Bronx, N.Y., June 13, 2006 — Although the whispers questioning the Yankee offense continued apace Tuesday night in the Bronx, the doomsayers trumpeting the decline of the 2006 pitching staff were forced to take a game off. Not only did righthander Chien-Ming Wang turn in a splendid performance, the big crowd at the Stadium got a peek at a pretty decent pen, once it was asked to post five outs, rather than the all-too-often 10 or 12.

With low humidity and a gametime temperature of 81 degrees, the night was custom-made for baseball, with breezes hovering around 10 mph keeping the crowd cool, even if their frustration with the struggling hometown club was causing a few tempers to flare.

Cleveland righty Paul Byrd got off to a bad start with a 31-pitch first, but once he survived it with no score, he matched Wang inning for inning. Thankfully, the early struggle took its toll, or the two teams might still be out there trying to push across a run. Although Byrd walked two around a Derek Jeter single in the first, he kept the Yanks off the board through five by putting them into bad counts early. On the one hand, he never did fashion a 1-2-3 frame, but on the other, he pounded 16 of 18 first-pitch strikes his first two times through the Yankee order.

Mr. Wang, thankfully, is familiar with this pattern. He eked out a win against Boston six days earlier under eerily similar circumstances. On June 6, the Yanks reached young David Pauley for one hit an inning through the first six, just as they did against the Tribe Tuesday. In fact, it wasn’t until the Yanks finally failed to put their leadoff man on for the first time all game in the sixth that Robinson Cano took things into his own hands. His one-out jack 10 to 12 rows deep into the short porch in right gave the Yanks a hard-fought 1-0 lead.

Before that, the Yanks had wasted a one-out, first-and-third setup in the first, both a leadoff Bernie Williams double in the second and single in the fourth, and a reached-on-an-error and single by Melky Cabrera starting the third and fifth, respectively. Byrd began to miss more often as his count mounted, and when Cano turned on his 88th throw, it was the fifth at bat in six where Byrd started a batter off with a ball. Byrd’s fastball flirted with 90, and no more, but he kept the aggressive Yankees off balance with a mid-70s change of pace. He struck out one Yankee every inning but the third, nailing both Alex Rodriguez and first baseman Andy Phillips, in for a banged-up Jason Giambi, twice apiece.

Of course, if the game had a subplot, it was the growing anger and frustration Yankee fans are venting against Rodriguez. He did not help matters by almost dropping Grady Sizemore’s infield popup leading off the game. In four at bats, Alex fouled off a pitch, flied to short left, took five strikes, and swung and missed four times, for three K’s and an 0-for-4. Truth be told, he did not look as overmatched against Byrd as Phillips, just out of sync, but he makes the big bucks, and he takes the loud lumps.

My naive (I suppose) question to the fans would be, “What exactly are you trying to achieve?” My section was dominated by “fans” who never uttered a peep the five straight times the Yanks got the leadoff man on; they were saving their voices to send a message to Alex. To each his own.

The superb Mr. Wang faced the Indians order three times, throwing 18 of 27 first-pitch strikes, and missing the plate just 28 times in 89 tosses. He had just one intentional walk and struck out three, but although he throws hard, he’s better hitting bats. He coaxed three popups and survived five hits, and got 14 of his outs on the ground. If there was a negative to Chien-Ming’s performance, it was that he appeared incapable of allowing a routine fly.

After a Casey Blake single with one down in the first, lefty DH Travis Hafner placed a soft liner the one place the Yanks could not readily defend, the left field line. Melky Cabrera seemed to cover the whole outfield as he raced from left center to the line, and even then seemed too late. But somehow he snatched the falling sphere just before it hit dirt, while running full speed. It was probably a better play than the homer he stole from Manny Ramirez six days ago.

Wang managed to get Indians batters to swing and miss seven times, but that that is not his game can be illustrated by the top of the fifth, when Cleveland came closest to scoring. Wang started Sizemore with strike one on a big swing leading off, then got another after a ball. Grady swung at pitch four too, only he didn’t miss, thumping a liner high off the wall just right of dead center. Two fly balls, two dangerous threats. Casey Blake made it three-for-three when he lined the very next pitch deep to right toward the old Yankee bullpen adjacent to the bleachers. But Kevin Thompson sprinted and nabbed the ball over his head just before the wall, as Sizemore tagged and sped to third (although I felt the Yanks may have gotten the call had they challenged at second). Wang gave Hafner the aforementioned intentional pass after falling behind 2-0, then got Victor Martinez to bounce into a 4-6-3. Thankfully, there were no other fly balls to report on.

Cleveland third baseman Aaron Boone, who still gets some applause in the Bronx thanks to one loud at bat in 2003, hit a high hopper over Wang leading off the eighth. It glanced off Chien-Ming’s glove on a leaping try, and the Indians were in business as Aaron reached. Shortstop Ramon Vazquez failed to sacrifice twice, but he successfully moved Boone to second on a two-strike bunt back to Wang. That was the second successful two-strike sac bunt against the Yanks at home this year, a risky play one rarely sees in the AL these days.

Joe Torre was booed as he removed Wang, but the young righty was cheered lustily as he marched off the field. Southpaw Mike Myers and righty setup Kyle Farnsworth were both asked to retire one batter, and they performed their tasks well. Each stared with a ball, got two fouls and retired their respective batter on the fourth pitch, Myers getting Sizemore on a short fly to center, while Farnsworth erased Blake on a bouncer to second. Mariano Rivera mastered the ninth in just 12 pitches, even though Phillips bobbled a leadoff knuckling grounder. Mo put a cap on it with back-to-back K’s in a game that was completed in a fly-by 2:31.

If a great (and much-needed after losing four straight) win on a beautiful night in the Baseball Cathedral is not enough for you, the following should be. On this day in 1948, the baseball immortal Babe Ruth made his last appearance in Yankee Stadium, in its 25th year after it opened. The Yanks retired the Babe’s number 3 that day, and he would succumb to illness just two months later. And the team would go out and win a game that day too.

It was a 5-3 win, against who else? The Cleveland Indians.

BTW,TYW

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!