Sunday, July 1, 2007

Journal News: Proctor takes frustration out on his equipment

Lots of tidbits in today’s Journal News, mainly about the bullpen.

NEW YORK - Joe Torre wanted to get Scott Proctor back out on the mound for the Yankees yesterday against the A’s. Proctor hadn’t pitched since his ninth-inning loss in Baltimore on Tuesday, when he gave up a hit, two walks and another walk-off walk.

But the righty reliever let his manager down again. After coming in for Kei Igawa with none on, one out and the Yankees down four in the seventh, Proctor faced four batters. He served up two singles, got a fly out, then served up a booming two-run double to Nick Swisher before being pulled. Then he got charged with a third run when Mike Myers again provided no relief.

“I wouldn’t trust myself right now, not the way I’m throwing,” Proctor said after the 7-0 loss. “It’s pretty pathetic.”

A little while after he spoke, there was a small fire going just outside the dugout. Proctor was burning some of his equipment, according to an MLB.com report.

With the unreliability of Proctor and Myers, and Kyle Farnsworth no sure thing in the eighth, as evidenced by his 4.88 ERA, Torre indicated that Luis Vizcaino will be in store for a more prominent late-inning role. Vizcaino, who finished the seventh with a walk and a groundout, also has been a huge disappointment, although he has been somewhat better of late.

“Vizcaino is going to get more into the mix,” Torre said.

Ron Guidry said he will talk with Proctor today to see if he’s OK physically.

“Maybe they’re just dead tired,” the pitching coach said. “We abused them in the first month and a half of the season. They were in there almost every day.”

Proctor is 1-5 with a 4.10 ERA over a team-high 40 appearances, and he has been charged with at least one run in each of his last four outings.

“He just needs to get his act together,” Torre said. “He needs to be able to get ahead in the count and locate his pitches.”

Farnsworth followup: Farnsworth threw his glove into the dugout when Torre took him out with two on and two outs in the eighth in favor of Mariano Rivera in a one-run game in the series opener on Friday night. Torre indicated afterward that the matter would be taken care of “in house.” He said before yesterday’s game that he doesn’t think it’s an issue for them.

Somehow, I don’t thinking adding Vizcaino to the mix is going to fix things…

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