TRENTON, N.J., May 7, 2003 — I like to put many of my columns under the heading “The View from Box 622,” because it is from a seat in that Tier Box in Section 12 (on the third base side just before the beginning of the visitors’ dugout) that I see about 40 Yankee games a year. It can be very good foul-ball territory, particularly when effective righty pitching causes a slew of lefty batters in the Stadium, and I have gotten two foul balls in that box myself. It also has a great view of the Yankees in their dugout, of the first base line, and of the way that fans on the right-field side of the park choose to root for the team.
On the other hand, from this perch, none but A-row people willing to lean over the rail have a view of the left field corner, we do not see fan reactions below the Tier down the third-base line and, though I’ll never admit it to any readers who double as umpires, we don’t have the best seats from which to call balls and strikes, or to criticize those who do.
But the most challenging “View” I had attempted yet was the one I tried to imagine last Tuesday evening, when we learned via a phone call from some good friends, and great Yankee fans, that not only would we have their seats for Derek Jeter’s first rehab start for the Trenton Thunder, but that they would be front-row seats right outside the home plate end of the Thunder dugout. Considering that a bird flying from the left field to the right field in the Stadium would be flying in a roughly southerly direction, to view Waterfront Park in Trenton from Box 622 would require me from my Row D seat to turn away from the field and look at the fans on the opposite side behind home plate, as a view that could pierce the Yankee Stadium facade there would be aimed in the direction of Trenton, New Jersey.
To get to Trenton midday was a challenge, and the Hudson River did all it could to prevent me, but once that barrier was breached in my drive from Connecticut the rest of the trip was a breeze. But the river did extract a price as we got there a bit after 5 pm, and Derek had been on the field signing autographs for season-ticket holders between 4:30 and 5:00.
Wednesday was almost preternaturally warm in a passable but decidedly cool early spring week. We watched the Binghamton Mets at their bp, and then the Thunder (minus Derek) as they took infield practice, but most of all we looked at the host of media as they stood outside the Trenton dugout peering at the hordes of Yankee fans bunched behind us in the stands along the first base side, all hoping for autographs and Jeter sightings.
Waterfront Park is a very attractive ballpark, and it manages to feel all about baseball, despite the plethora of billboard advertising that strikes your eye no matter where you let it rest. Symmetrical, its foul lines extend 330 feet and there is a three-tiered outfield wall that extends from the left field corner past the 407 mark in center. Much like Yankee Stadium there is a big matrix board in left center that gives the score, the player up and his current stats, and a Diamond-Vision-type board in right that displays pictures of the field and players. The original (lowest) outfield wall is filled with 18 ads of various sizes, another 34 fill the two-level wall above, with six more on the matrix board and another 11 ads wrapped around the Diamond Vision screen. (There is even one lonely ad board that sits atop the huge dark green batter’s eye that is otherwise clear, in dead center.)
Although promising third-base prospect Brian Myrow bobbled the game’s first pitch when it was grounded to him at 7:07 (he would handle his only other chance of the day cleanly) and Binghamton first baseman Craig Brazell stroked a one-out single, Trenton starter Chien-Ming Wang subdued the Mets and the Thunder came to bat in the first.
Center fielder Reese singled in the shortstop hole, as we gawked at Derek doing his stretches in the on-deck circle, striding up and down along the grandstand wall from a distance of as far as 10 feet away to as little as two feet. Perhaps in the presence of Jason Giambi, Bernie Williams and Roger Clemens Derek may appear slight, but in Trenton he was Gulliver among the Lilliputians.
The ballpark in Trenton is situated in such a way that the first pitch to Jeter that he lined deep but just foul over the wall in right actually landed in the Delaware River. Reese was called out trying to steal on Binghamton starter Joe Cole’s 1-1 pitch (a really bad call, and the crowd enjoyed Stump Merrill’s trip out and [losing] argument). Derek then bounced hard to shortstop Gilbert Velasquez and reached safely on the ensuing bobble.
The Thunder (and Yankees, I assume) had three chances to risk their superstar on potentially close plays, and they took the whole Park by surprise when their first choice was to go for it, as Derek took off trying to steal on the fourth pitch to Brian Myrow. The result was moot as the pitch hit Myrow, but we all noted that on this day Derek slid into second feet first. Jeter did not try to score on right fielder Mike Vento’s single to right center (would have been close assuming a good throw) or on first baseman Aaron Rifkin’s fly to short center (a good thing, as center fielder Jeff Duncan’s strong throw would have beaten him badly). So when left fielder Mitch Jones struck out on six pitches, the Thunder’s best scoring chance in the first seven innings had gone for naught, though Rifkin and Vento would each have another chance on this night we were soon to see.
