May 22, 2012, Bronx, N.Y. – I was a little puzzled watching a group of Yankees warm up in short left field before Tuesday night’s game with Kansas City. Derek Jeter sprinted toward center field, as Nick Swisher and Curtis Granderson were making their way back, and then Swish did a funky high-five with Robinson Cano, who was just then joining the group. Mark Teixeira did stretches down the line. Here I was, tied up in knots, sleep-deprived, and near frantic over whether the team would score enough, or at all, in the coming game, and the players were, to all appearances, loose and free, and enjoying their evening’s work.

And my concerns were hardly allayed once the game began. True, the team would finally score just enough to win this one, thanks to a solid effort by Phil Hughes, but they didn’t show any of that early, and even once they finally broke through, the fourth- and fifth-place hitters would strike out with bases loaded when the Yanks were just one run up. Hughes retired the first six Royals players to bat, striking out two, while the Yanks were wasting a one-out walk in the first and a leadoff Raul Ibanez single in the second. The way things have gone recently, fans were not at all surprised that the first visitor to reach base, second baseman Irving Falu starting the top of the third with a single, scored, this on an artfully steered double down the right field line by light-hitting righty-swinging catcher Humberto Quintero.

The Yanks responded by wasting a leadoff Russell Martin walk and, two outs into the top of the fourth, Jeff Francoeur doubled the KC lead with a home run to left field on a 2-0 pitch, just the second time Hughes fell behind a batter. Of course, the Yanks can play that game, even if they haven’t much recently, and Robinson Cano got one back with a laser shot to the Yankee bullpen with one down in the home fourth. Alex Rodriguez followed with a soft single to right and a stolen base, but we all should know better than to expect much from that kind of rally. Ibanez popped out to short and Nick Swisher struck out on three pitches.

Hughes pitched around a fifth-inning single with his sixth and seventh (and last) strike outs, and the home team came up with a winning rally in the bottom half. The stubborn Mr. Teixeira strode to the plate all three times facing an overshift and, although he went down weakly twice, he singled through the troubling defense this time. He beat the shift against Seattle a week ago Sunday as well to start a four-run rally that carried the Yanks to victory, but these victories have been few and far between, even Mark would admit, I’m sure. Tex aggressively took second on Francoeur’s error in right, and Martin was hit by a pitch.

Then a miracle happened. With two on, one in scoring position, the Yanks responded with two one-base hits, the first a Dewayne Wise sac bunt attempt toward third that Mike Moustakas was tardy covering, which loaded the bases with no one out. As exciting as this was, it was tense too. The Bombers failed to score at all in this scenario on both Friday and Monday nights, and they hardly crashed through their doldrums in following up this chance. Still, they needed another hit, and it’s no surprise where they got it from. Jeter, who is struggling after the hot April, and who struck out twice and grounded into a double play this night, lofted a single to short right on which Wise barely beat the throw to second after waiting to see if it would drop in. With the score now tied 2-2, Granderson, another Yankee offensive player battling for consistency recently, worked his way back from 0-2 to smack a fielder’s choice grounder to second that gave the Yanks the lead.

Hughes, who wasn’t reached for a fly ball until Francoeur’s two-out blast in the fourth, gave it all he had to hold the Royals scoreless in the top of the sixth, cashing in three fly outs around his only two walks and a single. Phil was very good early, but among the six grounders and five K’s through the fifth his pitch count was up because KC hitters were fouling off two-strike pitches. He threw 73 pitches through four, a number that after six stood at 106, but just 32 of those missed the plate. He led with his heater (91 early, then 93-95), spun a great curve, and actually got his last strike out on a change. He threw 14 of 25 first pitches for strikes, and gave up just five hits with the two runs.

If the bullpen is not the story in this one, it’s because the superb job they did has almost become expected, two of the best relievers in the game lost from their number notwithstanding. Mixing and matching, Joe Girardi used Cory Wade (surely, the unsung hero so far), Boone Logan, Cody Eppley, and Clay Rapada to get the team, still up 3-2, to Rafael Soriano in the ninth. He, of course, made it interesting, allowing a one-out double to Alex Gordon, who moved to third on a fielder’s choice grounder to Jeter. The speedy Alcides Escobar produced a slow roller towrd third, but Alex Rodriguez made a dandy play barely pegging him out, with Tex corraling a slightly high throw.

May 22, the day that former Yank Tommy John was born in 1943, was also the day that the Beatles’ Ticket to Ride became a No. 1 hit in 1965. Two years earlier, in 1963, the Yanks beat a different team from Kansas City by one run in a very different fashion from today. First they built, then blew, a seven-run lead, and 11 innings in, Mickey Mantle ended the 8-7 contest with what may have been the longest and hardest ball he ever hit, a missile that struck the very top of the Stadium facade; it was estimated that it may have traveled 620 feet had it not struck anything. And on May 22, 1930, the “Bombers” really earned their nickname with a 10-1 and 20-13 sweep of the A’s.

Unfortunately, the team’s play this night, and in the last few weeks, has more closely resembled what the Yankees did on this day in 1913: Set a record for most runners left on base in a shutout, with 15 stranded in a 7-0 loss to the Browns. Still, if the Yanks can win again Wednesday behind Andy Pettitte, they would have managed a .500 homestand, and with CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova, Hughes and Pettitte pitching well, the team should be able to stay alive in the playoff hunt, even with a struggling offense. With mixed results, hopefully Kiroki Kuroda will follow in line.

To do so, they’ll have to play some great “D,” which will be greatly helped whenever Brett Gardner returns from his elbow injury. But without Brett the Jet, the team turned in fine plays Tuesday, by Jeter in the second, Tex in the third, and Swish in the fourth. And Rodriguez, who has frustrated his team and fans with weak outs at bad times while just missing on some long balls, has thrown his glove onto the pile as well. He made fine plays on Escobar in both the seventh and the ninth innings, the latter a game saver. With great “D,” solid starts, a reliable pen, and just enough offense, this team, once again, has a,

Ticket to Win

BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!