Bronx, N.Y., July 6, 2008 — What is it about 5-4 Yankees/Red Sox games in Yankee Stadium in the current millennium? After catching some of the July 1, 2004 classic in which Captain Derek Jeter bloodied himself with a full-bodied dive into the lower boxes before the Yanks came from behind to win 5-4 in 13 on TV, we fretted, sweated, and feted a 10-inning win by that same score on Sunday night.
The Yanks were in pretty desperate straits as this one began. With the first-place Rays having won already, they would not only have fallen 10 full games behind with a loss, but six behind second-place Boston too. The team and their fans had been looking forward to this nine-game pre-All Star break homestand as a time they could make up some ground. But they began by losing two of three to Texas, then dropped two to Boston. A 2-1 nail-biting win Saturday restored a bit of luster, bu they still needed the Sunday night win to at least hold their tenuous position.
Things started well, as Alex Rodriguez blasted his 536th home run for an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second. “Bittersweet” will be an oft-repeated adjective for this year in the Bronx, win or lose, as each day the destruction of the old ballpark becomes one day closer to becoming a reality. That the Yankee third sacker tied beloved Yankee of yesteryear Mickey Mantle in career homers with the drive over the left field wall fits that description as well. This is the 46th anniversary of a Yankee win in Minnesota in which The Mick drilled home runs his first two times up, giving him four fence clearers in as many consecutive at bats. That historic moment takes the edge off for this Yankee fan.
But the slim 1-0 lead A-Rod’s drive provided was hardly safe, and though Joba Chamberlain was taking another stride forward in his transition from hard throwing reliever to starting pitcher, the Red Sox challenged him mightily in the fifth, and they plated three scores during a 36-pitch battle in which Chamberlain struck out three. But he walked two and allowed three hits as well. Joba would leave having thrown 101 pitches after the sixth with what we call today a quality start, but he was in danger of losing against veteran knuckleballer Tim Wakefield.
Wakefield was baffling Yankee batters from the start, even more than the floating strike zone of home plate ump Laz Diaz, which contributed to confused homestanding hitters taking pitches down the middle and swinging at balls diving into the dirt. Rodriguez’s long ball was the only well-hit ball through five innings, their only hit as well, while a leadoff walk to Jason Giambi in the fifth resulted in their only other baserunner. DH Jorge Posada followed by taking strike three on a ball that seemed closer to hitting his foot than crossing the plate, and the frame ended with Giambi still on first.
When Diaz called strike three against catcher Jose Molina leading off the home sixth on a pitch that came in above the shoulders then dropped to catcher Kevin Cash’s glove, the Yankee bench erupted. A called strike call against left fielder Brett Gardner three picthes later brought further howls, and Diaz tossed Yankee Manager Joe Girardi after a brief confrontation. Gardner was upset too however, and he responded by smacking the next pitch up the middle for a base hit. Gardner swiped second and scored when Derek Jeter singled over second. Wakefield moved Jeter up on an errant pickoff throw, but the inning ended with the score 3-2 when Sox shortstop Julio Lugo grabbed Bobby Abreu’s line drive with a well-timed leap and doubled Jeter off second base.
Despite the welcome tally, things got worse when the Sox scored against young righty David Robertson on an infield single, error and Cash double down the left field line in the top of the seventh. But the bottled-up Yankees were ready to fight, and Wakefield could no longer dominate. He was removed after a Rodriguez single and a Giambi fly out in the bottom half. Southpaw Javier Lopez moved Posada to his weaker righthanded-hitting side, but Jorge came through with a hit-and-run single, and Robbie Cano tripled to the right center field gap for the tie. Dustin Pedroia pegged Cano out at the plate on a tag that may have beaten him on an ensuing Melky Cabrera bouncer and the game moved to the eighth inning.
Kyle Farnsworth pitched a strong top half, and Manny Delcarmen, who had finished the seventh by whiffing Molina, pitched a one-two-three-eighth that was hardly routine. Gardner just missed a double down the left field line before swinging and missing in a nine-pitch battle, Jeter’s bouncer up the middle almost got through, and hard-luck Abreu continued an oh-fer when Jacoby Ellsbury made a diving catch of his sinking liner to left.
Mariano Rivera came on and surrendered a Sean Casey single in the ninth, and Coco Crisp sacrificed, but newly named All Stars Jason Varitek and Manny Ramirez pinch hit and failed to plate the run. The genius who decided that a player poll would fix unfair All Star lineups can explain to the eight or nine AL catchers outhitting Varitek why they’re staying home for this classic while he flies back to New York. In this instance, Varitek hit to his .219 average by rolling out to Rivera, and Ramirez took three strikes and strolled back to the bench.
Following the six-pitch frame, Rivera returned for the 10th after the Yanks went down in order, and Mariano coaxed a popup, strike out, and grounder on another 10 throws. (We’ll never know, but off a two-inning total of 16 pitches, he may have retuned for the 11th.) One of the ingredients that has been missing from the Yankee offense in 2008 has been the line drive bat of Cano. Following his game-tying triple in the seventh, he now started the bottom of the 10th with a single up the middle off Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon. Cabrera took a ball while showing swing, then bunted Cano to second, and Wilson Betemit pinch-hit for Molina. But Papelbon struck him out, and then discovered what Delcarmen had two frames earlier. Although Gardner was hitting but .100 through a handful of games, he is one tough at bat.
Featuring his high nineties heat, Papelbon got a foul strike, a ball, then a called strike. But as he had with Delcarmen, Gardner fouled pitches to the left that he couldn’t get around on, two in a row. He took a high outside pitch, then slashed a multi-hop bouncer up the middle that eluded Papelbon. Alex Cora, in at short for Lugo, deflected it behind second, but neither Gardener nor Cano could be caught, and the Stadium erupted, roaring for their new hero as Cano crossed, 5-4 Yankees.
Yankee fans like to believe they have had more heroes over the years than anybody, a tough argument to refute what with all the championships all those generations of great players have earned. As mentioned at the beginning, it was four years and five days ago that the man standing on the on-deck circle as Gardner delivered the game-winner did his part in yet another Yankee 5-4 win by diving face first into metal, plastic, and concrete. And this game was played on the 75th anniversary of the very first All Star Game, won by the AL behind a two-run Babe Ruth jack. We have already detailed Mickey Mantle heroics from this day, and just two days and 69 years ago beloved Lou Gehrig gave the most memorable speech that a sports star probably ever will in this very venue.
But that is the Yankee past. What Brett Gardner accomplished this night, and in the Saturday win with a great throw and a sac fly, is about 2008. The Yankees look to have their work cut out for them. But some offensive weapons have re-emerged, they have demonstrated a strong pen even though a dominant setup man is now starting, and they are one or two arms from having a competitive rotation. There is talent on the farm to fill those needs, and a trade is always possible.
American Revolutionary naval war hero John Paul Jones would have been celebrating his 561st birthday this night. The Yanks could well opt Jones’s greatest quote to send a message to all those who think they’ll be finishing out of the playoffs this year:
“[We] have not yet begun to fight.”
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!