Bronx, N.Y., July 1, 2008 — For the second straight day, the Yanks came up on the short end of a low-scoring, one-run game in the Bronx pitting two great offenses. The Yanks wasted good pitching in both losses, failed to make up ground against the Red Sox, and fell another game behind those “Devils,” the first-place Tampa Rays. Bottom line, 3-2 Tuesday was equally injurious and frustrating to 2-1 Monday.
But in a sport where one campaign spans three of the four seasons, fabulous teams having great years experience numerous bottom line bummers, and so do their fans. Having sat through the three-hour, four-minute dud Monday, and also the 19-minutes-longer exercise in frustration 24 hours later, from my seat, the Yankees showed progress Tuesday. They played a better game. Despite the fact that the visiting Rangers put up two early runs each time, and that the Yanks spent much of the evening trying to match them, there were some good signs in the latter loss.
The Yanks wasted an early opening Tuesday after Johnny Damon doubled to lead off the home first. Once Brett Gardner bunted him to third, Bobby Abreu continued to struggle after his one-day holiday Sunday. He popped out to third this time, then struck out to close a scoreless third inning after yet another Damon double.
Joba Chamberlain, meanwhile, barely survived a leadoff walk in the first, then issued free passes to the first two batters in the second. He simply couldn’t throw his fastball for strikes. The second-inning walks each scored on back-to-back singles, for the early lead on back-to-back nights, as Joba’s pitch count zoomed past 50. He allowed no more runs then or the next two frames despite a single, error, walk in the third, then two singles in the fourth, mostly because the young righty pounded two strike outs in each frame. No one wanted to see Joba struggle so mightily with his control, but that he was able to rebound and keep the game manageable was something worth seeing.
In the bottom of the fourth, Jason Giambi put up a great one-out at bat against veteran righty Kevin Millwood, finally walking on eight pitches. Jorge Posada thumped a one-strike liner off the right field wall that missed equaling the game by a few feet. He was forced to settle for a single by the hard carom off the wall, but Robbie Cano knocked Giambi in with a single to right. Millwood retired the next five batters to leave his team up 2-1 after five, but the Yanks surprised his successor, righty Josh Rupe. After two quick sixth-inning outs, Posada, Cano, and Wilson Betemit singled on three straight pitches, and the game was tied.
The crowd was surprised that Joba did not answer the bell for the top of the fifth, but with four battles and 90 pitches behind him, Joe Girardi must have felt it was time to get him out. Dan Geise pitched around a one-out single in the sixth, then Dave Robertson came on for his second big-league appearance. The Yanks hoped to break Robertson in during a low-pressure moment, but here he was in a one-run game for the second time in three days.
Dave featured his fastball in the sixth, sending down three straight, two on strike outs. He missed with a few curves and walked Ian Kinsler leading off the seventh in the now-tied game, but following a quick strike out, the Rangers tested him in two 10-pitch struggles. Robertson showed real grit in winning both battles, a Josh Hamilton liner to Gardner in left, and a Dan Murphy fly to center following an intentional walk.
Neither team did much then, with the Yanks failing to score after an Abreu infield single in the seventh. Jose Veras pitched around a walk in the eighth, and the Yanks succumbed one-two-three. Mariano Rivera came on for the ninth, and the best that can be said, aside from the fact that Mo’s numbers and performance continue to be stellar, is that his record in save situations remains intact. Kinsler doubled to left, then stole third. Young singled him in through a drawn-in infield, and the tie was broken. Although it’s worth noting that switch hitter Milton Bradley opted to bat against Rivera from the right side, the fact that he rolled a swinging bunt single toward third was more luck than design.
The Yanks and their fans were pumped once Wilson Betemit walked leading off the bottom of the ninth. With their best bunter due up in Melky Cabrera, it was expected that they would have two shots to tie it, hopefully with a runner in scoring position. But Melky hit away, took two quick strikes, then drained all the air from the South Bronx with a double-play grounder to short. Damon bounced out to first, and the game was over.
On Monday, this team wasted a quality Mussina outing. Once young Chamberlain struggled mightily with his control a day later it was both his determined four-inning effort and four quality bullpen frames that went for naught on Tuesday. But take the game piece by piece. The Yanks managed four hits in the 2-1 loss, but nine on Tuesday. They failed every time they had a runner in scoring position in game one, but succeeded twice on Tuesday. They tested Dan Giese and new Dave Robertson in nerve-wracking conditions. The former survived, and the latter showed mettle that could stand this pen well in the coming months.
Among other Tuesday improvements was the weather; it was dry and cool. And a perhaps more telling gauge of the home team’s play could be found in the behavior of yet another huge crowd. They had their wave moment just like on Monday, but it was considerably briefer. The throng just seemed to sense that the Yanks could tie this game (which they did), and perhaps win it (alas, they fell short). Yankee pitching pounded 10 strike outs, featuring Joba’s six and Robertson’s three. Rhythmic two-strike clapping dotted the crowd much of the night.
Newsworthy events spring up in Yankee history on July 1. On this day back in 1941, the Yanks not only swept the Red Sox 7-2 and 9-2 in the Stadium, Joe DiMaggio tied Wee Willie Keeler’s 44-game hitting streak with safeties in each game. He had 12 more games to go. Forty-nine years later, Andy Hawkins spun some news of a considerably less pleasant nature, falling 4-0 despite allowing no hits in blustery Chicago. Finally, four years ago, team Captain Derek Jeter had one of his signature days in a 13-inning, 5-4 victory over the Red Sox in Yankee Stadium. This is the game where Derek dove face first into the third base boxes; he came up bloodied but had prolonged the classic game with his headlong catch.
Jeter was rested by Manager Joe Girardi this night, though he was on deck to hit for Gardner when the game ended. Joe rested three regulars against Oliver Perez and the Mets Sunday. Abreu has struggled since, but Robbie Cano bounced back with two hits and an rbi this night. And the third member of the Sunday-off crew Giambi looked as comfortable after the day off as he had before it. Girardi has been solicitous of the health of starter Chamberlain too. But I can’t fault his decision to pull Joba this time after 90 hard-fought pitches over four frames. The rest of his regulars bespeaks a manager with the long haul in mind, and not any short-term gain for the owners and management to see.
But I have to part ways with Joe on the decision to have Melky hit in the ninth inning. A “Moneyball” advocate told me during the train ride home that he hated the bunt play, hated giving away outs. I think hit-and-run (another no-no in Moneyball) may be the way to go on some occasions, but I can respect a different view. But it is a view Joe G. obviously does not hold, because he employed the sac bunt in this game’s very first inning. The fact that Melky has had two hits in his last 12 games needs to be taken into account, along with the fact that he is a great bunter.
Those who choose to emphasize the “bottom line” will say this loss was as painful and as useless to the Yankee cause as Monday’s. I disagree, but I have a “final answer” too. If you are going to bunt for a better scoring advantage in a tie game in the first, you should do the same one run behind in the ninth.
Bottom Line.
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!