Bronx, N.Y., September 8, 2002 — Another gorgeous day in the Bronx, and another nail-biter vs. a club with nothing to lose, the Detroit Tigers, who seem to be auditioning players at almost every position. And auditioning ballplayer no. one was the guy on the pitcher’s mound, Andy Van Hekken. A tall lanky lefty who became the first American League pitcher in 27 years to throw a shutout in his debut (he did it last week against the Indians), he only surrendered one earned run on six hits and a walk. He was decidedly a fly ball pitcher, as he didn’t get his second ground ball out until Coomer bounced to short in the fourth.
Among several quite long fly balls Van Hekken allowed, there were two that hurt him, the home runs by Giambi and Jeter. In addition, George Lombard, trying out in center field, hauled in deep shots to right center by White in the second and straightaway center by Rivera in the fourth, but before we start giving this young outfielder any gold stars, be aware that he was aided in reaching these drives because he played as deep a center field as I’ve ever seen, which became all too apparent when Bernie’s fifth-inning soft popup landed in short center for a base hit. Aspiring shortstop Infante didn’t get many chances to flash leather with all the fly balls. But on the one hand, he did cost Van Hekken a run in the third when he threw away Rivera’s grounder two outs before Giambi’s bomb; on the other, he made a fine play on a Posada grounder in the hole to close out the fifth.
It is fitting that on the 50th anniversary of the day that Ernest Hemingway’s classic, The Old Man and the Sea, was published, veteran hard-baller Roger Clemens presented a distinct counterpoint to Detroit’s young lefty, and he conducted himself as the unique and talented professional he is, except for a fourth inning that was unfortunately extended by umpire indecision. Clearly flustered when second base ump Bill Miller first punched Bobby Higginson out to end the inning for being caught off second on Pena’s pop to short, only to reverse himself as the Yankees ran off the field, Roger proceeded to throw his second and third wild pitches of the inning. The last one tied the score and put the go ahead run at third, but after surrendering that run, Clemens managed to return to finish out a professional start.
That fourth inning cost Roger any chance at win no. 293, roughly doubling the number of pitches he had thrown in the first three innings, but Bobby Higginson gets some of the credit for Roger leaving after seven too. Bobby was drilled by Roger’s initial offering to him in the first, and spent the rest of the afternoon being a thorn in the veteran righty’s side. He cost Roger 17 pitches in his second and third trips to the plate during which he fouled off nine pitches all told, and got base hits both times. On this date in 1954, the Phillies’ Richie Ashburn, when facing a 3-2 pitch, fouled off the next 14 pitches before walking on the fifteenth, and Higginson did a great job emulating Ashburn’s perseverance Sunday.
He would knock in the Tigers’ first run with the first base hit in the fourth, but he never advanced on his second base hit thanks to the Yankee bench. After having Clemens throw a pitch out past right fielder Fick, who followed Bobby in the order, on a 1-2 pitch, Higginson held the bag, and the next pitch became a 4-6-3 double play. Pena followed with a base hit but to no avail when Roger struck out designated hitter Munson.
Jeter’s hard liner over the wall at the retired numbers in left center evened the score at three in the fifth, and Roger left the game still tied after seven. (Van Hekken lasted six.) Roger notched four of his seven strike outs after “the inning,” only surrendered seven hits and three umpire-aided runs, and incredibly, he finished his day’s work by throwing a first-pitch strike to 13 batters in a row, ending that streak with a ball to Lombard as his last batter in the seventh.
Lombard would be retired on a great diving play by Juan Rivera on that seventh-inning at bat, even though the play was made more difficult because Juan initially misjudged the ball and took a couple of steps back. Poor George succumbed to another good play too, when Giambi leapt and speared his third-inning drive. Also worthy of mention was another Rivera grab, this one on a fine running catch on Truby’s liner to the left center field gap to start the seventh.
The weekend is just filled with happy Yankee memories, a sampling of which I’ll share here. Seventy-seven years ago today, the Babe hit his 300th home run, against (who else?) the Red Sox in a 7-4 Yankee win. The pattern is set there, as the Red Sox are on the short end of the next three highlights too. Back in 1937 on September 8, we trailed the Sox 6-1, but scored eight in the ninth to snatch a 9-6 victory. And two years later, the Yanks beat the Sox 4-1 in one of the only games ever called because of lightning, this one after seven innings. But better still, the series that became known as the “Boston Massacre” began in early September in 1978. The Yanks took the first two games 15-3 and 13-2 on September 7 and September 8 respectively, and then went on to sweep the four-gamer in Fenway Park. And finally, September 7, 1952 is our last highlight, as on that day the Chairman of the Board, Yankee lefty Whitey Ford, became the fifth pitcher to toss back-to-back one-hitters.
As mentioned earlier, Yankee rookie left fielder Juan Rivera made two fine defensive plays. He is auditioning for the post season much like much of Detroit’s yongsters are trying out for 2003. And although his batting average remains low and he made the second of two costly mistakes on the bases in a one-run loss Saturday, he has shown some signs. Today, he reached base twice, doubled leading off the bottom of the seventh in a tie game, and drove one to the warning track in the Stadium’s deepest part.
Rondell White, on the other hand, has been struggling mightily for many weeks, and his batting average has dipped to .234, even though his career mark approaches .300. He has made some great plays in left field, but he is not a natural outfielder by any means, and he has a very weak throwing arm. To his credit through all his struggles he has remained positive, never shies away from the media, and never “dogs it” on the field, thinking about his last failed at bat rather than the play before him. Many suspected that by now Joe Torre had tired of his failures and had decided to go with the youthful Rivera instead. But there Rondell was in today’s lineup in the eighth spot, playing as the designated hitter. Following a similar drive Friday night, he took one to the warning track in right center in Sunday’s second inning, and singled to right in the fourth, before striking out in the sixth.
Perhaps many in the crowd didn’t have too much faith in him when he strode to the plate with the go-ahead runs on second and third and two outs in the bottom of the eighth. Righty reliever Oscar Henriquez started him off with a ball (as he did all six batters he faced), and many hoped Rondell would take the walk when ball two followed, thinking that we had a better chance with the young Rivera standing on deck. The third delivery was called a strike, followed by another ball. I like to think I know what Joe Torre is thinking in these situations, and I figured it was just what I was thinking. Were we hoping that Oscar would just throw ball four, and skip a veteran with some pop in his bat and a career built on driving fastballs, with a 3-1 pitch on the way? The answer is in honor of the late rocker Buddy Holly, who would have been 76 years old on Saturday.
“That will be the day.”
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!