Bronx, N.Y., July 7, 2005 — The Yankees crawled within 3.5 games of first place in a 7-2 win over the Cleveland Indians in Yankee Stadium Thursday night. It was a game in which they introduced a new center fielder as Melky Cabrera made his big league debut. But the team may have also lost setup man Tom Gordon.
Righthanders Mike Mussina and Kevin Millwood did battle, and the Yankees relied on their newly resurgent power game to take charge early. Once the Yanks led, the veteran Mussina was determined not to surrender any advantage. Moose was good, not great, and his numbers show it. But Cleveland has been battering teams for weeks, including Eastern Division rivals Boston and Baltimore, and holding the Tribe to two runs over seven is no small accomplishment.
The Indians pressured Mike early, managing two runners in scoring position in the first after a Coco Crisp single and a free pass to Travis Hafner, who barely held up on a just-outside 3-2 fastball. But Mussina got 11 of 21 outs on ground balls, and six of his first nine, and he coaxed a meek Ben Broussard roller to Alex Rodriguez at third to escape the threat.
Hard thrower Millwood couldn’t keep his pitches down, and athough Yankee batters failed most of the night to catch up with his fastball, a few mistakes early made all the difference. Yankee Stadium has been the graveyard to the careers of a few righty power hitters, but the short porch in right is not solely restricted to lefties. Alex Rodriguez has embraced this truth like few who preceded him. He drove a 1-1 fastball to straight right after Gary Sheffield’s single through the shortstop hole with two down in the first, and despite a game effort by Cleveland right fielder Casey Blake to grow a few inches on his glove arm, the Yanks had a 2-0 lead.
Eighth-place Indians hitter Johnny Peralta turned on something off-speed in the top of the second and, despite the wired Melky Cabrera’s attempt to jump through the left centerfield wall, he halved the Yankee lead on a long drive over the wall. But Mussina retired ex-Yankee hero Aaron Boone, playing in the Bronx for the first time since his 2003 ALCS heroics and subsequent injury, on a grounder to close the second.
Kevin Millwood’s pitches pounded in at 92-94 mph all night, impressive yes, and even A-Rod failed to get around, but the streaking Jason Giambi is another matter, and he restored the Yankee two-run lead leading off the home second on an 0-2 laser to almost the identical spot that Rodriguez blasted his, with right fielder Blake leaping and stretching in vain yet again. The Yanks were up 3-1, but the rout was hardly on, as Millwood righted himself. Striking out two to close that frame, he needed just 40 pitches to silence the Yanks through the fifth, with the only tarnish being young center fielder Cabrera’s first big-league hit, a single to short left.
Mussina was mowing down batters efficiently too, and he retired the visitors in the third and fourth on only 13 pitches, even though Grady Sizemore singled leading off the third. But Peralta and Boone singles staring the fifth got him in trouble. Twice he coaxed potential double-play grounders but the runners were safe at first each time, with Peralta scoring on the first. Moose got another grounder, and it was Giambi to the rescue as he preserved the lead by coming off the bag to take A-Rod’s errant throw and nabbing Victor Martinez for the third out. Feeling his oats apparently, Jason would make another fine play sprawling for a Hafner one hopper on the infield grass in the seventh.
The one-run bulge remained once Derek Jeter lined to second to close the home fifth after Cabrera’s bingle, but Moose retired the Tribe on nine pitches around a Blake single in the sixth. The Yanks put the game away with three in the bottom half, on Cano, Matsui, and Giambi singles along with a walk to Rodriguez and an ugly stumbling wild pitch by Millwood. Mussina picked up two of his five strike outs in closing the seventh, and his night’s work. Jeter homered to right off reliever Fernando Cabrera to forge the final 7-2 score.
Moose retired 21 Indians batters on 103 pitches, 62 of them strikes. His first-pitch strike ratio was good, at 21-9, but the three walks allowed were high for him. He sprinkled three strike outs through four frames, and by the time Peralta popped to short center to close the sixth, just four of the 48 strikes Mike had gotten were of the swing-and-miss variety. Knowing he was pitching to close his night, he came after the Cleveland batters in the seventh, coaxing five more misses while striking Boone and Crisp out around a Sizemore walk.
Flash Gordon came on for the eighth, and he looked good despite starting with a four-pitch walk of Martinez. But he came off the mound shaking his right arm after whiffing Broussard and Rafael Belliard; reports as to his condition have been sketchy. Scott Proctor, who figures to bear a heavier load at least in the short term, finished out the win.
Melky Cabrera was a joy to watch in his first game. It was obvious that he was frustrated that the outfield wall kept him froom Peralta’s blast, and that Moose’s good pitching kept the outfield load light. He showed off a strong arm in pegging to third on Boone’s single that backed Peralta’s when the Tribe closed within one in the fifth. The throw was ill-advised, but strong enough to keep the speedy Boone from attempting to follow it into second. Melky corralled a Broussard fourth-inning fly, and a Belliard liner in the sixth. And he ran a long way to snatch Peralta’s pop to close the frame, on a ball that probably should have been Cano’s.
With the Orioles besting David Wells and the Red Sox, the Yanks closed the Division gap on Mussina’s seven strong innings, scoring seven runs, with seven of their nine hits coming off Millwood, in a July 7 win. With Stadium thoughts drifting to favored players of yesteryear with the Old Timers Game approaching, the much-missed Catfish Hunter beat Cleveland 8-2 on July 7, 1977. Ten years later the Bombers trailed the Twins, 7-0, on July 7, 1987, and then scored seven runs in the seventh inning to tie matters in an eventual 12-7 win. With that lucky number popping up everywhere, let’s hope the good fortune holds when it comes to the future prognosis of Mr. Gordon and his powerful right arm.
And one final bit of history to note. That Cabrera batted ninth Thursday right behind DH Bernie Williams is significant. Bernie’s achieved some impressive numbers of late, placing him firmly in line with some great Yankees, particularly center fielders, and the career hit total of Joe DiMaggio is potentially his next target. It was exactly 14 years to the day that Bernie got his first start in Yankee center field. He got one hit too, just like Melky. But Bernie drove in two runs, one from each side of the plate, giving fans something to look forward to. Switch-hitting Cabrera didn’t get any rbi’s, but unlike Bernie’s Yanks on July 7, 1991, Melky’s gang won their game on the same day in 2005.
Talk about your good omens.
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!