Bronx, N.Y., July 30, 2011 – Ivan Nova’s called-strike, first-pitch fastball to Nolan Reimold to start the second inning of the nightcap half of the Orioles/Yankees day/night doubelheader in the Bronx on Saturday whispered over the outside corner at 8:08 p.m. This is significant because the young righty had started the first inning against shortstop J.J. Hardy in the same way – with a first-pitch fastball called strike – 61 minutes earlier. The 12-run explosion that all but decided game two of the double dip wasn’t only significant because it was the most run-productive opening inning in Yankee history. It also took one hour and one minute to complete.

It could have been a different story. It’s a truism that big innings decide games, but the Orioles had a real chance to draw first blood in this game, even if Nova, newly returned from AAA specifically for this start, did retire the first two batters he saw. That second out was a hard liner to center by Nick Markakis, and two-out line singles by Adam Jones and Vlad Guerrero indicated quickly that, although Nova’s fastball and his curve are plus pitches, and he was getting hitters into bad counts with them, he was not putting them away. Big-swinging Mark Reynolds followed and, behind in the count early, he worked an eight-pitch walk to load the bases. Matt Wieters stroked Nova’s 30th pitch into short left for a seeming rbi base hit, but Yankee left fielder Brett Gardner, off an excellent jump, nabbed the liner while sliding to his knees.

Forty minutes later, a procession of 16 Yankee hitters had stroked 10 hits and scored 12 runs, and the game was all but over. Every Yankee participated, but Robinson Cano was the lone Bomber with two hits in the initial bedlam. He scored and knocked in a run with each, and went 5-for-5 with five rbi’s before taking a seat on the bench in the sixth in the 17-3 victory. Nova was much, much better in the frames that followed, earning his ninth win by allowing six hits and two runs through seven innings while striking out six with the lone Reynolds walk in the first.

Although it may not be as obvious by a scan of the box score, game one was decided by a big inning as well, in this case one where both teams scored, both pitchers struggled, but only one was able to pitch well going forward afterward. Although succumbing weakly against right-hander Chris Tillman through the first two innings, the Yanks bunched a Jorge Posaada single, a fielder’s choice, a Francisco Cervelli grounds-rule double, and Brett Gardner’s hard single past third into a 2-0 lead in the home third.

But the Orioles served notice in the top of the fourth that it wouldn’t be that easy, tying the score at 2-2 on hits by three of the four first batters. It was not Bartolo Colon’s best 2011 game by any means, and a two-out walk loaded the bases, but he ecaped the 35-pitch ordeal by getting Adam Jones swinging on high cheeese, in an eight-pitch battle.

But the fourth would challenge Tillman as well, with a Nick Swisher two-run home run and a Cervelli rbi single putting him down 5-2 in his own 35-pitch Waterloo. He finally escaped on a strike out, but when Blake Davis mishandled a Mark Teixeira bouncer to start the fifth, another three-run uprising sent Tillman to the showers down 8-2. Although Colon had been pushed to 90 pitches through the fourth inning, he finished five for the win, and the O’s could muster nothing else but a Reynolds eighth-inning home run off Cory Wade to suffer an 8-3 loss.

The offense was heartening coming off successive losses where the Yanks mustered but two runs each time, on six and seven hits respectively. Swisher had led the way on three hits, two runs scored, and two rbi’s in game one, but two hits apiece by Eric Chavez and Cervelli were key as well. But game one defense played a huge part as well. Staring at first for the DH’ing Teixeira, Posada made nice plays in the second and on a foul pop-up in the seventh; Chavez had two beauts in the seventh; and Cano, Colon, and Granderson flashed some key leather as well. Bartolo, though driven to a high pitch count, struck out six while allowing just two walks, five hits and two runs; and his 66/39 strikes/balls ratio and 17 of 24 first-pitch strikes garnered him the necessary 15 outs for the win.

And, as mentioned before, defense set up the explosion that was game two too, as it could have been a very different first inning, and game, had Gardner not thwarted the O’s rally with his sliding grab. Struggling to 30 pitches while getting the first three outs, Nova managed the next six innings on 68 throws once the first-inning Yankee onslaught made victory an easily achievable goal. It may be difficult for the team’s braintrust to evaluate Ivan’s performance given the huge lead he was handed, but the six strikes outs with just one walk, two runs on six hits, and the 69/29 strikes/balls ratio and 20 of 28 first-pitch strikes are all stellar numbers hard to ignore.

Luis Ayala survived a sloppy eighth on a double play after three hits and a run, and it was heartening to see Rafael Soriano appear effective in his first action following a long DL stint; he showed 92 mph heat and an effective slider, and set the O’s down in order in the ninth.

At least two recent games in July 30 Yankee history are memorable in light of Robinson Cano’s 5-for-5, 5-rbi game two performance. Also playing second base, Chuck Knoblauch had five hits, including a home run, and four rbi’s in a 13-3 destruction of the Red Sox on July 30, 1999. And Luis Sojo was also playing second base when his four hits helped David Wells blank the Royals 7-0 two years earlier, on July 30, 1997.

But with all due respect to Boomer Wells back in the day, and Bart Colon and Ivan Nova on this day, when your team has a 12-run first inning and wins a double header by a combined score of 25-6, the recently maligned offense is the reason. With a home run by Nick Swisher in each game, another by Andruw Jones in game two, and an Eduardo Nunez triple and six Yankee doubles in the second game, this was a day when the offense roared. In game two, Curtis Granderson had four hits and scored three runs; Mark Teixeira had three hits, three runs and knocked in two; Swisher had three hits with his home run; and Andruw Jones, Derek Jeter, Russell Martin, and Nunez also had two hits apiece.

This would have been the 193rd birthday of British author Emily Bronte, most famous, of course, for her novel, Wuthering Heights. After a week of struggles, and sitting on a trade deadline, the Yankee offense chose today to put on its own show, one that could be called,

Blistering Heights

BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!