Bronx, N.Y., July 1, 2010 — There is no truth to the rumor that the Yankees are going to start discounting all their ticket prices because of the new phenomenon in the Bronx: the [well] under three-hour game. Seattle’s Cliff Lee and Felix Hernandez dispatched the home team the last two days in 2:30 and 2:46, respectively, and CC Sabathia returned the favor Thursday afternoon in 2:33. The stocky lefthander shut down the Mariners on two hits over the first four frames.
Those innings went by easy too because the Yanks had an early lead, one they grabbed off Ryan Rowland-Smith so quickly that many in the crowd seemed unaware that he was throwing a quite good game as well. Derek Jeter smacked Rowland-Smith’s second pitch off his foot for an infield hit; in three pitches he was on third on Nick Swisher’s double, and cruised home in three more on Mark Teixeira’s rbi groundout. That Swisher would never budge off second was both a disturbing sign for the Yankees, but a very good one for the young lefty. Alex Rodriguez battled him for nine pitches before striking out for the second out, and shortstop Josh Wilson robbed a run when he ran under Robbie Cano’s base hit bid in short left, making the catch with a last minute adjustment.
It sunk in that the M’s lefty was doing well when the next Yankee hit would be a Teixeira fourth-inning single. Baseball’s a game of ups and downs, and anyone assigning blame early might have pointed to the DH’ing A-Rod. He had struck out to blunt the early rally, and now he removed Tex with a 5-4-3 double play. With the bases clear Cano blasted the next pitch into the Yankee bullpen for a 2-0 lead. Jorge Posada followed with a walk, but left fielder Ryan Langerhans made a nice running catch on a Curtis Granderson line drive, much as had with a Brett Gardner drive sinking in front of him in the second.
Flashy defense is a regular visitor to brisk matches, and the home team turned in a few nice plays too. Filling in at third, Ramiro Pena robbed Jose Lopez in the fourth and Ichiro Suzuki in the sixth, Jeter backpedalled seemingly forever to snag a Michael Saunders popup in short left in the pivotal eighth, and Nick Swisher not only charged to grab a Chone Figgins aerial to short right in the first, he also hit the cutoff man at a key moment in the eighth, so rather than Russell Branyan cruising into second base as the potential go-ahead run, he became the third out instead.
It had seemed that these late dramatics might not be needed as CC was on his game, and he started the top of the eighth with a three-hit shutout having thrown 96 pitches. But he did throw six straight balls while walking Lopez in the seventh, and the six with which he missed the plate to start the eighth resulted in a leadoff free pass to Josh Bard. Ichiro, who had been easily handled all day, singled Bard to second on a bouncer up the middle that Sabathia just missed. Infield popups got CC two outs, but Posada made a costly miscue with Branyan at the plate, a passed ball the put both runners in scoring position Two pitches later the Seattle first sacker singled for the tie. Branyan, who became the first player to hit the facade of the Mohegan Sun restaurant in dead center a year ago, homered for two runs Wednesday and drove in these two runs as well. But when he was tagged out trying to reach second, the eighth inning, and Sabathia’s outing, were over.
Suddenly in a tie game, the Mariners brought in their closer, hard-throwing David Aardsma, and he struck Swisher out swinging on 96 mph heat to start the home eighth. But Teixeira stroked his second single toward the right center field gap, and passed the baton to A-Rod. Alex had already redeemed himself in the sixth with a two-out line double to the wall in dead center, though he didn’t score. He was all over Aardsma’s first fast ball, fouling it straight back, the rare missile that makes the upper deck in the new digs. Wasting no time, he straightened the next offering out a little, delivering a home run to the short porch in right and restoring the two-run lead. It was reminiscent of the ball he hit off Brian Fuentes in the 2009 ALCS to forge a ninth-inning tie.
Mariano Rivera had no such closer trouble in the bottom half, though Milton Bradley did give him a good battle leading off. Bradley also homered in Wednesday’s and had collected two hits with a grounds rule double that hopped the wall in left center in this one. He lofted Mo’s eighth pitch to deep right, but Swish collected it on the warning track. Lopez bounced out to Pena and Wilson looked totally overmatched in a four-pitch swinging strike out for the 4-2 final.
It was good that CC finished the eighth, so he was rewarded with the much-deserved win. After some inconsistency he is once again pitching like the staff ace, numero uno in a rotation of aces, with A.J. Burnett hopefully ready to turn a corner now that June is behind him. Although the Yanks score as much as anyone, and clear fences more than most, it is their starting pitching that sets them apart. CC showed today that his regular pitching is very good, but when he needs to he can turn it up a notch. He burned a 95 mph heater past Wilson with Bradley on third and one out with the infield in in the second, and reached 96 in striking out Michael Saunders in the third. Featuring the heat, he mixed in the occasional slider and change of pace. His strikes/balls ratio was good at 71/46 though it was better before the late innings. He allowed five hits, one earned run and the two late walks. Although he struck out only four, all nine of the swings and misses he coaxed from Seattle batters came in at bats in which they were retired.
CC was not around 47 years ago when the Post Office came up with the zone improvement plan (ZIP) codes on July 1, 1963. But the Yankee southpaw could tell any government agency you name about time management. He not only dominated the Mariners in this game early; he retired them on two hits over the first four frames in half inning times of six, 10, seven and eight minutes. One imagines second base ump Joe West was grinning from era to ear about the sped-up games. But let’s not give him any credit.
It was the CC Code.
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!