Bronx, N.Y., July 8, 2008 — Despite having the superb Andy Pettitte on the mound Tuesday night for the first of two against the first-place Tampa Rays, it was hard not to be concerned watching southpaw Scott Kazmir’s dominance through two frames. Pettitte has been very good just when the team needed it most, or at least he was until Captain Derek Jeter’s uncharacteristic first-inning throwing error put him into a 2-0 hole last Thursday versus Boston. That game went downhill from there, Boston battered Darrell Rasner the next day, and it took two scintillating one-run victories to salvage the holiday weekend, and perhaps the Yankee season.

But if the season is to be salvaged, many more big victories need to garnered, including wins against teams over which the Yankees need to climb. And the Tuesday night game hosting the Rays was the next opportunity. But watching Kazmir pound 94-mph fastballs past flailing Yankee wood was not a great way to instill confidence that the Yanks could continue the comeback.

Center fielder Melky Cabrera worked the count full before whiffing on high heat in the first, and Derek Jeter took a third strike after a swing and miss and two fouls. Four batters later, we had reason to appreciate Jeter’s at bat. By the time Wilson Betemit swung and missed to close a bottom of the second where Kazmir struck out the side, all swinging, the Tampa lefty had pounded 20 strikes, and Jeter’s two fouls were the only times that Yankee bats had managed to come in contact with the ball.

Pettitte got off to a good start too. B.J. Upton lined a lucky double that hit the right field foul line and caromed into the stands with two down in the first, but Andy pitched around it, and once Cabrera ran back to the fence to snatch Willie Aybar’s long fly to center for the third out of the top of the second, Andy had two K’s and six outs around one hit. Meanwhile, Kazmir had whiffed five and allowed no baserunners. Pettitte retired Ben Zobrist on a hard liner to right and survived a soft base-hit bid to second by Akinori Iwamura to retire the Rays one-two-three in the top of the third.

But the revived bat of Robbie Cano served notice that Kazmir could be hit as he not only fouled off two leading the bottom half, he singled over short as well. Jose Molina swung and missed twice, but after fouling off three of the next four, he doubled to the right center field gap. Initially, third base coach Bobby Meacham’s decision to hold Cano seemed brilliant with no outs, but that call was second- and triple-guessed as Brett Garrdner and Cabrera went down swinging. Kazmir missed to Jeter, then missed again after a foul. But Derek jumped on something somewhat offspeed at 1-2 and drilled it to the wall in right center, and the Yanks had a 2-0 lead.

The veteran Yankees had not only broken through on the scoreboard, but they worked the young lefty too. Bobby Abreu followed with a 3-1 line single to center on which B.J. Upton made a strong throw home to nail Jeter, but the Yanks had worked Kazmir for a 30-pitch inning, and 57 throws through three. Pettitte had thrown 26 less throws, so even though Carlos Pena’s two-out fourth-inning bouncer deflected off something and bounded over Cano’s head for a one-base hit, Andy got through that frame at 48 throws. Kazmir pitched around a fourth-inning Jorge Posada double and a leadoff walk to Molina in the fifth, but even though shortstop Zobrist started a nifty twin killing on a Jeter grounder to escape the latter, Kazmir had thrown 97 pitches, and his night was over. The home team never scored against him again, but they had done enough. Although hometeam bats hit just two of Scott’s first 20 strikes, they struck 25 of the next 44, and with each crack of the bat, Kazmir’s magical outing was one pitch closer to being over.

If the difference between the two starters hadn’t been made clear enough by the early Kazmir exit in a game he was only trailing 2-0, Pettitte took us all to school from that point on. He retired six straight through the fifth and sixth on a popup, a strike out, and four ground balls, then rose to the occasion when the Rays challenged his still feather-thin lead after an Upton single leading off the seventh. Setting the mood, so to speak, by striking out portsider Carlos Pena on four throws, Andy fell behind young phenom Evan Longoria 3-0. But he caught a corner, then skipped a low fastball by for strike two right at the knees. Longoria fouled off another heater, then whiffed awkwardly at a cutter.

Andy followed by deflecting Dioneer Navarro’s base-hit bid up the middle toward Jeter, not enough for Derek to peg him out, but in plenty of time to hold Upton at third. Perhaps disappointed that he had just missed on a great play, the Yankee shortstop then pulled the fateful rabbit out of his hat when Aybar’s bouncer eluded Alex Rodriguez at third. Derek snagged the errant gounder deep in the hole, wheeled, and fired to second, nipping Navarro to preserve the shutout on what was easily the defensive gem of the evening.

There were but two surprises left, the first being when Pettitte came out for the top of the eighth. He got two quick outs, then retired Iwamura on a deep fly to center. It needs to be said that on a night when Yankee arms kept Tampa off the board, Cabrera made three fine catches deep in center field. After all the low-scoring drama, the Yanks jumped on righties Gary Glover and Jason Hammel for three more scores in the eighth, the first coming on Melky’s home run to right center. Abreu worked a nine-pitch at bat before driving in one run with a double, and Cano plated run number five with his second hit on the 11th throw from Hammel. Edwar Ramirez shut down three straight and the 5-0 win was in.

A Yankee offense that was back on its heels from young Kazmir’s hard throws showed some necessary resilience this night. Robbie Cano and Jose Molina set up the critical Yankee inning, but it was the Captain that showed it was possible with two meek foul balls in the first. His liner to the wall plated the game winners two frames later; it was also his great glove, leap, and throw that preserved the shutout five innings after the big hit. Baseball experts in 2008 have not been kind to Jeter. He has been pilloried for an All Star selection that he has clearly earned with a decade-plus excelling in the Bronx. Jeter never addresses his critics except on the field of the play. He did so eloquently Tuesday evening.

But although Jeter’s play was stellar, this win belongs to Andy Pettitte. Manager Joe Girardi surprised us all by sending Andy out for the eighth inning, but Andy was up to the task. Pettitte knows more than most that it does your team little good if you astound the opposition in the second, but you are gone by the sixth. He skipped through the first three innings on 31 pitches, saving the high-number innings for when he needed them. But in a game where his offense netted but two runs through seven frames, Pettitte overcame. His 80/34 strikes/balls ratio was better than textbook good. He threw 14 first-pitch strikes to the Rays two times through their order, and 18 of 28 overall. He went to four three-ball counts but never walked a batter, struck out five and surrendered just four hits in eight innings. And he did all of this largely on two pithces, a 90-mph fastball, and a lively cutter that may have been the best he has shown this season.

Actress Kim Darby celebrates her 61st birthday this day. Although Ms. Darby’s TV and film roles span four decades, her early starring vehicle alongside the legendary John Wayne is easily her greatest claim to fame. In the film, her character shared something with that of Mr. Wayne. And there have been a few Yankee players in the last two decades who have proven that they share this quality too. Derek Jeter, who played so well on both sides of the ball Tuesday. Jorge Posada, who reached base three times and had two hits this night. Mariano Rivera, who would have closed it had the Yanks not opened the lead at the end. But most of all Andy Pettitte, the one among the crew who could most be expected to appreciate the values espoused in a film from the Western genre. What did Andy show on baseball’s biggest stage Tuesday night?

True Grit

BTW,TYW

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!