Bronx, N.Y., April 27, 2011 – Bartolo Colon made his first pinstriped start in the Bronx Wednesday night, and his work electrified a crowd craving success off the disappointment of two dispiriting losses. Pounding mid-nineties heat from pitch one, the rotund vet dominated a White Sox team that has pitched the Yanks tough for three straight games.

Of course, if A.J. Burnett and Ivan Nova had received the first-inning support the last two nights Bartolo got Wednesday they may have won their starts as well. But of all the topsy-turvy unexpected twists and turns in the early 2011 season, recent stellar work by the starting rotation is surprise No. 1, and Colon is the poster boy for filling a hole from the least expected source. Certainly, Freddy Garcia has held his own in this respect, but Colon is pitching dominant baseball the way Nolan Ryan did two decades ago. While most older starters find ways to get batters out once they lose their overpowering heat, Bartolo is mowing ’em down by kicking it up a notch, something he did during this game as well, throwing hard in the first through the eighth.

Once he retired the White Sox in the first by striking out two around a line double to left by Carlos Quentin (who alone among the vistitors had no problem with Colon – he reached four times including three hits), the Yankee righty took the mound seven more times with a lead. Derek Jeter reached Mark Buehrle for a leadoff walk in the bottom of the first, and Alex Rodriguez’s two-out bloop single sent the Yankee captain around to third. But the 1-1 pitch to Robinson Cano was anything but a bloop, as the Yankee second sacker launched a heat-seeking missile over the wall in right, where it landed perhaps two dozen rows short of the main level Triple Play Grill with its Nathan’s hot dogs and fries.

With the 3-0 lead in his back pocket, Colon made “short” work of the Chisox, throwing innings of six, eight, eight, and nine pitches before handing a 3-1 lead to Mo Rivera about two hours after his first pitch in the game. In two different innings three straight Chicago hitters reached safely, scoring their lone run on the third consecutive single in the top of the sixth. In the second a single, walk and infield single brought Gordon Beckham up with no one out. But Bart was up to the challenge, posting his third strike out before harmless fly outs to left and center. Ten battters later, with one down in the sixth, Quentin, Paul Konerko and Adam Dunn singled in succession for the Chicago run, but a fly to right and Colon’s fifth strike out quelled that uprising, the last the visitors would mount. Quentin did reach on an infield single with one down in the eighth, but Konerko bounced into a 5-4-3 that “got the game to Mo.”

Those worried about the Yankee offense will have to remain in that state of concern for one more day, because following the three-hit, three-run first inning the offense consisted of just three singles. Nick Swisher continued his woes at the plate, but he proved that his eye doesn’t slump, reaching on Buehrle’s only post-first inning walk in the fifth. Mark Teixeira’s single moved Swish to third, but Alex flied out to left. Derek Jeter and Andruw Jones singled as well, with Jones following up on a one-base hit in the first for a 2-for-3 night despite the days he sits in between starts. Neither he nor Jeter budged off first. Veteran southpaw Buehrle’s mediocre 85-mph heat burned him in the first, but an assortment of sliders, curves, changes, and fast balls otherwise got him through to a quality start, three runs allowed in seven innings.

Colon’s economical work produced a classically balanced 66/33 strikes/balls ratio, though he hit the zone just 16 of 31 times with first pitches. Don’t make too much of the six strike outs, or the five Buehrle notched; 7 of the 11 were via called third strikes. I was too happy being home by 10:30 so don’t expect a complaint by me against home plate ump Todd Tichenor, but seven different players and White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen, relieved of his duties for arguing a punch out in the first, seemed to feel they had a beef.

Following two recent stumbles by the best closer ever, the White Sox were dispatched in order in the ninth for the save by Marinao Rivera, fitting that a star in the Yankee pantheon should perform well on this, the 64th anniversary of one of the biggest New York baseball days ever, when a dying Babe Ruth was feted in Yankee Stadium, and via broadacst in every ballpark in the bigs, on March 27, 1947. The raspy-voiced Bambino expressed gratitude about the “many lovely things said about me” over the loudspeaker. From one of the longest-serving Yankees to one of the newest, Bartolo Colon is about to learn what it’s like to have great “things said about [you]” in the Home Office for Baseball.

Who knows? If this hard thrower can pull this off maybe 20 or 30 more times, can you see it?

Bartolo Colon Day in the Bronx?

BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!