Yankees skid into basement
Crawford slam lifts Devil Rays
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- On a night when Alex Rodriguez lost his 23-game hitting streak and New York tumbled into last place, the Yankees searched for positives to take away from their longest losing streak in nearly two years.
"We can't point fingers. We're still in this together," Johnny Damon said last night after Tampa Bay pitching cooled off A-Rod and Carl Crawford's first career grand slam rallied the Devil Rays to a 6-4 victory.
The Yankees (8-11) went 0-5 on a trip that began with three losses at Boston, their longest losing streak since a six-game slide from May 28 to June 3, 2005.
"It's tough," said Derek Jeter, who left after being hit with a pitch in the first inning. "We should have won a few of them, but it didn't happen. It's just one of those things you have to work yourself through."
A-Rod hit his 13th and 14th homers Monday to tie the major league record for home runs in April, but went 0 for 3 with a walk against Scott Kazmir and Shawn Camp, who struck out the slugger in his final at-bat.
Rodriguez had hit safely in 18 consecutive games to start the season and 23 straight dating to last September.
"The only thing I can tell this ballclub is you can't start forcing it," manager Joe Torre said. "You just have to continue doing what you're doing. You can only do what you do. If you're out there trying to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, it's going to come back and bite you."
New York's Chien-Ming Wang (0-1), in his first start of the season, gave up four runs and nine hits in 6 1/3 innings after being activated from the disabled list earlier in the day. He departed after Dioner Navarro singled and B.J. Upton doubled to start the Devil Rays' seventh.
Reliever Luis Vizcaino walked Rocco Baldelli intentionally to load the bases. One out later, the lefthanded-hitting Crawford lined a 2-2 pitch from lefty specialist Mike Myers into the right-field stands to erase a 3-2 deficit and give Tampa Bay a two-game sweep -- its first series victory since the Devil Rays took two of three from Seattle last Sept. 1-3.
Crawford, who began the night in an 0-for-11 slump, went 4 for 4, including three singles off Wang. After the grand slam, teammates goaded him into popping out of the dugout for the first curtain call of his career.
"I don't like doing that kind of stuff," Crawford said.
But could he get used to it, now that he has some experience?
"I think anybody could if they did it often enough," he said. "Considering the timing and what it did for us to win the game, that was the best home run I ever hit."
Juan Salas (1-1) got one out in relief of Kazmir, and Al Reyes pitched the ninth for his seventh save in seven chances.
The Yankees slipped into the AL East cellar, one-half game behind the Devil Rays, who swept New York for just second time in 52 series.
"It's the absolute worst road trip we could imagine, being 0-5," Damon said. "We're 0-5 without being outplayed. We're going out there and we're doing OK. We're just not finishing out the other teams."
Jeter left with a bruised left thigh after being hit on the side of the leg by a pitch from Kazmir. He was checked by a trainer and spoke with Torre before walking to first base and remaining in the game until New York took the field for the bottom of the first. 