If one game can symbolize the state of modern baseball, consider Wednesday’s matinee in the Bronx between the Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays. Eleven relief pitchers combined for 141/3 innings, allowing only 4 hits and striking out 14. The winning run scored when a second baseman slid on the grass in right field to gobble up a ground-ball single.
The Rays won, 3-2, in 13 innings, and James Loney’s go-ahead grounder was the Rays’ only hit off six Yankees relievers. Stephen Drew, the second baseman, was positioned well into the outfield and raced over to stop the ball.