Bronx, N.Y., August 19, 2007 — I would like to be able to report that the Yanks overcame the Tigers 9-3 in Yankee Stadium today in a tight, tense, well-played game that was much closer than what that final score would have you believe. And I almost could too, if only the entire Stadium (and TV, radio, and Internet audience) had spent the middle innings in the restrooms or on the concession lines.
But Detroit wouldn’t sign off on that. They put together their best (only, really) offense during those frames. And the Yankees wouldn’t agree either, particlularly their pitchers, and rightfully so. Bengals starter Jeremy Bonderman was a bit stingy with hits, allowing just seven of the home team’s 13 through six, but Tigers arms gave the Yanks free passes in six of eight frames, while Yankee hurlers fanned visiting batters in seven of nine.
Chien-Ming Wang was a stranger to start this one, an unfamiliar force, but a very good one. He retired just one of the first 12 hitters on a ground ball, but he threw strikes, lots of strikes, and confounded Detroit hitters with a mid-eighties slider responsible for striking out six in the first five innings. Wang missed the zone just nine of 42 times the first three frames, highlighted by the second when he pitched around two singles by tossing 14 of 15 throws for strikes.
Bonderman was the opposite. He averaged 20 pitches per inning the first five, walked four of the first 10 hitters he faced, and his three-inning strikes/balls total was an ugly 30/29. He managed just 10 of 29 first-pitch strikes, but he actually had a brief lead in the fifth, and he was the loser because he gave up his sixth, and loudest, hit to Johnny Damon in the sixth, a 1-0 home run deep to the right field tier, 15 or 20 feet fair.
It could have been worse. After a Damon single leading off the bottom of the first, Jeremy walked two of the next three, and had Hideki Matsui’s hard liner to center drifted just a bit more toward the left field gap, the Yankee DH would have had a three-run double. But Curtis Granderson caught up with and grabbed the ball, as Damon trotted home on the sac fly for a 1-0 Yankee lead. The New Yorkers failed to score despite two walks in the second when Magglio Ordonez gloved Melky Cabrera’s two-out drive to right, but the home team doubled their score in the third when Bobby Abreu singled and stole second, and Matsui singled him home.
But around this time the smooth sailing Wang was having hit a rough patch, and the Tigers halved the lead in the fourth on three straight hits with one down. It could have been worse, but Robbie Cano had flagged down the hard hopper Ordonez smacked to start the frame. But Wang stiffened after the three safeties, recovering from second and third and one out by whiffing Brandon Inge for the second straight time and coaxing a first-pitch Cameron Maybin roller to second.
But if sharp play saved the Bombers a run or two in the fourth, they gave it back, and more, the next Detroit at bat. Granderson singled, and moved to second on a fielder’s choice dribbler to first. Then Wang balked the Tigers center fielder to third with the ball still planted in his glove. Once again booed every time he showed his face Sunday, Gary Sheffield then walked on six pitches, and Ordonez drove a hard ground single past A-Rod’s game trying dive into the shortstop hole. That the Captain Derek Jeter took a seat on the bench this day in favor of the recently acquired Wilson Betemit had no effect on that play. But it did on the next. When Ordonez and Sheffield tried a double steal on the second pitch to Carlos Guillen, Jorge Posada came up ready to fire to second for the trailing runner, only to find no one covering second. Two throws later Ordonez crossed on a wild pitch for a 3-2 Detroit lead. But the battler Wang stiffened again, fanning Guillen and coaxing a bouncer back to the box to end the frame.
The fifth inning wasn’t over however, and neither was the sloppy play. Abreu stroked his second straight leadoff single, but A-Rod grounded to third, or so it seemed. But the ball squeaked under Inge’s glove for the only called error of the game. Bobby and Alex sped around to third and second, respectively, with Abreu beating the throw to third by a whisker. Matsui came to the plate for the third straight time with a runner on third and less than two outs and calmly lifted a sac fly to left for the tie. One out later, noticing that Betemit had struck out his first two times up, the Tigers opted to walk Cano. The strategy worked, but barely, as Wilson’s hard liner to right hung up long enough for Ordonez to snag it for the third out.