Derek would come to bat on three occasions in his five innings, but we were lucky to behold him in the on-deck circle four times, as he waited there in vain in the second as Reese struck out to end the inning. He has a great routine as he seems to ignore the many gawking at him while he stretches and takes some practice cuts, and then when you least expect it he is staring at one or two fans, giving them a smile or maybe a wink, and uttering little innocuous well wishes like, “How ya doin,” and “Nice night, huh?” He bounced out to short leading off the third, and we expected big things after he singled Reese to second with one out in the fifth. But Myrow flied to center and Vento whiffed, and Jeter’s night was over.
The game was a pitcher’s duel as Cole only gave up five hits through seven (while whiffing six and walking one) and Wang gave only three (with four strike outs and one walk). There were five errors (two by the Thunder), and one by Binghamton did lead to a Trenton run. Cole was hurt by the 26-pitch first and had to leave the scoreless duel after seven having thrown 106 pitches, and his first-pitch strikes-to-balls ratio was 14/11.
Wang, who played on a Little League World Series team when he was young, had a great year in Staten Island (A ball) last year and, after having a horrible outing his first time out this March with the parent club in Tampa, actually went on to have a good spring. He worked economically this evening, and had only thrown 89 pitches when he left on the losing side after eight (17/9 first-pitch strikes). And his downfall was typical, as he walked Binghamton left fielder Marvin Seale leading off after the Met had fouled off strike two twice. A sac bunt and a grounder to short followed, but Craig Brazell made sure his second hit of the night counted as he blasted the 1-1 pitch over the Diamond Vision and into the Delaware in right.
Binghamton lefty reliever Aaron Hee came on for the home eighth, and walked Brian Myrow with one out. This was Brian’s third of four trips to first base on the evening, as he displayed a good sense of the strike zone. Mike Vento flied to right, and lefty first baseman Aaron Rifkin looked overmatched as Hee threw hard, then soft, for a quick 0-2 count. But Aaron went up after a high outside curve and hooked it down the first baseline, halving the Binghamton lead by scoring Myrow. Then Mitch Jones’s hard grounder deflected off third baseman Rodney Nye’s glove into short left (Nye’s second error), and though ecstatic that we had tied the game, our second thought was that we were facing an extra-inning game with a 90-plus-minute drive ahead of us.
The masterful Wang was off the hook and lefty David Glick came out to start the ninth, but he walked the leadoff guy after a tough battle, and after a sac bunt and an intentional walk that left it up to shortstop Velasquez. He stroked a run-scoring single to right, and even though Glick recovered to strike out the next two, the Thunder came to bat in the bottom of the ninth down a run.
And Binghamton closer PJ Beavis came out smoking, retiring Andy Cannizaro on a grounder and striking out Reese. Sam Bozanich, who had pinch-hit in the eighth, fouled off his own strike three twice before walking, however, and Brian Myrow used that discerning eye to earn his way on once more. The scoreboard had urged us on in Yankee Stadium fashion through these eighth- and ninth-inning attempts to come from behind, using the conventional film clips (Varsity Blues, Hoosiers and Rudy) and then stirring the kids of all ages in the crowd when we were led by The Pirate through two choruses of SpongeBob SquarePants.
No one was sitting as Mike Vento strode to the plate. His first-inning single had been too soft to score Jeter, he struck out with two on in the fifth, and he had flied to right the inning before, and we all groaned as he took strike one. Ball one and ball two gave us hope, but we quieted a bit as he barely fouled off pitch no. four. And then the crowd gasped as he swung late on a fastball, bouncing it hard right down the first base line past a diving first baseman’s lunge. The second baseman and right fielder chased the ball as it caromed off the stands and Bozanich’s run tied it and then Myrow slid home safely with the game winner. As the crowd danced and frolicked in glee, those of us with a more serious turn of baseball mind agreed on one critical point:
The Yankees just have to get The Pirate and SpongeBob SquarePants in the Bronx.
BTW,TTW
THUNDER BASEBALL!!!
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!