Bronx, N.Y., May 29, 2010 — If you’re expecting to read a blow-by-blow account of how the Yankees managed to lose a home game against one of the game’s worst teams when they had a 9-3 lead after four innings, you may be disappointed. But on the other hand, that should put us a similar wavelength. I was there the whole time. I know from disappointment.
It started well for the Yanks. They scratched a first inning run on an Alex Rodriguez sac fly, and CC Sabathia was dealing. He retired 9 of 10 Indians in half innings that took seven, six, then 10 minutes to complete, throwing just 30 pitches.
But the idea that we were in for a pleasant day, or a manageable one, came crashing down in the bottom of the third. Scoreboards exhort fans to cheer things like “We will, we will, rock you” and broadcast “Charge” and similar aggressive calls all day, but no one in the Stadium wanted to see anything like the first-pitch Rodriguez line drive off Cleveland southpaw David Huff’s head with one out in the bottom of the third. The amount of time the young lefty lay still had many spooked and, although it was heartening to see him flex his hand as he was carted off by stretcher to people mover to ambulance, the mood had changed.
Not to sound unconcerned about the young man, because I am. I’ve seen some bad injuries, and had too excellent a view of Hideki Matsui’s wrist fracturing in left field a few years ago. I was delighted to see Huff was taken, not to the closest medical attention, but to the best. (A fan needing ambulance care in Yankee Stadium will be taken three blocks to Lincoln Medical Center; it was not by accident that Huff ended up at New York Presbyterian instead.)
The Yanks added two runs around the Huff mishap, but Cleveland came right back against CC, doubling his pitch count and equaling the score at 3-3 in the fourth. The Yanks responded against Aaron Laffey with a six-run frame, but it was odd from the outset. Three walks following a Kevin Russo single plated a run, then the struggling Mark Teixeira, behind in the count 0-2, was hit by a pitch to drive in another. Robbie Cano and Francisco Cervelli base hits for two runs apiece gave the Yanks their 9-3 lead.
Cleveland not only nicked Sabathia for a run apiece in the next two frames, they ended his day in effect by forcing him to throw more than 50 more pitches to get through them. CC’s numbers were good. His 78/35 strikes/balls ratio was what you’d want, he threw 18 of 27 first-pitch strikes, and struck out five while walking just two. But both because of what would happen later and because of the type of deep-into-games starter CC has been, that he was out of the game after six innings is a concern. The YES channel’s Jack Curry was talking about the 41 foul balls hit against Phil Hughes two starts ago as an inordinately high number. Four high-count at bats put CC in trouble, and when he exited, the visitors had fouled 51 of his pitches. That’s too high a number for a pitcher, or fanbase, with complete games (and no bullpen) dreams.
The Indians arrived in New York with a bad record not only because they are in transition, but because they have AAA players starting in several positions due to injury, particularly shortstop and center field. But although I’m here to tell you this was an ugly, bad baseball game, the Cleveland organization has to be thrilled that some of their young players came through so well this day, and in particular in the seventh-inning seven-run rally that turned the game. Veterans Austin Kearns and Mark Grudzielanek had five hits, four rbi’s, and four runs between them, but young catcher Lou Marson doubled three times to drive in three, center fielder Trevor Crowe had two hits and scored twice, and recently recalled shortstop Jason Donald had but one hit, but it was a two-out two-rbi double that forged an 11-10 Cleveland lead.
The biggest concern this side of the health of David Huff, though, is the disaster that is the Yankee bullpen, and in particular, setup man Joba Chamberlain. The top of the seventh started off well, with the recently resurgent David Robertson on and throwing well. He went quickly up on Crowe 0-2 on two swings and misses, then inexplicably hit him with a pitch. Cleveland’s best hitter Shin-Soo Choo, ironically 0-for-6 in this one, flied out, but Kearns stroked his third hit and then Robertson hurt his back on the first pitch to Jhonny Peralta. Complaints that Yankee Manager Joe Girardi overmanaged filled the stands, but I thought the only questionable move was having Sergio Mitre come on, throw three pitches to complete the walk and then remove him. (Although it would have been nice to have a circular lineup with Curtis Granderson playing center on the second day of his return after four weeks lost to injury.) Damaso Marte came on and got a lefty, then Chamberlain followed and, once again, did his worst season work in the Bronx. He allowed four runs in the eighth inning to the Red Sox 11 days ago, and another four this time. A strike out finally ended the string of single, walk, double, double, single, and the visitors had a 12-10 lead.
Chad Gaudin finished up, allowing a Russell Branyan home run, and the Yanks scratched a run off Kerry Wood on Derek Jeter’s 449th career double, tying him with Bernie Williams for second place on the all-time Yankee list. Almost four and a half hours after it had begun so well, the game was over and the Indians had a 13-11 win. Jeter, Nick Swisher, and Robbie Cano had three hits each, and Robbie and A-Rod knocked in three each as well.
But there seemed to be something else going on too. Through most of the interminable latter innings, players were diving for cover, ducking out of the way of high cheese, dancing around missiles zooming in on their feet. I’ve seen a little too much baseball to listen to arguments that pitchers are not throwing at batters because “it makes no sense” in a given situation. (Someone recently even used that argument with me when talking about Jonathan Papelbon. Come now, how credulous do you think I am?) Well, a lot didn’t make sense this day. Already down 4-3 with the bases loaded, would it make sense for Aaron Laffey to hit Tex on an 0-2 pitch? Certainly not, but he did. Did Tex do anything running from first on the liner off Huff’s head to anger the Tribe? Were they still mad that Cano’s curtain call Friday night seemed to show up young lefty Tony Sipp?
And could Roberston have been retaliating when he hit Crowe leading off the pivotal seventh? He had an 0-2 count too; it made “no sense.” How about Gaudin hitting Grudzielanek in the eighth? How about all those players diving for cover?
The country shared a brief moment of recognition and sadness in light of the death of former child star Gary Coleman this week. There hasn’t been anything funny about Coleman’s life for some time, but it was hard to resist a smile thinking about him in his part on the sitcom Diff’rent Strokes asking, “What you talkin’ bout, Willis?” There was yet another reminder of those sitcoms too, as this day, Lisa Welchel, who was Blair on a similarly successful show from that time, turned 47. I don’t know if Lisa is a baseball fan, but whether or not she is, she would not have enjoyed the sight of that ball caroming off Huff’s head, I’m sure. But if she does know the game, perhaps she can share a few of the,
Facts of Bad Baseball
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!