Bronx, N.Y., June 12, 2004 — It would be easy to wax on about the wonderful rush of euphoria that exploded in a crowded Yankee Stadium Saturday evening. I am a Yankee fan, and of course I was delighted that the unheralded Bret Prinz had come on with no outs in the top of the seventh with Padres at first and third in a game the Yanks were leading 3-2, and got out of the jam. Almost everyone in attendance was. But what I liked most was the way he did it.
Prinz finished off the Pods in the blink of an eye, recording three outs on a mere five tosses. Gary Sheffield gets best supporting actor honors in this drama, and not just for the one-hopper from medium right he pegged home on Phil Nevin’s no-out, first-pitch fly. One out. San Diego wisely held shortstop Mark Loretta at third, as the throw would have beaten him badly (although with no runner bearing down on him Posada did bobble it a bit). Prinz missed on two pitches to former Met Jay Payton, but the San Diego DH fouled the third one meekly to Jorge, and Terrence Long lofted a piece-of-cake fly to Matsui in left. Bret charged from the mound pumping his fist, and the Yankee faithful could taste a victory.
The style of Prinz’s success was familiar to us, as Jon Lieber took “letting ’em hit it” to a new level all afternoon, consistently hitting bats with thrown pitches. It was like he was throwing darts and the Padres’s bats represented the bull’s-eye. Despite allowing 11 hits in six frames, he averaged only 11 pitches a frame, and threw a grand total of one pitch off the plate through the second, the third, and the fifth innings combined. He allowed multiple hits in the first, the second, the fourth, the fifth, and the sixth, but just one of the safeties struck off John plated a run (the second tally crossing the plate on a Kerry Robinson sac fly to left in the sixth inning).
Padres starter Dennis Tankersley did his part, continuing the dominance of the suddenly cold Yankee bats that Adam Eaton started Friday night, with a few notable exceptions. Derek Jeter singled off him three times (to right center, left field, and left center), scored Bernie Williams with the game’s first run in the third, and started the two-run rally that clinched the game in the sixth. But the big hit of the day came from the on-fire Sheffield, who plated the second and third runs with a hard single, walked, beat out an infield hit, and lined deep to left, aside from his defensive contribution.
And speaking of defense, there were standouts there too, the usual and the unusual supects. Jon Lieber gamely retrieved a Sean Burroughs one-hopper off his body and pegged the Padre third sacker out to close the top of the second. Derek Jeter made a fine diving stab of Long’s no-out, one-on liner in the fourth, before almost throwing away a double-play try to first in an attempt to close that frame just three pitches later. The unaccustomed hero on that play was Jason Giambi, whose dive to his left knocked down Jeter’s errant toss and prevented a run from scoring.
It was a gorgeous day in the Bronx, and the festivities sped to a conclusion in two hours and 35 minutes. The Yankees acknowledged former Bomber and long-time Padre announcer Jerry Coleman on the Scoreboard between the top and bottom of the third. In the “you don’t see that every day” category, Tankersley’s 2-0 count to A-Rod in the third inning became a 3-0 when home plate ump Rick Reed penalized him a ball for bringing his hand to his mouth on the mound. FYI: Tank’s pitch count in five-plus innings was 75, but he only threw 74 pitches to get it. Although he allowed just one walk, his total of 34 balls to 41 strikes was just too many; his 15 pitches per frame were just about average, but they stood out next to Lieber’s bizarrely low number.
Once Shef had given the Yanks the 3-2 lead in the sixth, Paul Quantrill took his usual seventh-inning spot in the three-reliever, three-inning bullpen configuration the Yanks have used to great effect all season. But Paul has struggled intermittently, and although he threw six of seven pitches for strikes, both Loretta and Giles singled to right to set up the crisis Prinz came on to still. Tom Gordon whiffed two and blew through three batters in the eighth on 12 pitches to do his part, and Rivera issued a one-out walk and was forced to throw 22, but he struck out two to close out the game.
Frustrated much of my life that a devoted Yankee fan like myself has a dead-of-winter birthday, I purchased the ticket to today’s game back in January as a baseball present to myself. Once David Wells signed with the Pods, who were interleaguing in New York this season, I determined I would have a ticket to any game he pitched in New York. As a holder of The Yankee Stadium C Plan, I luckily have one for the Vazquez/Wells tilt Sunday, but I’m glad I attended this one as well.
Even if my birthday was some six months before this game, I’m guessing I was not the only one in the Stadium thinking of their birthday. Bret Prinz will be 27 on Tuesday. Watching him pump that fist in victory today, with a whole borough cheering him on, I imagine his birthday festivities have already begun.
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!