Bronx, N.Y., August 25, 2002 — Andy Pettitte has surrendered six runs in two games in a row now (though only five were earned today). But even though he gave up a booming upper-deck three-run homer to Garrett Anderson five days ago in an ugly five-run inning, and was only scratched for a run here today, little bit here, little bit there, I think the starts were similar.
His command was so good in the other innings Tuesday that I considered it a positive outing. And today’s could have been too, if it wasn’t for that uglier-than-words-can-describe beginning. He gave up eight singles, and one home run today, surrendering two runs in the first and sixth, singletons in the second and fourth. But with the way the Yankee offense was (and has been, mysteriously, since midway during the Friday night game), he really was most of the way to a loss after the first.
Robin Ventura’s play at third has been a godsend, and his home run and rbi numbers already top what the most optimistic among us could have hoped for as season totals. He’s had a glitch or two among his generally solid play down at third, but he looked every day of his 35 years old today. He would successfully make two plays in the third, retire Perry on a force from Andy in the sixth, but just didn’t look ready when the game began, and never did at the plate. Kevin Mench’s lead-off hopper down the line did require some pretty fast reflexes, but he deflected the ball rather than grabbing it, and flubbed at a second-chance grab. An error is an error, and Andy and the Yanks have had to overcome them before. But things got worse.
I can’t believe that Jerry Narron actually planned to scarifice Mench to second with no one out in the first, so maybe Michael Young’s first-pitch bunt was a base-hit attempt, or perhaps he decided to sacrifice — and catch the Yanks’ defense unawares — on his own. He failed, but the extra few feet he managed to pull Robin in must have been critical. And by the time he had swung at a second pitch, taken two balls and fouled two off, we all knew no sacrifice was coming, but Robin must have had a lingering doubt. There really is no other explanation for the 20-hop, short roller that bounced a few feet to Robin’s left making it to the outfield grass unimpeded.
The game got off to a bad start, in the way we played “D” in the first inning to the first two batters. First things would not be good for us all day, as Alex Rodriguex greeted the smattering of boos that greeted Sheppard’s intonation of his name by singling in a run on the first pitch. Young scrambled to third and scored easily on Rafael Palmeiro’s first-pitch sac fly. Andy was down 2-0 and had actually pitched well.
Five runs didn’t daunt this team Tuesday, and we started off like it wouldn’t scare us today either. Alfonso singled on Benoit’s second pitch, and was off to second on the 0-2 to Derek. But Derek lined out to Benoit, and the double play was automatic. (The running game giveth, the running game taketh way.) But we weren’t done, as Jason walked and Bernie’s hard bouncer up the middle deflected off Benoit and we had first and second with two outs.
Teams look “sluggish” when they don’t hit. They can’t run the bases when they’re not on base. They can’t score (obviously) either. The litany of men walking to the plate and then walking back to the bench begins to take on a life of its own. And who’s to say why these team slumps happen? The fact that I think I saw the beginning of this one happen Friday night as the full moon rose from behind the Bronx County Courthouse in the third inning is something you can accept or deny. What is undeniable is that the slump is here. And I am not going to pin it on one man. But poor beleagured Robin followed Bernie’s infield single. He swung and missed, had a strike, then a ball, called on him. His meek hack at the next pitch ended our first.
I might have titled this column “Too Many Strikes,” but I’m an avowed nonparticipant in the omnipresent discussions about baseball’s labor troubles and felt sure the title would have been misunderstood, but the Rangers tacked on run no. 3 in the top of the second largely because Andy threw too many strikes. I had to chuckle when a disgruntled fan yelled out, “C’mon Andy, throw strikes,” after he issued a four-pitch walk (his only one) to Ivan Rodriguez in the fifth. In the top of the second, 11 of the first 12 pitches were strikes. Andy leaped and made a nice grab on Perry’s 0-1 comebacker, gave up a Hollandsworth single (0-1), struck out Ruben Rivera (on a 1-2 pitch), surrendered a single to Mench (0-2) and finally threw a couple of balls before surrendering Young’s 2-2 run-scoring single.
