Knoblauch has rough day in outing against Twins

FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) -- Chuck Knoblauch bounced a throw. Then he threw the ball wide. Then he threw another one low and another one wide.

Four bad throws, two more errors. The New York Yankees' second baseman doesn't appear to have solved the arm problems that have plagued him since 1998.

"It was a rough day, that's about all I can say," Knoblauch said Monday following the Yankees' 8-7 loss to the Minnesota Twins. "From a defensive standpoint, it was tough. You have to have some adversity and learn from it. You have to stay positive."

On an afternoon when Roger Clemens was pounded for six runs and 11 hits in 3 1-3 innings, Knoblauch's arm was far more significant than that of the five-time Cy Young Award winner.

Knoblauch has made seven bad throws -- including four errors -- in his past three games. He had 15 errors in 82 games at second base last season.

"It was a bad day," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "You just have to fight your way through it. There's no magic formula. He's addressing it, he's working hard. The only thing we can do is support him."

Knoblauch has five errors, four on throws, in 10 exhibition games.

"The bottom line, you're going throw the baseball away," Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter said. "I'm going to throw it way. Everybody does it. The difference is every time he does it, people make a big deal about it. He knows how to play second. He's going to be fine. Basically, he has to block it out."

Knoblauch bounced a throw in front of first baseman Nick Johnson after charging a second-inning soft chopper by Cristian Guzman, a play that was ruled an infield hit.

In the fourth, Knoblauch fielded David Ortiz's routine grounder, look at the ball as he took it out of his glove, then made a throw to the outfield side of first base, pulling Johnson off the bag for an error.

Luis Sojo, playing first base in the fifth, saved Knoblauch from getting an error by scooping a low throw following A.J. Pierzynski's routine grounder.

In the sixth, after making a nice backhanded play on Mike Moriarty's hard grounder up the middle, Knoblauch made another throw to the outfield side of first, skipping past Sojo. Moriarty was awarded a single and went to second on the error.

"I didn't expect to have it cured in one day," Knoblauch said. "You take it, file it, put it away and work on it tomorrow."

Knoblauch, who spoke with Torre during the game, did throw out Doug Mientkiewicz on his final chance to end the sixth.

"Joe just said, 'It's not going to be easy,' Knoblauch said. "That's no secret."

Knoblauch was previously scheduled to skip Tuesday's game against the Kanas City Royals at Haines City and have Wednesday off.

"Tomorrow might be a perfect day for a work day," Knoblauch said. "We still have 20 some games left. It's a lot of time to get ready."

Clemens hadn't allowed a run in two previous appearances this spring, pitching five innings. Just 40 of 72 pitches by Clemens were strikes.

Twins manager Tom Kelly wasn't overly excited about his team's success against the five-time Cy Young Award winner.

"I don't know if you can get too excited about spring training," Kelly said. "I think what we always look for is the quality of an at-bat a player's going to have and you like to see people battle and have respectable at-bats. We hit some balls pretty good, attacked the game pretty good."

Winner Joe Mays retired his first nine batters, then gave up two runs and two hits in the fourth.

Jacque Jones hit a two-run homer for Minnesota and went 3-for-4 with two RBIs.

Cristian Guzman went 3-for-3 with two stolen bases, Matt Lawton hit a two-run double and Corey Koskie went 2-for-3 with two doubles and an RBI for Minnesota.

Henry Rodriguez and Pascual Matos homered for the Yankees.

Notes: The Twins made their first cuts of the spring. RHP Grant Balfour, RHP Juan Rincon and LHP Ryan Mills were optioned to Double-A New Britain, and OF B.J. Garbe was reassigned to minor league camp.

New York (A) 000 211 003 -- 7 9 2

Minnesota 020 402 00x -- 8 16 1

Clemens, Mendoza (4), Einertson (5), Stanton (7), Boehringer (8) and Oliver, Matos (6); Mays, Cressend (5), Guardado (7), Martinez (8), Mota (9) and Pierzynski, Moeller (7). W--May, 2-0. L--Clemens, 1-1. HRs--New York, H.Rodriguez (2), Matos (1). Minnesota, Jones (1).