Bronx, N.Y., June 1, 2004 — It’s been the talk of the Bronx and the whole Yankee world, the way team Captain Derek Jeter has been struggling at the plate this year, with fans who count themselves among the most faithful calling for at least a temporary shift down in the order. But the Yankee shortstop has been bouncing back strongly for more than a week, and Tuesday night in the Bronx it was largely behind his bat that the Yanks got their homestand off on the right foot.
And if a hot bat from Yankee number two reflects a return to what President Warren G. Harding referred to as “normalcy,” it was one of the few things that could be described that way this evening in the Bronx. It was a gorgeous late Spring day when I boarded a train in southern Connecticut shortly after five. By the time I arrived at the Stadium some 80 minutes later, it had become wet, cold, overcast, and rainy. During the rain-delayed game, Luis Matos, an excellent defensive center fielder for the Orioles, would let a Jorge Posada pop fly fall in just before Hideki Matsui homered to tie matters in the third, and arguably the best setup/closer tandem in the bigs allowed Baltimore four runs in the ninth, ending the game finally with the tying run on third base.
Mike Mussina and Sidney Ponson both pitched well for stretches, but neither was a puzzle the opposing offense could not solve. They allowed 21 hits between them, with the Baltimore righty allowing three homers and seven runs before he left. Mussina was workmanlike after allowing two runs in the first. He did not have a strike out pitch, notching but two whiffs, and only one of them swinging. The Orioles swung and missed against Moose just six times in 72 strikes. He threw 14 of 26 first-pitch strikes through six, and walked only one batter, despite being worked into five additional three-ball counts.
In fact, his three runs allowed in six innings qualifies for a quality start, but just barely when you consider the tough at bat Miguel Tejada put on him in the fifth that delivered the tying run with two outs. The Birds had three great at bats this game, with Tejada fouling four straight pitches before knotting the game against Mike with a single up the middle, and then working Mariano Rivera through six pitches until he got a cutter he could handle and lined it to left for two in the ninth. And that last scary frame was set up by Jerry Hairston’s mammoth battle with Tom Gordon, when he fouled five in a row with a 1-2 count before reaching on a pop fly single to short center that put the O’s in business.
But although this was a wierd night, this was a Yankee win, and a great night for Jeter. He made up for a few of the liners that have found gloves of late by reaching on a swinging bunt in the first. The Stadium was still wet, although it was pretty clear once the rains stopped and they prepped the field that the rain was gone (along with the warmth). Melvin Mora and Javy Lopez singles plated two right off in a 36-pitch first off Mike that I guess we can scatch up to that difficulty he has when his schedule is interrupted. (First pitch was 38 minutes later than usual, at 7:45.) After Matsui tied things with a 1-0 drive to the right field bleachers in the third, the moon made its first appearance of the evening. It emerged from a cloud bank over the right field upper deck as Enrique Wilson fouled off two strike threes of his own and then poked an opposite-field single to right. The Yankee Captain wasted no tiime, driving one just to the right of dead center over Matos’s head for a double that scored Wilson for a 3-2 Yankee lead.
Despite a harmless sixth-inning miscue, Matsui played his usual brilliant game and his second of two walks moved Jorge Posada into scoring position from where Ruben Sierra could drive him in in the fifth to break the 3-3 tie Tejada had forged in that inning’s top half. Mussina survived a scare on Matos’s two-out double and the Matsui error in the sixth, and the Yanks calmed the crowd, their starting pitcher, and their manager by responding with a three-run uprising of their own, highlighted by the 0-1 pitch with which Jeter cleared the center field fence.
Paul Quantrill relieved and got five outs in the seventh and eighth, and Tom Gordon retired Surhoff to send the game to the ninth, but not before the Yanks added what seemed like icing on the cake. The Yankee shortstop strode to the plate in the eighth having singled, doubled, and homered on a 3-for-4 that dragged a batting average that had dipped below .190 days ago to an almost respectable .229. He took ball one, swung and missed, listened to C. B. Bucknor call ball and strike two, and then he smashed one just left of center that almost hit Tanyon Sturtze as he warmed for a relief appearance he would never make.
The rest is bookkeeping. Alex Rodriguez struck out twice before singling to left in the sixth, extending his league-leading streak of games in which he has reached safely, a fact I bring up simply because it’s five years to the day since Jeter tied a 40-year-old record at 50 games in which he had reached safely in every game from the beginning of the season. It is a day rich with Yankee history, as Lou Gehrig began his consecutive games streak June 1 in 1925, and June 2 is the day he succumbed to amyotropic lateral sclerosis in 1941. Yankee legend Babe Ruth announced his retirement from the game six years earlier on June 2 as well.
Although they played a marathon game with a delayed start in a wet and cold Stadium, it was a joy to welcome the Yankees back after the two-week trip. Waiting for the rains to end, I noticed with a smile that the out-of-town scores were relayed on the auxiliary scoreboards almost continuously, something they have not been showing except when the game is in play. But that was nothing. Taking my Tier box seat for the actual game, I looked up to see that the old, analog, constantly-being-refreshed out-of-town scoreboard in the left field corner is back! There is a pretty big Adidas logo that covers the bottom of the board so that two rather than three scores can be shown at once, but I will not quibble. I love that the Yankees have been responsive to the complaints that it’s almost impossible to pick up scores from the auxiliary boards from behind home plate. The Emerson, Lake and Palmer Welcome Back My Friends got the festivities started at 7:30, the Boys Are Back in Town they play after road trips sounded at 7:39, and Welcome to the Jungle before the Orioles were to be announced followed as well.
A great night, if a wet one. Mariano Rivera was congratulated on the scoreboard for save no. 300 as the Yanks came to bat in the first. I’m sure no one expected no. 301 to be so hard. And when discussing June 1 Yankee history, I did leave out an important one. It was on June 1, 1992, that five other teams passed so that the Yankees could select Derek Jeter with the sixth pick in the amateur draft. Bear with me a moment as I share that old-time sit-com star Jerry Mathers was born on June 2, 1948. Mathers was a child star in a show called “Leave It to Beaver.” On Tuesday night in the Bronx, the Yankees played,
Leave It to Jeter
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!