Bronx, N.Y., June 7, 2011 – Some of my oldest and dearest Yankee fan friends, a crowd whose makeup doesn’t change all that dramatically if I recast it without the word, “Yankee,” will be surprised to read this, but yes, count me in. Sign me up. I’m ready.
Watching Freddy Garcia face John Lester for the second time in three weeks in the Bronx pushed me over the top. But before I lay down my Freddy wrap, let me stress, Mr. Garcia has been making a fool of me since the middle of Spring Training when, with Sergio Mitre pushed out of the race and Ivan Nova looking to have the inside track on a spot, it became clear that Bartolo Colon was pitching his way into the Yankee rotation, and in so doing throwing Freddy Garcia out of it.
Freddy fooled us all, made the cut, and pitched well for two months. The 4-4 mark could have been better; he lost a few he could have won, missed out on the “W” in a few others, but the low 3’s era was for real, and once Phil Hughes sunk out of the rotation, both Bartolo and Freddy were in. And they’ve been huge, largely carrying the rotation along with stalwart lefty CC Sabathia and hopefully off to a good year right-hander A.J. Burnett. Nova has been through some growing pains, but he has been good enough as well. They have all pitched well; they all belong.
Except.
Except Freddy was thrown into the cauldron of Yankee/Red Sox baseball in the Bronx 23 days ago, and he did not do well. His teammates jumped on Boston’s titular ace (to start the season) John Lester on May 15 , sprinting to a 4-1 lead on a Mark Teixeira rbi and a Curtis Granderson bomb, but Garcia wilted right away, promptly surrendering a Kevin Youkilis three-run jack in an eventual 7-5 Red Sox win.
If you’re going to star on the Yankees, you have to find a way to perform well in Yankees/Red Sox games, and the gauntlet was almost immediately visible as Freddy took the mound Tuesday night in Yankee Stadium. And he then proceeded to fail to compete almost immediately. Singles hitting speedster Jacoby Ellsbury homered to right leading off against him, and a walk, triple and sac fly later, the visiting Red Sox had a 3-0 lead with one out in the first. Garcia got the outs to get him through the frame but, despite the fact that his teammates had scratched a run in the bottom of the first, promptly walked the leadoff man in the second. Two outs later a Dustin Pedroia double scored that run, and folllowing an intentional walk, Joe Girardi earned big props with much of the crowd for seeing and responding to the obvious: He took Freddy out.
With eight innings yet to be completed, the Sox offense slowed and the Yanks did attempt to come back, despite losing their hottest hitter when Lester bounced a fastball off Mark Teixeira’s knee in the first. In the ninth Alex Rodriguez stood in as the tying run, almost totally thanks to super long man Hector Noesi, who, although he allowed a David Ortiz homer following a walk in the fifth, kept the Yanks within striking distance of the opponent for six solid innings. Noesi’s work was one of three good tidings to Yankee fans, with the work of Jorge Posada standing in for Tex through the ninth being the second. Jorge stroked his first two right-handed hits of the season, went 3-for-3 with a walk, scored one run, and drove in another. The third good thing was that Derek Jeter, DH’ing this night, cut the hits left to 3,000 mark to 12 with two singles. And by the way, Noesi used 79 pitches to largely frustrate Boston bats for much of the night, missing on just 22 throws, as he garnered 18 outs. If that doesn’t impress you consider this: Twenty-two is how many pitches Garcia threw out of the zone gettting five guys out at the beginning of the game.
Three pretty good things to report but, unfortunately, none of them came close to getting the Yanks a victory. With the Boston win and Yankee loss, the teams are assumed to be in a tie, although with Boston having lost one more game than the Yanks, I resist the description. And I feel confident that with six- and seven-game winners A.J. Burnettt and CC Sabathia going the next two days I like the Yanks’ chances, despite their having lost four straight in the Bronx now to the Sox.
Roughly 48 hours ago, I posted on a Yankee fan forum, in response to news that Phil Hughes is throwing well in pre-rehab, that “I’m a guy who has to see a way that we win it all. And in my mind, we can do it all without Phil. Simple as that.” That was in reference to the slow but sure rehab of Hughes, of course, which was something I had decided I could not realistically pin much hope on. The next day, updating early June Yankee history by adding what happened to the team this time last year, I came across Phil’s 9-5 win on June 13 over Houston, a game where he had a 7-1 lead before letting the Astros “hit the ball” to send us all home. That win gave Phil a 9-1 mark for the season.
Forget what I said two days ago. I believe Phil has too good an arm to just suddenly lose it overnight, and now I expect to see him dominating AL bats yet again. The Red Sox beat the Yankees 6-4 Tuesday night, pressing them for the lead in the AL East.
But leads can be precarious things. On June 7, 1983, power-pitching lefty Steve Carlton slipped past Nolan Ryan on the all-time strike out list when he posted his 3,552nd career strike out. Many assumed that day that Carlton would end up second to the great Walter Johnson in career strike outs. Many considered him the purer, more classic strike out pitcher. But they were ignoring the power of the Ryan Express, and the not-to-be-denied Ryan grabbed the second place total just a year-plus down the road, eclipsing Carlton’s 1984 total by five, and opening a greater lead from then on.
Not unlike that, the Yanks await what we all expect will again be 95-mph heat – the Hughes Express – once Phil’s long slow rehab comes to an end. I was a doubter two days ago, but not anymore. I tip my Yankee cap to Freddy Garcia that he has been able to fool all but one team with his 86-mph “fast” ball to this point in the 2011 season. But if you ask me if I’m eager to have a restored “Phil the Franchise” take his place in the Yankee rotation, I’ll tell you what I’m telling ’em on Yankee fan forums starting now:
Count Me In
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!