Bronx, N.Y., May 24, 2011 – The Yankees, CC Sabathia, and their fans got two for the price of one Tuesday night, a good night for it, as it was the warmest evening in New York in many a week. It was only Tuesday night, early in the week, but few fans despaired of the festivities despite the fact that Toronto seemingly took control of the game with a three-run fourth inning, and the Yankee offense responded with one ineffectual effort after another.

The home team had already done what all admit they do best, having taken an early 1-0 lead on a second-inning home run by Russell “the Muscle” Martin that not only cleared the Bronx ballpark left field wall, but that had a good shot of scoring a run in any park not called Yellowstone. Apparently unimpressed, Toronto responded by tying matters on three hits in the third, two of them back-to-back singles once two were down.

But it got a little otherworldly, almost, in the top of the fourth, starting with ex-Yankee Juan Rivera’s opposite-field double to right center, a ball that took the age-old baseball commandment “hit it where they ain’t” to a new level. It was as if Barbara Eden in her most alluring genie outfit from the old I Dream of Jeannie days had blinked, then placed the ball at the base of the wall, then Rivera lifted a solid but looping liner to that very spot. J.P. Arencibia drove Juan in with a solid single to left but, following an out, right-handed hitters Edgar Encarnacion and Rajai Davis lifted soft liners over first base into no man’s land in short right, a place where any genie who had witnessed baseball back in the day in Baghdad, or wherever, would have wisely placed base hits.

Sabathia, who was mixing his fastball, curve, and change from the first, was not getting hammered, but he was getting killled, so to speak. John McDonald, who ruined a Mariano Rivera early-season save bid with a safety squeeze up the first-base line, pulled the same trick, scoring the third run of the inning with a bunt toward first. Robbie Cano mishandled the throw for an error, and Yunel Escobar followed with another bunt, but the damage was done, and no other runs scored once CC set down AL home run leader Juan Bautista on a ground ball. We in the stands did not know it at the time, but CC had silently decreed it. Jeannie was banned; the Toronto offense was over.

To say that Sabathia dominated from that point on is like saying Barack Obama had a decent day a few Sundays back. Not only were all eight Blue Jays hits and one walk on the night behind him, the only ball they hit with any authority at all over the last five frames was a Rivera hard one-hopper toward right in the eighth that Mark Teixeira smothered with a patented dive and run to the first-base bag. Retiring half the remaining Jays in order on grounders, CC pounded 13 of 15 first-pitch strikes, and threw 36 of 46 pitches for strikes. Despite the 22 tosses he was pushed to throw back in the fourth, Sabathia took the mound in the ninth having thrown just 90 pitches courtesy of a six-, a seven- and a nine-pitch inning among his last five.

But to win in this one, CC needed his offense to come through and, with no long wall-balls left in their bats, that is something the Yankees struggled to do. Toronto southpaw Ricky Romero set down three straight in the home fourth with a strike out, then closed the fifth by picking Curtis Granderson, who would go 4-for-5 on the night, off first. Double-play grounders short-circuited rallies the next two frames, and you could almost picture Ring-Lardner-type scribes pounding out on all manner of devices – what once had been well-oiled and much used Smith Corona typewriters – the hot-off-the-presses lowdown: Yanks Come Up “Small” – read all about it.

But once CC quieted the Jays on six pitches – all strikes – in the eighth, the game began to turn. With Romero out after seven, Granderson doubled to right off Casey Janssen, and two outs later Robinson Cano and Martin reached southpaw Mark Rzepczynski for a double, then single, respectively, on back-to-back pitches to score two and close it to 4-3. The still struggling Nick Swisher flied to right to end the inning, but the Stadium was alive with possibility.

Say what you will about Joe Girardi, the man has the courage of his convictions. He had chosen to sit Jorge Posada, DH Derek Jeter, and play Eduardo Nunez at short against the lefty Romero. But once righty closer Frank Francisco retired Brett Gardner to start the home ninth, the Yankee skipper called on Posada to hit for Nunez, and the veteran came through with a first-pitch double to right center. Fans cheered Jorge when he was announced, as they should, and he delivered like he has hasn’t since some early-season home runs.

The Yankees had their chance and, better yet, Granderson was just two batters away. Jeter grounded to third for the second out as pinch runner Chris Dickerson crossed to third, then Grandy singled him in for the tie. Cowboy Curtis wasn’t happy with just four hits including the game-knotter though, and he swiped second. Curtis wasn’t the only one who took a new position once he advanced the 90 feet, however, and the Jays infield was forced to modify its shift for Tex, with two infielders on the left field side of second, rather than the three on the rigt side they like to play. The positioning alteration played a huge part in the result, naturally creating a wider second base hole. Once Teixeira’s hot shot toward that hole glanced off Rivera’s glove, Curtis crossed home plate for the 5-4 Yankee win

Although the complete game and win were well earned by CC Sabathia this day, he does have the luxury of knowing that he tosses for a team that can win on any day. Pitching for a mediocre team in old Yankee Stadium on May 24, Scott Sanderson, Lee Guettermann, and John Habyan experienced what Sabathia did Tuesday when the Bombers roared back from 7-1 behind the Brewers in the fifth to cash in an 8-7 walkoff win when Matt Nokes drove in Don Mattingly with a single for a team that would fiinish fifth in a seven-team AL East.

And on a team that played more competitively than that bunch, Tony Lazzeri and his cronies set big-time records on this day in 1936 when his two grand slams, along with his third homer and a triple, led the way in a 25-2 Yankee demolishment of the A’s in Philly’s Shibe Park. This is the same team that the Bombers swept 10-6 and 11-1 when Babe Ruth homered in both games for seven rbi’s on May 24, 1930. And while we’re talking long-ball exploits, here’s to the longest ball ever hit in Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium, on May 24, 1964, a 471-foot shot off the bat of gentle giant and Minnesota Twin slugger “Killer” Harmon Killebrew, a genteman of the game whose passing all of baseball mourns this week.

But May 24 marks some other significant dates as well. For instance, much of the musical and poetic worlds honor songwriter, singer, and spokesperson of a generation Bob Dylan on his 70th birthday this day. We were thrilled to have seen Bob perform, along with Willie Nelson, at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, New York, in August 2004, something that he returned to do again two years later, so there’s plenty of evidence to support that he is a fan of the game.

As has become their reputation, the Yanks left three stranded in scoring position in the middle innings Tuesday night. But they turned that around and plated four of five in the last two innings to win the game. Sounds like the New York team may have an

Offense a’Changing

BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!