Bronx, N.Y., April 13, 2014 — I don’t know how the ESPN TV Sunday night game between the visiting Red Sox and the Yankees in the Stadium played out on screen, but it was among the most captivating contests I’ve witnessed, and the pleasant temps under a Full Moon (with a hint of relatively oh-so-close planet Mars nearby) set the scene beautifully. Having seen No. 3 starter Ivan Nova implode earlier in the week against Baltimore, Yankee fans were apprehensive. But “Super-Nova” thankfully made an appearance in a key AL East game, if there can be such a thing on April 13.
Having struck out David Ortiz and Mike Napoli to close the first, Nova allowed a run on four straight singles in the second, but on a night where every run would be precious, Brett Gardner’s perfect peg home to deny a second tally — the first of at least six key home team defensive gems — closed the frame. The Yanks had assaulted Boston lefty Felix Doubront with four straight hard-hit shots in the first, but failed to score because center fielder Jackie Bradley, Jr., nailed Jacoby Ellsbury tagging at third before Carlos Beltran, running from third, could touch home plate. But all was forgiven and forgotten when Carlos homered for two runs — and a Yankee lead that would not be relinquished — in the third.
Thankfully the Yanks squeaked a run across in the fourth, because the superb Nova was reached for a second run on a Napoli bomb in the sixth. With back-to-back 19-pitch innings to start, and 16 more in the third, Nova was in some pitch count trouble early but, mixing his 94- and 95-mph heat more and more with breaking stuff, he retired 12 of 15 visitors from the fourth through the seventh on 41 throws. Two tosses later when he left after retiring Xavier Bogaerts to start the eighth, he had compiled an impressive 67/30 strikes/balls ratio, had thrown 19 of 29 first-pitch strikes, and had held Boston to two runs on eight hits, while striking out four and walking none.
The same claim cannot be made for Doubront, who, despite walking just three and allowing less hard-hit balls around the Beltran jack, struggled with his control as time went by. In the key fourth, while walking the first two batters, his finding-the-zone ratio actually dipped to 28/29 strikes/balls. He would work into the seventh before leaving after throwing his 100th pitch, and survive leadoff hits in both the fifth and sixth, but the earlier wildness earned him an “L,” not a “W” or a no-decision, if just barely.
But Yankees failures to score after those leadoff hits, and two-out safeties in the seventh and eighth, contributed to an atmosphere that grew more tense as the innings passed. Would the fourth-inning third run stand up? Good plays by Ellsbury and Ganveris Solarte at second, in for an injured Brian Roberts, had gotten the Yanks through the top of the fourth, and Dean Anna, at short for a sore Derek Jeter, made a nice play on A.J. Pierzynsky in the sixth. But the team’s failure to add a fourth run almost came to a head in the eighth. Lefty specialist Matt Thornton relieved Nova with one down and Ortiz up, and jumped ahead 1-2, but the Red Sox DH drilled his next pitch toward right, where Ichiro Suzuki, who had entered the game due to injury in the fourth, retreated to the wall, leaped and made the grab, then crashed into the auxiliary scoreboard wall and held on.
Two outs and threat averted? Please. Joe Girardi, who managed a game where running out of healthy enough position players became all too possible twice, now had a bullpen to manage. He’s had tremendous successes so far out there, but he feels righty David Phelps, off to a so-so start despite a solid multi-inning save Thursday, is a key player, so much so that he not only brought him out, but stood by him after a Napoli double to left. Then David issued a seven-pitch walk, and loaded the bases two throws later on a hit by pitch. With southpaw Cesar Cabral warmed and waiting, Girardi stuck with Phelps against lefty pinch hitter Mike Carp. It took six strikes among eight pitches, but Phelps finally got his out, with Carp swinging and missing.
Two strike outs in the ninth by interim closer Shawn Kelley relaxed some fans, but it took a fine Jacoby Ellsbury running grab and tumble to retire Grady Sizemore on a liner to left center to close out a 3-2 Yankee win. This is 2014 baseball, and that means replay, with views shown not only on TVs, but in the affected stadiums as well. Back in the fourth inning with one down and runners on the corners, and the Yanks up just 2-1, Francisco Cervelli, subbing at first for the almost too short Yankee infield, rolled a slow grounder toward third. Cisco blew out a hamstring trying to beat the attempted double-play throw to first — he would be replaced at first by Beltran, a 17-year vet who had never played the position before — but would be called out on a 5-4-3.
The late comic actor Don Adams, who would have turned 88 this day, during his multi-year run as Maxwell Smart on the TV sitcom Get Smart, had a number of signature sayings, including, “Sorry about that, Chief.” When Girardi used his replay challenge on the 5-4-3 in the fourth, the TV and live stadium audience were shown a few slow-mo replays that indicated to the 46,000 in the Stadium, and to the replay official in Manhattan, that the run did indeed score, because the hobbled Cervelli beat the throw, as Smart would have said…
“… by That Much!”
BTW,TWY
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!