The Tigers came right back at Wang in the sixth, as backup catcher Mike Rabelo, in for Ivan Rodriguez, singled to right for his third straight hit. Inge popped to short, and Cano and Betemit almost turned a nifty 4-6-3, but speedster Maybin narrowly beat the throw to first. Shaken, Wang threw seven straight off the plate, walking Granderson and falling to 3-0 to Sean Casey. But he notched two called strikes and Casey bounced to Cano to end the threat.
Sloppy or not, it was a tight, nail-biting game, and Detroit Manager Jim Leyland sent Bonderman out to start the home sixth though he’d already thrown 100 pitches. Andy Phillips sent Granderson to the warning track in dead center to nab his 2-1 drive, and Damon took one off the plate, then smacked the towering drive to right that would make a loser out of the Tigers righty. Cabrera stroked a single, but was out stealing once Abreu went down swinging and the Yanks led 4-3 after six.
Joe Torre sent Wang out for the seventh with 92 pitches out of his right arm (the Scoreboard count was higher, but they’ll have to explain to me how Chien-Ming finished the fourth with 59 throws but started the fifth with 61), but bullpen hero Joba Chamberlain was warming, and Joe came and got Wang before he threw a pitch. Wang has not been his automatic self for several starts now. He’s having trouble integrating a very good slider and developing change of pace into his game while remaining sharp with his hard sinker. The six strike outs were high for him, but the seven ground ball outs low. And he struggled with his control, throwing seven of nine first-pitch strikes the first time through the Detroit order, but finishing with just a 16/13 ratio. With nine of 42 off the plate early, he closed by missing with 24 of the last 50. But he got the Yanks to the seventh with a slim lead, and deserves the 14th season win he garnered by doing so.
The last three were all Yanks, starting with the continuing dominant work of Chamberlain in the pen. He promptly popped Sheffield out to short and struck Ordonez and Guillen out swinging on 99-mph heat and an 87-mph slider. Zach Miner came on for the bottom of the seventh and promptly walked A-Rod after falling behind 3-0. After Alex stole second, Detroit opted to walk Cano again to get to Betemit. But Wilson “made them pay” this time with an rbi single to left. Phillips floated a soft single to center for a 6-3 lead after seven.
Tigers batters failed to catch up with the Chamberlain heat. Now they were doubly flummoxed when Edwar Ramirez finished up featuring a low-eighties slider that falls off the table, a 91-mph fastball he sneaks in, and a change that flutters in at around 80. Ryan Raburn, Rabelo, and Inge all went down swinging in the eighth. In the bottom half, A-Rod beat out a one-out infield single off Aquilino Lopez, Posada reached on the eighth walk off Tigers pitching, and Cano singled to load the bases when they finally pitched to him. Then Betemit crowned his day with a three-rbi double and the Yanks had a 9-3 win and a three-games-to-one win in the series, a four-gamer these two teams will repeat in Detroit in four days.
But before that the Yankees fly off to faraway California for three straight night games in Anaheim against the Angels. Boston lost to that team today, cutting their lead over the Bombers to a mere four games. It could be said that the Yanks have been flying ever since the All Star Break. Their lineup’s propensity to score in bunches has been restored, and they have a solid five-man rotation. And for the first time since April, their bullpen is a strength, something they achieved by eschewing a trade for a big-name, big-money vet, opting rather for young strong arms in their own camp.
Sunday would have been the 136th birthday of late inventor and aviator Orville Wright, who together with his brother Wilbur mastered the engineering problems necessary for flight. The two started from a bicycle shop and soared into the pages of U.S. history. Perhaps the Yanks will continue to soar in much the same way, solving their baseball season problems by taking the quieter, simpler approach, through this season and many to come.
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!