Bronx, N.Y., September 25, 2005 — Overruling the old-time American music classic (and the Kansas State Song), 55,000 screaming fans attending the home finale tilt between the Yankees and the Blue Jays Sunday afternoon could have told you there was nary a “discouraging word” even though “the sky [was] cloudy all day.” The teams engaged in what was a taut, tight, and crisply played game for most of the afternoon. The first four frames lasted barely an hour and it took not 80 pitches to retire the first 24 of 26 batters. At 71 degrees with 46 percent humidity and light breezes, nobody missed the sun all that much.

It was fortunate (and raised the decibels early) that the Yanks managed to plate a quick first-inning run after Captain Derek Jeter singled up the middle to get the hometown offense going. After Toronto righty Josh Towers walked Jeets to second and first baseman Jason Giambi got him to third on a 1-0 liner to the wall in deepest left center, Gary Sheffield also picked on the second pitch for the liner the same way that delivered run number one.

With two strike outs through four, Chien-Ming Wang had retired all 10 other Jays hitters on ground balls, perfect except for as bizarre play as I have seen in some time with one down in the first. Toronto left fielder Frank Catalanotto topped a high hopper toward first, and Giambi charged and bent to get the ball at its low point on the infield dirt, tossing toward Wang streaking for first from there. The throw was hopelessly high, but Catalanotto made the slightest feint toward second after crossing the bag and backing-up catcher Jorge Posada flipped the ball to Jason, who quickly tagged Catalonotto for the out. Unable to erase the truly ugly toss from his mind’s eye, the official scorer avoided posting the easy 3-2-3, and instead called it an e-3, 2-3.

Towers was an enigma. Mixing 88-90 mph fastballs with a low-80s slider, he allowed the power drives from Jason and Shef along with ground balls that rivaled those Chien-Ming Wang was harvesting against Towers’s teammates in meekness. Jeter’s third-inning bid for a homer to right was hauled in just in front of the wall, and Sheffield had his second near miss on a liner to Vernon Wells in Death Valley in the fourth, but aside from that the Yanks were going quickly on soft flies and grounders until Posada popped to short to start the home fifth.

The 800-pound gorilla in the biggest “room” in the Bronx this day was that none of us could know for sure whether or not this would be beloved center fielder Bernie Williams’ last home game in Yankee Stadium, with both free agency and his career’s end approaching. And Bernie played a part in a big win, too. The Jays had put a sudden stop to Wang’s dominance in the fifth, as lefty third baseman Corey Koskie deftly lifted a soft liner the opposite way into the left field corner for a double to lead off. The crowd breathed a sigh of relief as Koskie held on a next-pitch Shea Hillenbrand grounder to short, but DH Eric Hinske blasted the next throw into the right field bleachers for a sudden 2-1 Jays lead. Shaken, Wang allowed his only walk to Greg Zaun and Reed Johnson singled him to third. The Yanks almost escaped when a 1-0 pitchout to Aaron Hill caught Johnson going for second. Posada had to double-clutch (on what could have been called interference from Hill), but Reed stopped and ran to first where he was tagged out by Giambi with Zaun holding third. Unfortunately, Hill’s next pitch double to right added a third Toronto run anyway.

Towers started the Yanks fifth with the Posada popup, but rookie Robinson Cano singled past second on an 0-1 pitch and Williams followed with a grounder into the second-base hole. Hill was able to get to the ball and knock it down as Bernie reached, but the good play caught Cano rounding second and he was easily beaten on the relay from second to first to third and retreated toward second before becoming out no. 2. It was sad that the Yankee starter with the least experience blundered after a hit by the one with the most, but young Robbie would have chances to redeem himself soon. Failing to benefit from the break Cano had given him, Towers surrendered a run on ensuing singles from Bubba Crosby and Jeter, though he recovered by coaxing a strike call from home plate ump Bob Davidson on a borderline high, outside pitch to A-Rod.