On a day when the Rangers caused damage early, the Yanks threatened again late. So it was when two men were out that Coomer walked and Widger singled in the second. But Alfonso’s fly ball died in center. And things continued in that pattern. The Yanks’ offense would continue to sputter. And our intermittent and flailing attempts would come late in innings (a Mondesi two-out-single in the fourth, a Widger two-out single in the ninth). Even the late (7th inning) two-run rally — Coomer single, Widger single, Soriano rbi double, Jeter rbi grounder — started with an out. Giambi’s lead-off sixth-inning walk? The exception that proves the rule, I guess. And Robin’s performance kept to his underperforming pattern (this day) as well, as he struck out on three pitches in the fourth, and flied to center and popped to short to finish his day.
But the Rangers’ unending firsts didn’t end either. Perry homered as first up in the fourth. And in the fateful sixth, Perry and Hollandsworth singled as the first two up in the inning. And when Ramiro replaced Andy after a failed sacrifice (Andy’s throw to third a rare Yankee highlight today), he was nicked for an rbi single by Mench and a first-pitch booming double to center by Young. One can wonder what our two-run rally would have led to without Rangers runs five and six, but there clearly weren’t six runs in the Yankee bats today.
The weather couldn’t have been nicer, which was big to me as Sue and I greeted my niece and her boyfriend in from Philly. Glorying in the grand old ballpark I had to show off, I interspersed Sheppard’s announcement of the Rangers lineup with welcoming, in-the-know comments (“They play the Evil Empire music from Star Wars while the opposition is announced, and Welcome to the Jungle as the game is about to start”) and briefed them on which Rangers players’ appearances at the plate would evoke boos, listing Arod and Ruben Rivera. I skipped over Crazy Carl Everett, an omission Shannon and Dan mentioned as the unforgiving Yankee fans let him have it as he strode to the plate in the first. Thankfully (I guess), they found the inexplicable fisticuffs all over the Stadium entertaining (is there a bitter Yankees/Ranger rivalry I missed somewhere?) And a hearty thanks to several friends who stopped by, one who called me a “celebrity” in front of my impressionable niece, and one who told Sue that if I got just a little bit louder I’d work my way onto a float in the next World Series Victory Parade!
Looking in my archives, I have found several times this year that this season’s schedule mimics the one we played in 2000, and we actually hosted the Rangers in the Stadium in a four-gamer two years ago (August 21 -24). Ironically, we won three out of four with big offense (12-3, 10-9, 8-7) and lost the lone pitcher’s duel, 5-4. A list of the offensive stars in the last game 729 days ago is telling: Glenallen Hill drove in three (on a single and a homer) and scored two, Justice walked twice and scored each time, Jose Canseco knocked in a run and scored one, Jose Vizcaino and Scott Brosius had rbi and Chris Turner scored. Derek and Jorge scored also, but the list of names from only two years (and one day) ago was astounding, I thought.
Baseball history for August 25 presents a comme ci/comme ca list of events to a baseball and a Yankee fan. Worthy of mention: The Phils lost to the Cubs 26-23 in 1922 — had to be Wrigley, with the wind off the lake. The year before Yankee hurler Harry Harper hit three batters in one inning, and Detroit Tiger Virgil Trucks threw his second no-hitter of 1952 on August 25, blanking the Yanks 1-0. But on the Yankee coin’s flip side is the Rocky Colavito experience on this day. Born in New York, he had starred in Cleveland and Detroit and was playing his last year when he arrived in the Bronx in 1968. But in a double header on August 25, he was pressed into the second of only two pitching appearances in his 14-year career in the first game, getting the win in 2.7 innings by surrendering no runs on one hit, one walk and one strike out, against the Tigers. He played right field in the second game and homered in a Yankee sweep, a rare Yankee highlight in a horrendous Yankee year.
So tomorrow we go for the equalizer in the four-game set with the Rangers. The Duke vs. The Gambler (former Yankee — and Met — Kenny Rogers). We handled him pretty well in Texas, and I expect the team slump will end soon. It should be another beauty in the Bronx. I will read the paper on my way to the game, and should I finish, I’ll turn to a book. I left one first out of today’s report. After the paper, I turned to the events of the day, reading today’s famous birthdays first. And even though the only player who could have been named for the first guy listed really didn’t do much today, it gave me my first negative thought of the day. The first birthday listed:
Ivan the Terrible, born August 25, 1530
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!