Bronx, N.Y., July 5, 2009 — If in today’s fifth inning you had bet me (or pretty much anyone else in Yankee Stadium) that the game would be complete 16 minutes short of four hours, I’d be in your debt now. The Yanks were in the middle of their second straight three-run inning, and the clock was heading toward three hours then. Joba Chamberlain, who had struggled with the usual pitch-count issues in the first and the third, came totally apart in the top of the fourth, and what had been a rollicking 4-0 Yankee lead became an 8-4 deficit when Aaron Hill blasted a two-run homer to right, the ninth hit off Chamberlain.
Once again, Joba threw more pitches off the plate than was good for him, and after going to a full count twice in a scoreless first, he did it three times in the pivotal fourth. Even though Adam Lind reached him for a shockingly sudden three-run homer to close a 4-0 Yankee lead to 4-3 in the third, it was just the fourth Blue Jay hit. The power-throwing righty surrendered nine hits in five-plus innings against Seattle five days ago, but few in the crowd thought Toronto would reach him for that many before he could secure a third out in the fourth. The five runs that inning would all be unearned because Cody Ransom, playing third with A-Rod getting a day of rest, failed to handle a high hop on a one-out Alex Rios grounder with Lyle Overbay on first via a leadoff single. An infield popup got Joba a second out, but one-time Yankee free agent catcher Raul Chavez doubled for the tying run and Marco Scutaro won an eight-pitch battle, as he singled up the middle for two more runs. Hill took a pitch, then drilled his homer to right so hard that it caromed from the regular seats 50 or so feet to the left into the bleachers. When Lind singled, Chamberlain was gone.
The frustration among the 46,000-plus in attendance was palpable, both because the Yanks had slapped Brett Cecil for four quick runs and because it could have easily been more. Jorge Posada tied Paul O’Neill for 20th on the All-time Yankee hit list with a single in the two-run first, and passed the ex-rightfielder with a two run single in the second. But Robbie Cano bounced out with two on to end the first, and Nick Swisher took a called third strike on a ball that looked inside with bases loaded the next inning.
Meanwhile, the fourth inning looked to get worse after Joba departed when Scott Rolen singled in a 10-pitch at bat facing Jonathan Albaledjo, who was recalled from AAA ball this morning and took the ball from Chamberlain. Overbay hit a pitch right on the nose too, but the liner to Derek Jeter finally ended the inning. The Yanks struck back quickly as the third straight walk to Teixeira and Jorge’s third single in as many at bats set up Hideki Matsui, who homered to close it to 8-7 Jays on a 1-0 pitch. Cecil left after Cano singled to right, but he was out stealing as one-time closer B.J. Ryan took the mound.
Albaladejo was challenged in the fifth too, when Rios stroked a one-out double to right center and reached third when Swisher bobbled the ball at the wall. But Jonathan struck Dellucci out swinging and Chavez looking and the Yanks were still within one. Not for long though, because Melky Cabrera walked leading off the bottom half and Jeter homered to right for the lead one out later. Johnny Damon, who had a two-strike-out, two-walk day, drove Ryan from the game with a nine-pitch walk and one out later Jorge scored him off rookie Dirk Hayhurst with his fourth straight hit, a double into the right-field corner. Matsui singled, but Posada ran past home trying to avoid the tag, and when Chavez tagged him coming back, the 10-8 game was almost three hours old through five frames.
While the history of July 4 is packed with courageous deeds and momentous happenings, with July 5, it’s “not so much,” skewing a bit more to the bizarre. Today was the 199th anniversary of the birth of infamous circus showman P.T. Barnum, and surrealist poet, painter, and filmmaker Jean Cocteau would have celebrated his 120th birthday on July 5, 2009 as well. Throw in a little from the “ooh, la la!” column with the fact that Louis Reard, the designer of the original bikini bathing suit, unveiled it on this day in 1946. Historic, yes, but it doesn’t quite share the gravitas of the Declaration of Independence or Lou Gehrig’s “luckiest man” speech. There is precedent for sloppy baseball as well. The Highlanders beat the Red Sox in Boston 8-3 with the help of nine Boston errors on July 5, 1906, and the Yankees prevailed in a 12-8 win over the Athletics in a sloppy game that featured 18 walks on this day in 1950. The Blue Jays made just one error this game, but Overbay’s misplay of a Matsui grounder in the first did plate the first Yankee run. And Jays pitching issued eight free passes as well.
Toronto’s pen was better in the sixth, seventh, and eighth, allowing just two singles and one walk. But this game really took on the semblance of being a professional affair when Joe Girardi called on Alfredo Aceves to pitch the top of the sixth inning. Chamberlain used 86 throws to get the game’s first 11 outs; Aceves retired 12 of 13 to end it while throwing 43, exactly half. Joba’s 13 of 21 first-pitch strikes ratio wasn’t bad; Aceves started his first two batters with ball one, then pounded strikes to start off the next 11. Seven of the 11 outs Joba got were fly balls, troubling for a guy who was reached for two home runs and four extra-base hits. Alfredo got five ground-ball outs, went to just two three-ball counts, and struck out five, including the last two outs of the game.
It’s hard to speak about anyone but Posada on offense, as his safeties the first four times up were the engine that made the Yankee offense run. But Jeter had four hits in five at bats too. Jorge scored twice and knocked in three; his old friend the Captain pulled a reverse, with three runs scored and two rbi’s. Matsui drove in four runs, Teixeira walked three times and scored once. Swisher knocked in a run with a single while Cano, sadly, had two singles, neither of which figured in any scoring, and he was thrown out stealing.
With Mariano Rivera having pitched in four of the last five games, it’s no surprise that he did not come out for the ninth with a two-run lead. The Yanks will be in need of a regular starter with Chien-Ming Wang on the Disabled List for a (not too long, we hope) while. Girardi may have left Aceves in for a fourth inning just because he was pitching so well. Whether or not the plan was to start stretching Alfredo out at the same time is anyone’s guess. As it is, Aceves earned his first major league save when he closed out the game.
The exceptional Mexican League veteran has been very good with this team for two years running. Some of us ached for an earlier promotion last year as Darrell Rasner and Sidney Ponson took regular turns in the rotation week after week after week. He earned a win in six 2008 games (four starts), and has won five out of the pen doing long and short duty this year. And to quote a current advertising campaign for a service totally unrelated to baseball, 46,000 fans could tell you where to turn if your game is out of control and you need relief.
“Ace” is the place.
BTY,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!