Wang righted himself, allowing harmless singles in the sixth and seventh, with Rodriguez making a fine do-or-die charge on a Johnson two-out swinging bunt to close the top of the seventh. Towers had coaxed three grounders on nine pitches in the sixth, but the improving Posada singled to right on the first toss of the next frame. Wiping out his big error in Saturday’s game and his base-running blunder two innings earlier, Cano drilled an 0-1 pitch to the short seats in right for a 4-3 lead the Yanks would not relinquish. Yankee crowds showered love upon the retiring Paul O’Neill while (seemingly) losing a World Series game in 2001. A deficit to the Jays in September would not have dampened the Bernie cheer that followed, but the sudden lead had more fans on their feet and the “Let’s go Bernie” cheer rained down on the field. Williams lined an 0-1 pitch to left, and lined to right the next frame. He had one hit and scored one run on the day, and he hit the ball hard.

Tom Gordon replaced Wang for the eighth. Although not as sharp as five days ago, Wang had contributed a solid start, allowing three runs over seven, and throwing just 76 pitches to do it. He managed only 10 of 26 first-pitch strikes, but he hit bats on 31 of 45 strikes, and retired 16 of 21 visitors on ground balls. The fine performances by Wang and Cano in the Yanks’ final regular-season home game of 2005 speaks volumes about our hopes for the future. But up 4-3, the game wasn’t over, and after a Hill grounder to short, shortstop Russ Adams lofted a fly to no man’s land in short left. A-Rod, Jeter, and Crosby, in left for the DH’ing Hideki Matsui as Sheffield returned to right, came together. Bubba appeared to collide with Jeter, jarring the ball loose, and Adams was on second. While Adams erred in running from second on a bouncer to short, he kept the rundown going long enough for Catalonotto to make second. Torre brought in Cy Young candidate Mo Rivera to face the dangerous Wells. Vernon worked a walk, but Rivera struck out Koskie swinging in an at bat in which he tried and failed to hold up his swing twice.

Vinnie Chulk replaced Towers in the eighth, and the Yankees pounced immediately, on an A-Rod single up the middle and a Giambi walk. The resurgent Sheffield stroked near misses to deep left his first two times up; he made Chulk pay, driving a 2-1 pitch over the retired numbers for a 7-4 lead. The 0-for-4 struggling Matsui popped out, but Posada doubled to right, moved to third on Cano’s third hit, and he scored the Yanks’ eighth, and last, run on Crosby’s second safety. Rivera allowed a harmless run on Hinske and Hill singles around a walk, and Cano threw out Adams to end the 8-4 Yankee win in two hours and 46 minutes.

It was a game played on many levels. Although it is truly a joy to root in a place that has showcased the careers and great play of so many stars over the years, it can be a little disconcerting to attend a game eight days before season’s end with the team in a flat-footed tie for first place when winning the game is not really job no. 1. Fans made Bernie feel the love every time he came to the plate (also on the one routine catch he made, against Vernon Wells in the sixth), and rightfully so. A quiet man, Williams has glowed in the Yankee limelight for years, and it was fitting that be bask in the glow on the same day Lou Gehrig extended his playing streak to 1,500 games in 1934, and on which Yankee Manager Miller Huggins passed away suddenly five years earlier. Today was also Pinstriped Legend “Scooter” Phil Rizzuto’s 88th birthday. Bernie will probably eclipse Joe DiMaggio’s career hit total in the next few days. He has 275 homers, more than 2,200 hits and almost 1,200 rbi’s. Caught up in the moment, I find myself compelled to repeat the words of one facade banner shown on the DiamondVision this day: “Boss: Bring Bernie Back!”

In an apartment screaming for cabinet space, I have a whole shelf devoted to the team-picture mugs the Yanks used to give out every year on Fan Appreciation Day, the last home game of the year. But this has been a special season in the Bronx, with a little help from the wonderful weather under which the guys played much of this year. We the fans made Yankee faces smile ear to ear all day, as a proliferation of Yankee stars appeared on the jumbotron to thank us for all the support. The Yanks racked up the fifth 4,000,000-strong season crowd in major league baseball history with the 50,000-plus in attendance on Saturday. In the home fifth Bob Sheppard surprised no one when he announced with this days’ group of 55,136 that we had set the all-time record of 4,090,696 attendance in a baseball season. Fans 14 and under received a “Beanie Buddy” doll, but we all received a commemorative pin. As a fan who considers the fans the team’s 10th man (11th if you count the DH, and I do), it is a pin I will treasure always:

“Over 4 Million — Thanks to the Greatest Fans in the World.” Not a discouraging word there, huh?

BTW,TYW

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!