Bronx, N.Y., June 13, 2011 – Baseball in the Bronx. It was beautiful in Yankee Stadium Monday night. The sky was not cloudless, far from it, with a seemingly solid bank of white cloud, that turned to silver, then a deep vibrant purple, as the sky darkened beyond the stadium wall, to the East over the Bronx and south Yonkers. The pre-dusk sunlight dazzled as it glistened off the white facade just above the grandstand in deepest right and left field.

If you viewed this game on TV or online, or read about it in the news feed of your choice, surely you will know that frustration was central to the evening’s experience, that the homer-happy Yankees failed to get the hit when needed. The “Bombers” did not score in the bottom of the first even though they loaded the bases with no one out, and none of the seven hitters to reach base safely in the first three frames crossed the plate either. There would be just two more Yankee base runners, none who would get past first.

But you’d be missing the bigger story, particularly in 2011 New York, where perfect days to do anything pleasant are at a premium. Monday was not perfect, actually a little humid. But it will do, as I’m sure Rachel Ascher, the “longtime Yankees fan” who threw out the ceremonial first pitch, woud agree. Likewise the father of the year, or the moment anyway, who proudly held his little girl’s “I Love Derek Jeter” sign up on the big screen just before the game until his daughter could hold it high enough herself. It was gorgeous, with lots of pink and flowers, maybe a bunny or two, but Dad didn’t wince even a little bit as he spied his image 40 feet high holding this bit of “girlie-cana” in front of 45,000-plus onlookers. I’m sure he got just the biggest hug ever 12 mintes or so later when Derek stroked his 2,294th base hit, well worth any humiliation he had felt.

But this is baseball talk, not Family Outing Monthly, so what was enjoyable about this game? Not the offense obviously, but now that you mention it, the work of A.J. Burnett was uplifting and reassuring. He is the second straight starter who failed against Boston last week but reassured the Yankee faithful in his follow-up performance.

But although Freddy Garcia was more than good enough Sunday, A.J. was so much better Monday, though sadly not good enough. He retired the Indians three up, three down three times, four but for a wild pitch on a third strike in the seventh that forced him to get four outs. He pounded 21 of 30 first-pitch strikes, managed a very good 72/41 strikes/balls ratio, and used a dazzling curve to strike out eight, six of them swinging. And he only faced three three-ball counts, finally allowing his only walk on the last one, in the eighth.

Burnett allowed five hits and, unfortunately, Nick Swisher had one of those, a Michael Brantley drive to right center in the fouth, tick off his glove. It was a gapper and, given the failure to catch, a solid double. But once it ticked off Swish’s glove, the change of direction got it to the wall, which made it a triple. The Asdrubal Cabrera bouncer toward third, which would have been directly to Alex Rodriguez had he not been in covering third and keeping Brantley close, went through and knocked in the run. No sour grapes there: a valid rbi single, because he hit “it where they ain’t.” But had Brantley’s drive either been caught or not caromed off Swish’s glove, these two teams might still be playing.

It was a pitcher’s night, and on the 25th anniversary of the death of the “King of Swing,” Benny Goodman, 17 of the 54 outs between the two teams were strike outs, many of them swinging. The Yanks collected five hits, but four came in the first three frames when they had their only real chances. With the bases loaded in the first on Jeter and Curtis Granderson singles and a Mark Teixeira walk, Alex Rodriguez lofted a fly ball to medium center. It was a genuine scoring chance but, with a glance toward Kevin Thomson coaching third, Jeter made a short dash and stopped. After taking an aggressive approach at third last year, Thomson has been very conservative this year, holding Rodriguez yesterday and Gardner a few days ago, both hoping to score from second on singles to the outfield. There’s no being sure that Kevin held Jeter at third this time, however.

The very short list of good offensive news is that Jeter got his 2,294th hit, that Robinson Cano had two hits, and that veteran DH Jorge Posada extended his hitting steak to seven games. The bad news, easily eclipsing the team’s inability to come up with an rbi base hit or out in the first three innings, is that Jeter injured his calf batting in the fifth. That it may further delay his run to 3,000 hits is a definite bummer, but records notwithstanding, yet another injury in this season is not a welcome sight.

The Yanks did win three of four from Cleveland, however, even if the Indians are not as good as a first place team should be. Teams rarely sweep four-game sets but following the disaster against the Red Sox and this loss to the Tribe, it’s imperative that the Yanks continue to get quality starts against Texas, who come in next. Boston is rolling, and the Yanks need to stay close until they face them again in August.

But it’s also important that fans recognize starts like the one A.J. kicked in tonight. The team stroked 18 hits Sunday, but couldn’t come up with one big one the next day. But uber-band the Beatles had something to say with the title of the album they recorded that soared to the top of the charts on June 13, 1970. With months of games to be played,

Let It Be

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!