Tampa, FL., March 8 — Perhaps it was the two walks sandwiched around a Doug Mientkiewicz single in the five-run sixth that sent me off thinking about the fun and adventure one can find on the water in the Tampa Bay area, but I really think I was still avidly rooting for a Yankee comeback from an 8-1 deficit to the Twins. The home-standing Bombers had been coming up just short all day, falling to a bounce here, and a carom there, and things were ripe for the kind of dramatic turnaround these Spring games are famous for.

Just the day before while the Yanks were spanking the Red Sox 100 miles south in Ft. Myers, we had watched the Phillies play the Blue Jays to a 6-6 standoff after eight innings in the Jays’ opener in Dunedin, when it was announced that the game would be a tie if neither team scored in the ninth. A half-hour later the Phillies left with a 12-6 victory under their belts.

The Yanks had come close to escaping Twins’ threats every inning, it seemed. Young Jorge DePaula started strong, whiffing the first two Twins batters while retiring the first four. And he notched another strike out after allowing back-to-back singles with one down in the second. But DH Rob Rowen and shortstop Jason Bartlett singled up the middle. It was a 36-pitch inning for the young righty, but he survived and got the Twins in order in the third, even if Mientkiewicz and LeCroy hit balls to the right- and center-field walls, the first tracked down on a fine catch by Darren Bragg.

Enrique Wilson smacked a hard double to right center on the first pitch of the third, and when Lofton’s bunt actually rolled back fair after crossing the line foul, the Bombers had first and third with no one out. But Jeter, who had singled in the first, hit into a 4-4-3. and A-Rod struck out. The Yanks were down, 2-1, after three. Two days earlier, Ramon Ramirez and Bret Prinz made a successful bridge to Paul Quantrill and Tom Gordon, who finished. This day, David Shepard, Prinz, and Eduardo Sierra, allowed four, two, and five runs respectively from the fourth through the sixth, and the rout was on. But even in the midst of the carnage, the Yanks almost escaped several times.

Shepard allowed singles through the vaunted left side of the Yankee infield to start the fourth, but retired Bowen and Bartlett on back-to-back flies. But a single up the middle netted one, and then second baseman Nick Punto and Mientkiewicz singled to the right and then the left of a clearly befuddled Rodriguez at third. When Matsui rushed his attempt to pick up the ball and fire, it squirted out of his hand and rolled to center, and the home team was in a 5-1 hole. Prinz and Sierra followed the same pattern, each allowing the first two batters to reach safely, via a walk and a single in both cases.

Both runners scored against Prinz, and then Sierra compounded his problem by loading the bases on another free pass, and we were off dreaming about Gilligan and Mary Ann. This was the 86th birthday of Alan Hale, Jr., who played the Skipper on Gilligan’s Island. The high blue sky and the 70-degree temps finally took their toll, and we settled into a mindless reverie about tropic ports and uncharted desert isles. Third baseman Tiffee (some awfully unfamiliar names in the Twins lineup this day, huh?) caromed one off Travis Lee at first. Then when centerfield sub John Rodriguez’s catch and throw after an ensuing single up the middle by Mike Restovich of the Twins eluded Yankee backup catcher Steve Torrealba, we smiled and hummed the tune.

But on a day when we learned the Yankees may be without Gary Sheffield for months; when the young home teampitching failed miserably; when new third baseman Alex Rodriguez fielded no grounders even though eight made it through the left side (and popped up and struck out twice); when the Yanks made two errors and came through with no big hits; some hopeful things happened, and I don’t just mean the elasticity of the Yankee fan mood, bright sunny weather notwithstanding.

Fan favorite Joe Girardi looked good behind the plate in his first start and singled; Enrique Wilson retained his hot bat; both Tony Clark and Homer Bush took turns in the outfield; Jason Giambi continues to look solid after knee surgery, lining to the center field wall in the first, taking throws, and turning in back-to-back 1-unassisted’s in the fifth; and Travis Lee doubled to the wall in right and lined out hard to left. But the best news this day, and perhaps this spring, is that Paul Quantrill and Tom Gordon look every bit as good as anticipated. Quantrill allowed two hits with a homer on Thursday and Gordon and a walk. That is all they have allowed in eight innings. Quantrill gets grounders routinely and Gordon has whiffed four.

The last time the Yankees had seventh- and eighth-inning pitching this lights-out, the hurler wore number 42, and his name was Mariano Rivera.

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!