Bronx, N.Y., September 7, 2003 — Yankee Stadium is just stunning at 7:00 pm on a clear day in early September. The sun has not yet set, and is shining brightly first on the outfield walls and bleachers in left and right fields, then on the world-famous Stadium facade that rings the ballpark on its eastern side along River Ave., and finally at the Bronx County Courthouse and other buildings that dot the South Bronx sky beyond. On Friday night there was a lone cloudbank hanging over the right field upper deck, and the setting sun had made it a “star” in its glorious light show, first displaying streaming reds and yellows, which slowly evolved into a lavender glow.

The loudspeaker operators at the Stadium played The Boys Are Back in Town at 7:02 in honor of the the Yanks’ return from Toronto, and then The Boys of Summer at 7:06 as all was made ready for the start of the big three-game set with the Red Sox. The sky beamed above as Yankee fans gave a hearty cheer after Joe West called “Strike One” on Andy Pettitte’s game-opening first pitch to Johnny Damon at 7:08. West called a ball and Damon then pushed a bunt past Pettitte down first and beat everyone to the bag as Nick Johnson fielded it.

The Bronx sky had become dark some 20 minutes later in the second inning by the time designated David Ortiz came to bat for the second time. And it got darker before it got lighter. The cumulative score of the first two games grew from the 4-0 lead the Sox enjoyed at that time to the 20-3 bashing that had Talk Radio buzzing and Yankee fans murmuring to themselves. Sunday was the 25th anniversary of the first game in the four-game Boston Massacre the Yanks inflicted on the Sox and their fans in Fenway in 1978. Some Yankee fans were using this as a badge of courage and a source for heart and hope; perhaps even more Sox fans saw it as an opportunity for some white-hot revenge, too long delayed.

So the irresistible force of the Boston offensive juggernaut and a coterie of south-bound fans met the immovable object of the wavering (but holding) Yankee fan faithful and the Yankee pride that permeates the big ballpark, with all its ghosts and glory years gone by. And Jeff Suppan and David Wells were up to the task. With both of them utilizing Bill Miller’s extremely generous strike zone for all it was worth, Suppan followed a one-out walk to Nick Johnson in the first by retiring nine Yankees in a row. Then he topped that by reeling off another 10 in succession after Jeter’s one-out single up the middle in the fourth. He surrendered only three hard-hit balls in the first six innings, and Manny Ramirez made another great catch on one of those (Aaron Boone’s deep liner leading off the third), this time without becoming confused about the number of outs.

Suppan had the Yankees off stride and swinging meekly all afternoon, flailing at one off-speed offering after another. Of course, analysts were impressed with Pedro Martinez’s mastery over the Bronx nine on Friday, and at the effect that Tim Wakefield’s fluttering knucklers had on the home team Saturday, so a third total offensive shutdown in as many days begged the question of just how good Suppan was or whether the Yanks’ meager results were just bad offense multiplying upon itself. Whatever the case, Suppan had thrown only 67 pitches through six innings, had allowed one hit, and had walked only Nick Johnson, while striking out three. He threw 17 of 26 first-pitch strikes, and 61 of his 100 pitches on the day were for strikes.

The numbers of David Wells, meanwhile, were both similar and different. He, too, had thrown 67 pitches through six, and his 19 of 29 first-pitch strikes and 70/29 strike ratio rivaled Suppan as well. Amazingly, both he and Suppan got exactly 20 called strikes from the unusually generous Miller, they both whiffed three, while Wells gave up one less walk (one) and two more hits (five). One need look no further for evidence about the strangeness of Mr. Miller’s strike zone, by the way, than this: The first pinch hitter for each side (Red Sox second baseman Lou Merloni and Yankee right fielder Juan Rivera, both in the eighth) struck out on four pitches each, each took the third strike, and five of the six strikes against them were called.

But Wells used a different strategy than Suppan, despite the similarities listed above. Johnny Damon took strike one to start Sunday’s contest too. And he dragged a bunt down first on the next pitch, but this time Johnson was ready for him, pounced quicker, and nabbed the speedy Boston center fielder on his way to first. (I had occasion to wonder several times during the afternoon what might have happened had he evaded Johnson’s tag again.) But Wells had himself a two-pitch out, and moments later was in the dugout after retiring the visitors in order on seven pitches. Three outs in the second came on eight pitches, and even after Kapler’s 0-1 third-inning bouncer caromed off the glove of a diving Aaron Boone and rolled to a stop with Gabe on first with an infield hit, Wells had the side out on 13 pitches.

Of course, Suppan’s pitch counts were low too, but he had a different approach. While whiffing three in the first three innings, he got the Yanks to swing and miss seven times. Wells had different fish to fry. Trying to hit bats all day, David did not have a Red Sox batter swing and miss at a pitch until Jason Varitek batted with no outs in the fifth, after Millar’s lead-off double over Matsui. Despite the aforementioned Kapler bouncer and a leadoff Mueller single in the third, this was the first real threat of the game, and Varitek eventually succeeded in job one when his roller to short moved Millar 90 feet to third base with one out.

