Bronx, N.Y., July 8, 2004 — The most striking thing you notice when you look at Jose Contreras’s performance in a 7-1 win over Tampa Bay Thursday night is that the numbers are all so neat and tidy, and consistent. Exactly 100 pitches thrown, in seven innings, almost. (Because his last pitch was bounced to Alex Rodriguez for what should have been the third out, and A-Rod made the only Yankee miscue of the night on it, I’ll call it “seven.”)
He faced each Devil Ray three times. He gave up three hits. He notched three strike outs, and allowed three walks (OK, the scoreboard says Ball Four to Lugo in the fourth hit him, so it’s only two. But if I’m giving him seven innings, I can give him a walk for throwing four pitches off the plate.) He was nicked for just one run, and that run was earned.
But there was a fly in this pitching ointment. Although Contreras yielded but those three hits, and never more than one in an inning, here is his pitch count in the first through the seventh frames: 13, 11, 12, 30, 11, 10, 13. The song on Sesame Street goes, “one of these things is not like the others.” Major League Baseball is a game played by experts, but the least schooled of observers in the game can find the problem inning in that assemblage.
Of course, I quibble, because Victor Zambrano of the opposing Devil Rays spent the entire evening showing how not to use electric stuff to win baseball games. Vainly in search of the strike zone all night, Victor was not only down 2-0 after two innings once two of four Yankee walks had crossed the plate, he had thrown 50 pitches to get those first six precious outs. Whereas most of Contreras’s numbers were neat and concise, Zambrano’s were loud, belligerent, and off the scale. Into the seventh inning he threw 127 pitches. The seven strike outs were impressive, but the seven walks, seven hits, and one hit by pitch were not, and with 57 tosses off the plate, it’s surprising the weary Devil Rays fielders committed just one error. Even though two of the five runs on his ledger scored on Bobby Seay’s one-pitch relief appearance that resulted in a booming Matsui double in the seventh, Zambrano truly “earned” all five tallies against him.
On the other hand, Contreras was everything one could have wished for in the first through the third, and again in the fifth through the seventh. But his fourth frame was ugly. It started with a clean Rocco Baldelli single to left, and although I cringed at the first-pitch pitch-out with Baldelli not going, Jose recovered to whiff Aubrey Huff on five pitches. And the bad news was not that Rocco did steal on the first-pitch called strike on Jose Cruz, Jr., but rather that Contreras had Cruz in a 1-2 hole on another called strike, and then threw three in succession off the plate, putting the tying run on.
The Yankee righty’s second-pitch wild pitch to the much-welcomed Tino Martinez compounded the problems. Rather than getting the easy 6-4-3 that would have closed the frame on Tino’s third-pitch grounder, with no force play at second available the Rays got a run as Jeter pegged Martinez out at first. A five-pitch walk (or hit by pitch, take your pick) to Lugo followed. Don’t be fooled that the four pitches in succession off the plate to Fred McGriff are classified as an intentional walk; there was no such intention until Lugo stole second as Jose fell behind, 3-0.
We were 24 pitches in then, with Toby Hall, who had stroked a single in the third (and would drill another later), coming to bat. The tying run was at third, the go-ahead on second, and 40,000 fans groaned as Contreras started him out with a ball. But Contreras stiffened, Hall fouled three of the next four, and lifted a fly toward the left-center field gap. After the briefest of scares, Matsui easily tracked it down.
That was the ballgame, really. With DH Bernie Williams leading off, Kenny Lofton played center and batted ninth for the Yanks. He and Jeter doubled for a run in the fourth to restore the Yankee two-run cushion. Whether or not that run was key to his confidence, the Jose Contreras who emerged from the dugout for the fifth was overpowering, and 28 pitches, one grounder, six flies and a Lugo strike out later, there were two down in the visiting seventh with the home team still up, 3-1. Hall singled and Torre replaced Jose with Paul Quantrill after A-Rod’s error on Sanchez.
The Rays did not know this one was over, however. Jeter seemed to hesitate for a split second as A-Rod moved toward speedster Crawford’s ensuing bouncer, and it cost the Yanks. The resulting infield single loaded the bases, but Rocco Baldelli grounded meekly to Cairo to close the frame. Opening the eighth, Huff and Martinez singles around a Cruz strike out brought Rivera on for a five-out save, one he managed in 13 pitches once Lugo promptly bounced into a 6-4-3 to close the eighth.
The Yanks padded the score with two tallies in each the seventh and eighth, on Matsui’s double and then Sheffield’s home run to left. Jeter doubled twice, knocked in two, and scored one. Lofton also scored two, but offensive honors really go to Giambi, who saw to it that the New Yorkers did not waste Zambrano’s three walks in the first, when he sent Crawford backpedaling to the warning track in left for a sac fly and a 1-0 Yankee lead. Jason also lined to left and singled to just right of center in the seventh. And Tony Clark, in for defense, singled in a great nine-pitch at bat against Travis Harper with two down in the eighth.
Yankee leather was in evidence early, as Miguel Cairo sprinted quite deep into right field to snare Carl Crawford’s low pop to start the game. Soon thereafter, Gary Sheffield made a half-diving, half-sliding snag on Lugo’s drive into the right field corner to close the second.
But this game was all about the starting pitchers. Victor Zambrano failed in his attempt to harness the great stuff that had kept him from losing since mid-May. And on the other side of the diamond we had the inscrutable Mr. Contreras, who first excited and then disappointed Yankee fans in back-to-back starts once he was reunited with his family. Those of us who thought the disruption among his loved ones was responsible for the enigmatic performances can take heart from the guy who pitched in every inning but the fourth Thursday night.
Wednesday would have been the 97th birthday of science fiction writer Robert Heinlein, who passed away in 1988. Perhaps Jose Contreras bears little resemblance to Valentine Michael Smith, the Jesus-like character featured in Heinlein’s classic tome, Stranger in a Strange Land. But certainly the book’s title speaks to the dilemma Jose has faced since he entered both the United States in general, and Yankee land in particular. But when considering the “Cuban Missile’s” 30-pitch, fourth-inning, Thursday night struggle, keep in mind that with all of that, he yielded only one hit and only one run, and no extra-base hits.
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!