Bronx, N.Y., June 11, 2011 – Coming off his worst start of the 2011 season and the news that, as expected, the Yankee rotation had taken a big hit with Bartolo Colon being added to the disabled list, Freddy Garcia took the mound vs. the Indians Sunday afternoon needing to provide a quality start. No nugget of baseball history was required, not a perfect game, or a no hitter. No minimum number of strike outs came to mind. He simply had to keep his team in the game until the Yankee bats could solve Tribe righty Josh Tomlin, off to a 7-3 start and one of the reasonss Cleveland has held first place in the AL Central for so long.

The other part of the equation, of course, was that Yankee bats had to do some damage, enough to not only take a lead, but to deliver a healthy cushion to a mostly very young, inexperienced bullpen. And although the signature Bomber long ball was missing, hit they did, in bunches. But the runs did not come easy, and they squandered singles in the first and second innings. Following Brett Gardner’s leadoff double in the third, however, back-to-back flies to right by Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson gave the Yanks a 1-0 lead.

Garcia, meanwhile, was providing just what was required. He, too, surrendered a hit an inning, including second baseman Orlando Cabrera’s 2,000th career hit, a two-out double in the second. Uncharacteristically, the veteran hurler used the strike out to escape that threat, with two that inning, and another one in the fourth, an inning where the Tribe got off to a great start on Shin-Soo Choo’s leadoff double right after the Yanks had taken their lead. A popout to second and a swinging Cabrera strike out kept Shoo from traveling two more bases, and when Austin Kearns, briefly a Yankee last year, bounced to Jeter at short, the lead held.

Frustratingly, the Yankees answered with a three-hit fourth but no runs, with Rob Thomson making the questionable decision to hold Alex Rodriguez at third on Jorge Posada’s rolling single to right with two on. Alex did take a shot to his hip yesterday, and Choo in right has a big arm, but the throw he uncorked was way high and toward first, and Rodriguez could have scored without a slide. Asdrubal Cabrera, unrelated to Orlando although he shares both the last name and an infield with him, singled in the fifth, but Garcia came through again, with yet another strike out to end the inning.

And with that strike out of Grady Sizemore ended much of the drama as well, because the Yanks put together yet another multi-hit frame, only this time they scored in bunches as well. Gardner was the catalyst again, with the second of his three leadoff extra base hits. This was another double, keying a litany of six hits, including rbi safeties from Jeter, Rodriguez, and Robinson Cano, for a 6-0 lead.

Gardner made a running catch of Carlos Santana’s drive to the wall in left in the sixth, and started a three-run uprising with a standup triple to start the home eighth, but even with that game, Brett has to share offensive honors with his team’s rampaaging 18-hit attack. Curtis Granderson went 4-for-4 with a sac fly and two rbi’s, Rodriguez drove in three runs with three hits. A resurgent Jorge Posada kicked in a sac fly and two hits, the same total enjoyed by Jeter, who thrilled the crowd by bouncing his 2,993rd hit through a drawn-in infield in the eighth to plate Gardner. Even though the Bombers pounded no home runs, they did stroke five extra base hits, with Granderson and Rodriguez joining Gardner in that category.

And although the three-run eighth over Cleveland, who had finally reached Garcia for one run in the seventh, may have seemed overkill, it freed Joe Girardi to summon Kevin Whelan for the ninth. Acquired in the Gary Sheffield trade five years ago, Whelan was having a good year closing for AAA Scranton until he got the call and into Friday night’s game. June 11, 2011 is the 70th birthday of former rock singer Reg Presley, who had a huge hit with the Troggs with Wild Thing in 1966. And “wild” has pretty much been the description of Kevin’s career in professional ball. The recent loss of Joba Chamberlain for a season-plus, following two other bullpen injuries, has made the Yankees a team desparate for quality relief innings anywhere they can get them. But Whelan’s attempt to give the team a clean inning Friday night in his big-leaague debut was a disaster, as he walked four around two outs by missing the zone – badly – 18 times in 26 pitches. But given a second chance with Sunday’s comfortable margin, he closed Cleveland out, retiring them on 16 throws, including a strike out and a walk.

A nice story perhaps, and the 18-hit Yankee onslaught was impressive. But the story of this win was Garcia and his professional job on the mound. Knowing full well that with a shortened rotation, a good start was paramount, Freddy was also aware that a short two-inning outing like he had five days ago would be devastating to the bullpen. So the veteran went about his business in the most professional way. Starting well, he threw first-pitch strikes to eight of nine the first time through the Indians order, and threw to a good 61/42 strikes/balls ratio. The nine swings and misses went toward the surprising six strike outs, teamed with seven groundouts, four flies, and three infield popups. He never blew the visitors away but rather allowed a base runner an inning through the first six innings on five hits and a walk. He finally bent and gave up two hits and a run in the seventh, but having been presented with a pretty secure lead, his job was done.

Around the time that Presley and the Troggs were telling their beloved in song that “she made my heart sing,” a band named Freddie and the Dreamers had a hit song and dance called, Do the Freddie. With diminutive Freddie Garrity leading the way, the silly lyrics encouraged listeners to “jump around and don’t ask why.”

Mr. Garcia gave it a new interpretation Sunday afternoon, one his rotation mates would do well to emulate. He made it about shutting down the opposition, not by retiring them all, but by allowing one baserunner an inning. Or as we say in the biz,

Do the Freddie

BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!