Bronx, N.Y., July 25, 2011 – Another day, another big-time performance by a veteran Yankee pitcher. Monday night it was Freddy Garcia, following Bartolo Colon’s seven-inning, two-run stint by going two outs further and allowing one more run, although Freddy held the Mariners to just three hits and one run through six. Each hurler allowed but one walk, and Garcia bested Bart’s four strike outs by one.
The Yankee offense and Seattle defense worked together to make Garcia’s outing more stress-free, although the two-hour rain delay before first pitch would surely have worn on a younger hurler. Perhaps it did on Seattle lefty Jason Vargas. Riding a 15-game losing streak into New York, nothing seems much fun for the Mariners lately. After Vargas’s one-out walk of Curtis Granderson in the first, Mark Teixeira taught us a lesson about one way the new Yankee Stadium resembles the old: Home runs into any aboveground deck are longer and more rarified when they travel to left field. Mark’s bomb to the second deck gave the Yanks a 2-0 lead, and Derek Jeter restored the two-run margin with a solo shot to right once Seattle scratched a run out in the third.
A five-run fourth put the game out of reach, even if two Seattle errors made four of the runs unearned. The first three in the Yankee order drove in eight runs in the 10-3 win, and the four batters at the other end scored six times. Only Robinson Cano and the DH’ing Nick Swisher were blanked in both categories. Jeter added an rbi triple, Granderson doubled with two sac flies, and both Eduardo Nunez and Brett Gardner singled, doubled, scored twice and knocked in a run.
But they could have won Monday with less than half the firepower. Garcia retired the first six M’s, then 11 of 12 following two hits, relying on his kitchen sink arsenal of slow and slower curves, changes and sliders, and not very fast fast balls and cutters. His 67/31 strikes/balls ratio was well above par, and he not so much pounded but delivered 23 first-pitch strikes to 31 batters. The five strike outs (all swinging) were complemented with seven ground ball outs, and five flies to the outfield.
When the Mariners bunched two hits, their only walk, and a run into the top of the eighth, Boone Logan closed the frame with one strike out and opened the ninth with another. Then Joe Girardi summoned southpaw Steve Garrison to make his major league debut a successful one. The youngster, who probably returns to the minors tomorrow, retired the two batters he saw to end the game in a crisp though much delayed 2:36, pretty quick for a contest featuring 13 runs scored.
Following some sloppy glove work in recent days, the defense was in fine form as well. Jeter made his patented leap, twist and football pass to nab Adam Kennedy at first in the second, Russell Martin thwarted an attempted steal, and Teixeira added to his long highlight reel of foul pop catches near the first base stands on a Brendan Ryan rainbow in the fourth. And the often defense-challenged Nunez made a fine stab of a foul liner near third base in the seventh.
But, as was the case yesterday, the arms had it, or the right one, the veteran right arm of Garcia. It’s interesting that Girardi has chosen to throw him back-to-back with fellow reclamation project Colon. Their body shapes, their personalities, and their manner of pitching are vastly different. But whether you harken back 50 years to the beer wars in New York and Bert and Harry Piels, or tend to the more recent lighthearted educational offerings of Sesame Street‘s Bert and Ernie, New York hasn’t been captivated by such a unique pair in some time. Yankee fans cannot wait to get another look at the
Bart and Freddy Show
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!