Bronx, N.Y., September 8, 2010 — Yankee rookie righthander Ivan Nova got his second Bronx start Wednesday afternoon and, as with his first, he earned no decision for his trouble. But it had nothing to do with his inability to get outs in the middle innings, but rather the Yanks’ offensive troubles.
Nova was solid throughout in this one and, if not for some trouble in the top of the fifth inning, the victory would have been his. The Yanks eked out an early lead against righthander Brad Bergesen by the narrowest of margins as Brett Gardner scored Curtis Granderson from second on a double over the head of left fielder Felix Pie in the third, but they had to settle for that as the Orioles, continuing to play good ball under Buck Showalter, executed a fine 7-6-5 relay to nail the speedy Gardner trying to stretch the long hit into a triple.
The home team tried to mount threats in the fourth (one-out single from A-Rod), the fifth (leadoff walk and one-out hit by pitch), and the seventh (Robbie Cano and Granderson singles), but in the latter two strike outs and a Francisco Cervelli first-pitch bouncer to third stifled the rally. (We learned later that the answer to the question, “Why didn’t Joe pinch-hit Jorge Posada for Cervelli in that key spot?” was that Jorge was unavailable due to symptoms of a concussion.) By the time Francisco failed to score Cano, the Yanks were scrambling to recover, having fallen behind 2-1 in Nova’s one bad inning.
Ivan got ahead of Adam Jones leading off the fifth, but the fast center fielder beat out a slow roller down third for a single. Nova, who had not walked anyone to that point (and would issue just two free passes, both of them intentional), fell behind Matt Wieters 3-0, and the O’s catcher smacked a get-me-over fastball for a two-run home run to left. Two outs later, Brian Roberts doubled to right, and Jones singled in the sixth, but Nova pitched out of those threats while issuing the previously discussed intentional walks.
Ivan had all of his 96-mph heater today, unlike in his last outing, and his sharp curve, and fooled Baltimore batters from time to time with an effective slider and change of pace. He threw 18 of 26 first-pitch strikes, fashioned a fine 59/32 strikes/balls ratio, struck out six, allowed six hits, and just the two-run homer over six crisp frames. And the Yankee pen was dominant yet again, with the only batter reaching against David Robertson, Boone Logan, and Joba Chamberlain over the last three innings being on a Derek Jeter throwing error. Each pen rep added two strike outs apiece to the overall total of 12, but it appeared that their fine work would go for naught as the Yankee offense failed to fire for much of the game.
But Alex Rodriguez singled hard to left on Baltimore closer Koji Uehara’s first pitch of the ninth, and pinch runner Eduardo Nunez watched as Robbie Cano’s long drive to center died in Jones’s glove. But Cano’s bid for the win came on on a do-or-die 0-2 pitch; Nick Swisher turned the tables be taking two straight off the plate. The Yankee right fielder was ready for the 2-0 fastball, and when he deposited it in the Orioles bullpen, the Bombers had pulled off a walkoff victory.
The Yankee faithful got spoiled with all the walkoff wins in 2009, but this year’s team has been every bit as successful, just in not as dramatic a manner. That made the pie in the face A.J. Burnett planted on Swish that much sweeter. It’s a new Bronx phenomenon. Years ago, fans would leave in the latter innings to try and beat the traffic. Now, if it’s a walkoff, they don’t even leave when the game has come to an end. It’s a new corollary to Yogi-ism numero uno: “It ain’t over, ’til it’s over … and we get pie!”
The famous words, “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time,” have been attributed to Abraham Lincoln. And by some reports he actually uttered those words on this day, back in 1858.
Many Yankee fans are happy that ex-pinstriped manager Showalter is enjoying so much success with the O’s the last few weeks. And they were certainly happy when the Orioles took two out of three from Tampa before arriving in the Bronx. The last two days Buck’s team learned that if they play hard they can win, even in the Bronx. But today’s lesson had a new theme:
Not All of the Time!
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!