Bronx, N.Y., April 17, 2008 — It has been no secret for the last few years that Yankee starter Mike Mussina needs to spot his diminished fastball, hitting the plate’s black with some throws, deliberately missing it with others. Given the fine assortment of off-speed changes and benders in his arsenal, it is a strategy that can work for the righthander. On Thursday night in the Bronx, we found out what happens when he can’t hit his spots with his other pitches.
Moose pitched around a leadoff hit-by-pitch of Jacoby Ellsbury when Robbie Cano doubled the young centerfielder off after snagging a Dustin Pedroia liner. All of New York, it seemed, was up in arms last weekend when Mike pitched to Manny Ramirez at a key moment with first base open. Manny led off the top of the second this night. A first-pitch fastball missed outside, but then Moose missed with a cutter and a change as well, falling behind 3-0. He snuck over one fastball for strike one, but not a second, and Ramirez lifted it over the wall in right center for a 1-0 Boston lead.
Many a great start has been achieved despite a singleton home run though, and Moose looked to have recovered after retiring four of the next five, including a swinging strike out of Julio Lugo leading off the third. But with his pitches drifting to all sides, he hit Ellsbury with another pitch. Backup catcher Chad Moeller could do no wrong in Wednesday’s Yankee win, but now he pegged a first-throw pitch out to Pedroia past second, and Ellsbury coasted into third base. Once the Sox second sacker delivered run number two with a single, Mussina retired the still struggling David Ortiz on a ground out to second, but Ramirez came to bat with a runner on.
In a game-turning at bat, the Yankee righty slipped two called strikes past Manny, then missed the zone on back-to-back outside pitches. He brought the following fastball closer to the “inside” of the zone, too close as it turned out. Ramirez blasted a shot that left fielder Johnny Damon allowed to soar high over his head with nary a head turn. Three singles delivered yet another run, and Moose strode off the mound after a Sean Casey fly to center down 5-0 on 77 pitches. Home plate ump Larry Vanover judged 29 of them to have missed the plate, but Mike missed his spot in the zone with easily 29 more.
Just the three frames in, the situation was dire already, as Boston ace Josh Beckett was dominant. A mere 31 pitches got him through three innings, with a Melky Cabrera third-inning single the only damage. He featured 96- and 97-mph fastballs, only occasionally spelled with a 78-mph curve. Jonathan Albaladejo replaced Mussina to start the fourth, which he worked through with a single and a caught stealing. Yankee bats threatened to be heard in the bottom half on one-out Bobby Abreu and Alex Rodriguez singles, but Beckett escaped the frame with four-pitch strike outs of Jason Giambi and Jorge Posada, serving yet again as DH until his shoulder strength problem is resolved.
With Ross Ohlendorf pitching in the fifth Wednesday and now Albalajedo in to start the fourth, the bullpen burnout that marred early 2007 has to be a concern. In his first appearance since being recalled to the team after Joba Chamberlain’s leave, Albaladejo was effective in both the fourth and sixth, but he allowed three straight safeties in the fifth, with J.D. Drew’s double to right center upping the Bosox lead to 7-0. The Yanks battled Beckett effectively yet again in the bottom half, and this time they broke through. Cabrera followed his earlier single with a walk, and with two outs, Johnny Damon and Bobby Abreu doubles around a one-base hit from Derek Jeter gave the Yanks three sudden runs. They were in this game, but not as completely as they would have been had Albaladejo been able to thwart the Red Sox.
Beckett stiffened then, closing the frame by coaxing a foul out by A-Rod, then blanking the Yanks through eight by posting six straight outs, three of them on flies to left. The Yanks, meanwhile, sent Kyle Farnsworth out to pitch the top of the seventh, with Manny leading off. Kyle’s first fastball buzzed Manny off the plate, triggering warnings all around from Vanover. It was effective pitching, however. No one is advocating hitting batters, but once Ramirez settles in at the plate he anchors both feet as if he were a statue, allowing him to swing from his heels with barely a hitch. Batters should be aware at all times that pitchers miss the zone on both sides of the plate — they do it all the time. Maybe some of Ramirez’s astounding success against Yankee pitching stems from a confidence that he can stand near the plate with nary a worry that a pitch will touch him, either up, down at his feet, or approaching his midsection.
Needless to say, Farnsworth’s first-pitch wake-up was cheered lustily by the home crowd, support that must have sounded like sweet music to the much-abused hard thrower’s ears. He got Ramirez out on a grounder to second, struck out Kevin Youkilis swinging, and bounced Drew out to first unassisted. Southpaw Billy Traber pitched around singles in both the top of the eight and the ninth, and Jonathan Papelbon came in to close despite the fact that the four-run, 7-3 lead rendered it a nonsave opportunity. Pounding 94-mph heat, he struck out Giambi, but Posada doubled to right. Moved up a base on a wild pitch, Jorge scored when Cano bounced to short. Then Cabrera took two off the plate and homered to right, giving the Yanks enough offense to fill the five-run hole Moose had dug in the second and third. But pinch hitter Hideki Matsui took strike three and the Yanks could get no closer, for a 7-5 loss.
Although Wednesday night in the Bronx was more pleasant than what the crowds and players had experienced in earlier games, Thursday started out another 12 degrees warmer, with diminished winds as well. Once the Yanks put up their three-run rally in the home fifth, recent hero and crowd favorite Tino Martinez came on and pushed the lever indicating one less game is left to play in the Stadium. Seventy-two regular season games remain. It was a beautiful night with a three-quarter moon beginning low in the eastern sky behind the outfield facade, then climbing high into the darkening sky the rest of the night.
The disappointing Mussina start rightly keeps a focus on the rotation that has yet to settle into a coherent unit. But there were good signs too. The team managed to mount challenges to a dominant Beckett, and they slapped Papelbon for two ninth-inning runs as well. They managed just seven hits, but five were bunched into their two scoring innings. The bullpen, too, continues to impress, and this with dominant setup man Chamberlain still away on leave with his sick father.
Manny Ramirez’s baseball future was in doubt a few years ago, with the Red Sox exposing him to waivers, and no team willing to bid. But Ramirez is on top of the baseball world now. He has impressive career numbers, and he is now hitting with renewed confidence in this, potentially his walk year. Inustrialist and very rich man J. P. Morgan would have celebrated his 171st birthday this day. It is fitting then that Manny’s recent offensive onslaught culminated in Thursday’s two-home-run, three-hit, three-run, three-rbi performance.The Red Sox will be hard pressed to exercise fiscal restraint when confronted with Ramirez’s contract status in the next year.
Ironically, if the Yankee pitching staff can work up an effective defense against Manny’s big bat in the next 11 weeks, they will in effect be helping the Red Sox in future Ramirez negotiations. I wonder if Theo, Larry, et al are pulling for the Yankee five?
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!