With the prevent offense in high gear, the Yanks had no choice but to bring the infield in, but Boomer got Kapler to foul one off, accepted a Miller call for strike two and coaxed another bouncer to third on a 2-2 pitch. Boone had no trouble pegging Kapler out while Mueller was forced to stand his ground. Then Wells stepped out of character, coaxing two missed swings out of Damian Jackson around another Miller called strike, and the crisis was averted in another three quick pitches. Wells would harvest only one more missed swing all day, this on a strike out of Ortiz after Ramirez doubled to right to lead off the seventh. Millar followed that by earning the only Red Sox walk of the day after fouling off strike three once, but Wells escaped trouble by coaxing grounders out of Varitek and Kapler for the twelfth and thirteenth infield putouts of the day. Yankees hit 31 pitches Jeff Suppan threw today, either fairly or foully. The wily Wells was going for more, and he got it, as he hit Red Sox bats 46 times.

And so with scoring threat number two averted, the Yanks came to bat in the bottom of the seventh. Joe Torre had surprised much of the faithful by penciling Derek Jeter in at short for this game despite a tweaked rib muscle, and Jeter’s stolen base after reaching on a fielder’s choice in the first and his fourth-inning single represented almost all the Yankee offense to that point. A crescendo began to rise from the crowd as Suppan fell behind 3-0, but Miller called the fourth delivery a strike and Derek followed by eventually bouncing to Millar unassisted to start the frame. Jason Giambi, who had finally hit a medium deep liner to right in the fourth after striking out in the first, followed with an eight-pitch battle but he succumbed on a pop to Mueller in short left field, and Suppan was looking at two outs with no one on when he walked Posada on four pitches.

Over the years, I have tried many cheers to spur first my Little League team (“Rally Time. Everyone hits, let’s go!!!“) and then the Yankees on: “Little hit, Let’s go,” “Give it a ride,” “Turn on it,” “Drive it,” etc.), but only three of my cheers in the last few years have been exclusively used for one player. “Tino Bambino” understandably was shelved after the 2001 season, and the other two are for Yankee veteran Bernie Williams. Recently, I have tried igniting him with “Blast off!”, but for years my favorite call with our long-time center fielder at the plate has been: “C’mon Bernie, Little Bingo!” Suppan started Bernie off with a Miller called strike, then threw two balls, then provoked a loud groan from (much of) the crowd with another called strike, a particularly bad-looking one. No sooner had I bellowed my favorite four words than Bernie swung at something slow, high and inside, and the ball made its high arc toward the short porch in right. Although the crowd knew (in their minds) that the ball was gone, recent frustrations had them second-guessing themselves, and a hush came over as Kapler ran to the wall and leaped. When he came down with an empty glove, the happy pandemonium struck.

Suppan struggled through the rest of the seventh. He gave up a six-pitch booming double to Hideki Matsui to left center that missed clearing the fence by a matter of two feet, but followed by retiring Aaron Boone on a short fly to center. As mentioned, Jeff had subdued the Yanks on 67 pitches through six; he threw 33 in the seventh alone. He gave up one walk and one hit through six, then two hits, one walk and two runs in the seventh. But his day came to a close with the seventh inning.

Of course, the drama was not over. Wells came out for the eighth, struck out Lou Merloni pinch-hitting for Damian Jackson, and coaxed a soft grounder to short by Damon. But Jeter double-clutched and threw wild past Johnson and Mueller followed with a soft single over short, and a Wells who deserved better was removed to a rousing round of applause. The Yanks wasted enough time to allow Mariano Rivera to get ready, and he came on for the five-out save. Mo retired Garciaparra on a fly to right, but Manny Ramirez’s soft fly to short right on a 2-2 pitch fell in well in front of Karim Garcia, and Damon raced around to score a Red Sox run, with Bill Mueller following into third. But a particularly (and surprisingly, rare) bad day by Ortiz ended, as did the top of the eighth, with a force to second.

The Yanks reforged a two-run lead with a Soriano two-base pop into the same general area Manny Ramirez had hit, and then a hard, run-scoring Johnson base hit to right. This eased some of the tension that would have been the result of Kevin Millar’s lead-off single in the ninth, but Rivera retired the next three on infield outs with nine pitches, and the Yanks had won the game, and the season series with their rivals.

I’m sure the many Boston fans in the crowd had a pretty good weekend, with great weather and two big victories in the Bronx. But it ended unsatisfactorily. Most of us know that the Red Sox have not won the World Series since 1918, and that they have seen their rivals to the south capture it 26 times since. We learned as children that the fortunes of the two teams turned with the Yankee acquisition of power hitting legend Babe Ruth from the Sox. What we may not know is exactly how long Boston ire and frustration has been Yankee-based. But I can help a little on that. The Yankees would win their third World Title in 1928. On September 8 of that year, while the Yankees were beating the Senators, 6-3, in New York, the A’s were sweeping two from the Sox in Fenway, 7-6 and 7-4. Because the two wins by the A’s would lift them into first in front of the Yanks, the Fenway Faithful spent much of Game Two cheering the A’s on as they whipped the home-standing Red Sox!

Although the Yankee offense has been largely moribund for much of the season, and was particularly off this weekend, there was perhaps greater cause for concern in the fact that their greatest strength, the starting rotation, was manhandled by the Sox in the first two games. And the concern grew as so many wondered at the real condition of the controversial David Wells who, despite a great 2003 early season, hadn’t won a game in almost two months. September 7, 1908, was the birthday of famed heart surgeon Michael DeBakey. And King Richard I of England, Richard the Lion-Hearted, was born on September 8, 1157. After today’s stirring outing, it’s safe to say neither of them had anything over David Wells, when the subject being discussed is heart.

BTW,TYW

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!