with the fielder taking the throw at first base, or attempting to field a batted ball. The lines marking the three-foot lane are a part of that “lane” but the interpretation to be made is that a runner is required to have both feet within the three-foot lane or on the lines marking the lane.

* PENALTY FOR INTERFERENCE: The runner is out and the ball is dead.