Bronx, N.Y., June 20, 2010 — If you’ve been stuck talking to a dinosaur Yankee fan like myself, you know you don’t want to get into a discussion with one of us about the old Stadium that used to stand on the south side of 161st Street. But you might get an even stronger argument from one visitor to the Bronx this Sunday afternoon. Johan Santana amassed a 3-0 regular season record in the old Stadium from 2003 to 2008, holding the home team to seven runs in 30.7 innings. He struck out 28 while walking seven, and allowed four home runs, three of them singleton shots in one Mets win in 2008. But Johan’s adventures on the north side of the street have been quite different. He recorded nine outs and gave up nine runs last year, allowing four runs in the second, so he had to be experiencing a feeling of deja vu when Mark Teixeira blasted a grand slam off him in this afternoon’s third inning.

Truth be told, Johan was considerably better this time around, lasting through six innings while allowing eight hits and just those four runs, but he had no luck with his mound opponent either game. A.J. Burnett blanked his mates on four hits over seven innings in 2009, but CC Sabathia went that one better today: no runs on four hits through eight. Sabathia may even have thrown a complete game, but Mother Nature did what the visiting Mets could not, ending his day with a quick storm once he retired the Mets for the eighth time.

Yankee fans who were concerned that Sabathia might not be up to this battle of aces based on some of the inconsistency he has shown this year had no reason to fear. CC, who has been pitching much batter of late, was totally on his game, coming through with a start just the way the neediest of fans would have drawn it up. His 19 of 28 first-pitch strikes was highlighted by 10 straight spanning the fourth through seventh innings, and his 66/34 strikes/balls ratio was textbook. He dominated the visitors with 94- and 95-mph heat, mixing in a killer curve with the occasional change.

Perhaps even more impressive, however, is the way he dangled the strings anytime he needed a little help from the visitors. So the first ground ball he coaxed all day was a 6-4-3 from David Wright once Angel Pagan reached on an infield single to start the top of the fourth. Alex Rodriguez, allaying some fears about his condition, made a diving stop and pegged out Jose Reyes following a leadoff Ruben Tejada double in the sixth, and CC’s third ground ball pill of the whole afternoon finished the top of the seventh when Fernando Tatis cooperated into a 5-4-3 in a frame the Mets had begun with a single and a walk.

The Yankee offense, by the way, did not resemble the juggernaut they threw at Santana a year ago. In fact, he may have begun this game a little relaxed, because five of the nine rbi’s against him in the 2009 nightmare were courtesy of Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui, each at a different baseball address in 2010. The four-run third that proved his undoing this 2010 day started quietly enough, and got no louder … for a while. Brett Gardner lined a single over Wright’s head into left field, bringing Derek Jeter, who sat out the Saturday’s game with a bad heel, to the plate. Fouling off four of Santana’s fastballs and changeups, Jeter worked the count to 2-2, then bounced one softly toward third that he beat out for a single. Then Nick Swisher fooled all 50,000 people in the Stadium with a first-pitch push bunt toward second, and beat it out when Santana and second baseman Tejada collided trying to cover first.

Santana probably missed the pregame ceremony that had Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees presenting a $10,000 check to the New York Yankees Foundation on behalf of Pampers. Bree and his son Baylen were greeted by Yankees first baseman and fellow father Mark Teixeira on this day dedicated to Dads in a pregame ceremony behind home plate. The visit didn’t help Mark in the first, as he struck out on four pitches following a Swisher fly out in which Santana displayed a devastating change of pace. Perhaps we should have expected Nick’s bunt following his first at bat. And now Tex had a big swing and a miss at a 1-0 pitch. But the Yankee switch hitter batting from the right side did not miss Santana’s next offering, driving it off the top of the wall in left for a grand slam, and a 4-0 Yankee lead.

That was all the damage the Yanks would inflict. Alex Rodriguez made a bid for a double on Johan’s next pitch, but David Wright made a diving stop and pegged him out. The Yanks failed to add to their lead once Curtis Granderson stroked a single to start the fourth, after a leadoff Jeter double and Teixeira walk in the fifth or once Franciso Cervelli drilled a two-out triple to the deepest part of the park in the sixth. But with Sabathia more than up to every Mets challenge, it did not matter. After the 20-minute storm, Mariano Rivera threw a one-two-three ninth in a 4-0 Yankee win that went only 3:03, including the rain delay. The Mets and Yankees traded 4-0 victories to start and end the series and the Yanks won the middle game behind Phil Hughes. But the Yanks got stellar starting pitching throughout, with Javy Vazquez perhaps even better than Sabathia Friday night. Let’s hope they continue pitching that way and suffer no injuries pitching — and batting and running the bases — in NL parks the next six games.

Santana hit Robbie Cano, who had a rare 0-for-3 on the day, with a pitch in the second, which harkens back to one of the records the Yanks would rather not have, though they’ve held it 97 years. On June 20, 1913, the first year the Highlanders would officially be called the Yankees, Washington starter Bet Gallia and two relievers hit six Yankee batters with pitches. More poignantly, exactly 70 years later, the extremely popular late Yankee outfielder and broadcaster Bobby Murcer retired on this day in 1983.

And on June 20, 1942, Beach Boys songwriter, singer and genius Brian Wilson was born. Hopefully with his kind forbearance, I offer up this:

And we’ll have Fun, Fun, Fun
while CC continues pitching this way!

BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!