Bronx, N.Y., August 4, 2010 — It was a big day in the Bronx, as the Alex Rodriguez 600 home run watch came to a dramatic end, and the Yankees snapped a three-game losing streak with a 5-1 win over the Blue Jays. The Bombers rode A-Rod’s big blast to a tie both for the best record in baseball and first place in the AL East, with the latter being clearly the more coveted and difficult prize to attain. Probably more weird than the fact that the 600th home run came three years to the day after Alex’s 500th, the Yankees managed to finally win a game in which they took a lead with a two-run home run in the first inning, after failing to do so the last two days.

The home team prevailed in this one both because they kept pushing the offense after the early lead, and because they got a gritty start from Phil Hughes, who hung around long enough in the stifling heat to win his 13th game of the season. First baseman Mark Teixeira knocked in all three runs that didn’t cross the plate due to Alex’s majestic first-inning drive, and Yankee Captain Derek Jeter had a 4-for-4 day with three runs scored. In a strange twist, it wasn’t really the only “4-for-4” of the day.

Toronto righty Shaun Marcum is having a terrific season, and not because he utilizes a fastball that tops out at 88. Baseball logic has it that the pitch referred to as the “change” as in “change of pace” has to be exactly that, a “change” from what the hitter is used to seeing or expecting to see. Today that logic caught up with Marcum, although for long periods of the afternoon he made a very good lineup look bad throwing his change much of the time. But Jeter beat him with a single past short in the first, and Alex jumped on a 2-0 fastball to make everyone’s day.

Marcum had the Yanks flailing in a two-K second, and set them down one-two-three on 12 and 14 pitches respectively in both the fourth and the sixth. And he managed to escape a first-and-third, no-outs dilemma in the fifth with no more runs scoring with a popup and a dp grounder. But Jeter and Teixeira were just too much for him. Both doubled in the third, with Tex driving in Derek for a 3-0 lead, a key run before the Jays reached Hughes for a tally in the fourth.

That was a strange inning, as for whatever reason, young Hughes largely abandoned the fastball that he uses to dominate lineups. He threw his first two change ups of the afternoon to Jose Bautista leading off, with the second resulting in a single to left. Featuring a high 80s cutter and a low 70s curve, he gave up a one-out walk to Adam Lind, but struck out John Buck on a welcome heater. The Jays had one out left, however, and Travis Snider doubled to the wall in right to deliver Bautista. It turned out to be their lone moment, as Phil then rebounded with a swinging strike out of Edwin Encarnacion.

Hughes can be dominant, and often is, but if he has a problem it’s that opponents foul off lots of pitches (30 through five frames this day) and the pitch count begins to mount. He’s thrown more than 100 tosses several times this year, but either he was trying to learn new things in the fourth, or to conserve some strength by throwing less heat. The inning-ending strike out had him up to 78 throws.

But no sooner than did the Jays tighten the score to 3-1 than the Mark and Derek show opened things up a bit, this time with the help of Brett Gardner’s leadoff double in the home fifth. Brett was named the Yankee winner of MLB’s Heart and Hustle Award in pregame ceremonies, and it was good to see him on the basepaths after a few lean days. Jeter bunted on the next pitch, just as Toronto anticipated, but it didn’t matter; the ball died in a perfect spot down toward third, and Jeter was on too. Nick Swisher walked in six pitches, but Teixeira wasted no time, forging the game’s final score with a two-run single to left center on Marcum’s next throw.

The 5-1 score seemed safe, and it was, though Hughes surrendered a leadoff single in the sixth, followed by a long Vernon Wells drive to center that Curtis Granderson made a fine play on. Phil was removed in favor of Boone Logan, who escaped after hitting Adam Lind with his second pitch on a strike out and yet another nice play by Robbie Cano. Joba Chamberlain, David Robertson, and Mariano Rivera retired nine of the next 12 (each allowing one base runner) and the game was over in exactly three steamy hours. Hughes threw 99 pitches to get one out into the sixth, walked one, struck out five, and allowed four hits and the one run. The 61/38 strikes/balls ratio was good, the fastball that reached 94 kept the Jays at bay, and the curve was very good. It was comforting to see an effective cutter, and even if it needs work, mixing in the change up would spell some big-time trouble for opposing hitters.

The game had a number of twists, though the first is probably not nearly as unique in Toronto as it is in New York: Shawn (with a “w”) Camp took over for Shaun (with a “u”) Marcum, though my nephew Sean would question both spellings. And both Marcum and Hughes managed to throw exactly as many first-pitch strikes as balls, 13-13 for the Toronto righty, and 11-11 for Phil. The Yankees are not nearly as in to having guest performers as some clubs, but the PS22 (New York’s own public school 22) Chorus was a revelation on the national anthem before the game. We heard sweet young voices, yes, but at least one really big one too.

Above I mentioned a second 4-for-4 in addition to Derek’s (two doubles, two singles). This one, from a long-time Jeter teammate, is not nearly as proud an accomplishment, though it got him through a sweltering day. Jorge Posada, crouched in the heat behind home plate wearing stifling equipment much of the day, went hitless in four plate appearances. He may have made a few friends on the Toronto pitching staff though, because he did it on a total of four pitched balls. Elias record book, anyone?

But even if the real news is the Yanks got a much-needed win, the day belongs to Alex and the big number, one that although it has come up six times previously in baseball history, brings to mind just one other memorable allusion. In a poem that starts with the words “Half a LEAGUE (American?),” Alfred Lord Tennyson wrote 156 years ago:

Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.

Today, Alex Rodriguez

Boldly struck and well,
Marcum’s darting, spinning orb
Into Monument Park
Rode his six hundredth.

BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!