Nearing the halfway point of the 2000 season, the Yankees were searching for their stride. A great early start gave way to a midseason malaise, and they found themselves a game back in the division on July 4th. They’d strung together a couple of wins and saw Roger Clemens return from injury, so it looked like they had another opportunity to really get rolling again.

Instead, they tossed one more frustrating loss onto a pile that already included a number of bewildering defeats.

July 4: Yankees 6, Orioles 7 (box score)

Record: 40-37 (1.5 GB in AL East)

At the time, the Yankees had identified starting pitching as their primary weakness. Indeed, Clemens had dealt with injury, Orlando Hernández had been shaky, and most of all, David Cone was looking like a shell of the ace who once led the Yankees’ rotation. But Cone went to the mound on the Fourth of July once more trying to turn things around, with his rotation-mates in Clemens and Hernández having turned in solid outings to win the Yankees’ last two games.

A crowd of over 44,000 at the stadium quickly found that it would be more of the same for Cone. In a 1-2 count against the second batter of the game, Mike Bordick, Cone poured a fastball right down the middle, and the soon-to-be Met roped it down the left-field line into the seats.

That was just the first of four homers served up by Cone, who would finish the game having allowed 17 dingers in the first half of the season. The Yankee offense had picked Cone up in the bottom of the first, Paul O’Neill singling home a run, and a run scoring when Bernie Williams grounded into a double play with runners on the corners to take a 2-1 lead. But the O’s went right back to work on Cone in the second. Unlikely Hall of Famer Harold Baines led off the inning with a solo shot to tie the game, and three batters later, Brady Anderson went deep with a man on, and just like that it was 4-2 Baltimore.

The score held there for the middle innings, the Yankees scuffling against Orioles starter Scott Erickson, but Cone at least finding something of a groove, retiring 9 of the 10 batters he faced across the third through fifth innings. But trouble arose again in the sixth, Cone trying gut through six to salvage something resembling a quality start.

B.J. Surhoff led off the inning with a grounder back to the mound, but Cone threw the ball away for an E1. After Jeff Conine grounded out and advanced Surhoff to second, Cone intentionally walked Baines to put two on. Charles Johnson lined out, and Cone was an out away from finishing his day on a high note.

Cone was faced with Mark Lewis, a light-hitting veteran second baseman who hadn’t hit a homer all year. To start Lewis off, Cone decided to go with a first-pitch breaker, but the slider didn’t break enough. Lewis extended his arms and got all of it, driving it to right-center and over the wall for a back-breaking three-run bomb:

Once again, Cone was left with his hands on his hips on the mound, wondering how it all could go so wrong. It was an excellent piece of hitting, and the second-to-last homer Lewis would ever hit in the major leagues.

Cone departed having allowed seven runs over 5.2 innings, while Erickson pitched into the eighth. The Yankees finally chased him then, with Williams’ RBI single bringing the score to 7-3, but the game went to the ninth still facing a steep deficit.

There, they made things interesting. Jorge Posada led off with a homer of Alan Mills to make it 7-4. Mills struck out Shane Spencer, but Tino Martinez roped a double, and the O’s went to Mike Trombley. Scott Brosius flew out to bring Baltimore one out away, but Chuck Knoblauch singled Martinez home, and Derek Jeter doubled down the line to make it 7-6:

Suddenly, the Stadium was rocking, and the tying run was in scoring position for O’Neill. But it wasn’t meant to be. O’Neill rolled over a fastball in an 0-1 count and grounded out harmlessly to second, cinching the Yankees’ latest crushing defeat.

As frustrating as this stretch must have been for the Yankees, it does serve a valuable lesson; it’s far from impossible to overcome a midseason run of mind-numbing losses. We’re here looking back on this season because of the fact that this accomplished team was able to overcome some spring and summer adversity to deliver in the fall. Having fallen to 1.5 games back in the division, the Yanks would start their climb back the next day.

Read the full 2000 Yankees Diary series here.