Bronx, N.Y., August 21, 2010 — I felt the years melt away watching the Yanks bat against the Mariners down 2-0 in the first inning in Yankee Stadium Saturday afternoon. Derek Jeter’s bouncer up the middle deflected off southpaw Jason Vargas’s glove for an infield single and Nick Swisher flied deep to left. Mark Teixeira took a strike then fouled one off, falling behind quickly 0-2. Tex got a tiny piece of the next pitch, but didn’t miss by much, flicking it straight back. He lashed the next throw into the left field corner, to put two runners into scoring position.

The pattern repeated on Robbie Cano, called strike, foul ball, foul ball. What was it we used to say when I played as a kid? In the field we’d assure our pitcher that there was “no batter, no batter” regardless of the batter’s skill, or the game situation. And from the bench, as our team struggled to come back against deficits much larger than the one the Yanks faced, we’d yell this anytime things got tight. Count 0-2 on our best hitter, or the same count on the guy from the end of the bench who hadn’t reached safely in a month?

“It only takes one!”

Tex had proved the point three pitches earlier, and now Robbie did the same, lining a single to right center, and it was a tie game. Strike one on Jorge Posada was followed by one off the plate, but we were OK with it not being 0-2, and Jorge turned on the next pitch and homered to left for a 4-2 lead.

Javy Vazquez, who has been experiencing a marked loss of velocity for several games, did not solve his problem in this outing, but the Yankee pen came up big yet again. To start the game, Javy promptly fell behind Ichiro Suzuki 2-0, then watched with us all as the Seattle right fielder drilled an 84-mph fastball into the right field seats. One out later, his reluctance to throw strikes produced a 3-1 count on DH Russell Branyan, who made him pay for falling behind with a much longer ball. Branyan became the first player to hit a ball off the facade of the Mohegan Sun club in dead center last year; this time he claimed the honor of smacking the first ever upper deck home run in new Yankee Stadium.

Vazquez pitched around a leadoff double in the second, and was victimized by another Ichiro home run in the fourth. Two outs later three straight singles tied the game, and when Josh Wilson stroked an infield single leading off the fourth, Javy’s day was over. That he had allowed eight hits and a walk while retiring nine batters was one thing. But that he was about to face Ichiro again decided things. Vazquez threw eight first-pitch strikes to 18 batters, struck out two and walked one, but three home runs made the argument his day was over. If anything, his pitch speed was even slower, and we’ll have to see what the Yanks decide going forward.

But the good news is that Chad Gaudin was solid in a three-inning outing. He retired nine batters around a single with the help of a double play, struck out three, and left a 3-3 tie after six. Boone Logan set down the next three, then the Yanks rallied to win it.

In the bottom of the seventh, Austin Kearns and Curtis Granderson set up runners on the corners on one-out singles, then rookie third baseman Eduardo Nunez collected both his first major league hit and rbi with a single to right. Jeter and Teixeira drove in runs with a single and sac fly, respectively, for a 7-4 lead. Despite collecting two strike outs, David Robertson struggled a bit in the eighth, and Mariano Rivera came on for a four-out save. This became easier once the Bombers tacked on two more in the eighth. This rally was keyed by Brett Gardner, who had come in for defense, once he followed a Posada walk by singling to left. The M’s scratched a run in the ninth for a 9-5 final.

Kudos go out to Gaudin, who did not earn a victory for his three scoreless frames, though he held it at tied so Logan could notch a “W” in his one frame. Gaudin not only got nine outs, as Vazquez had, he did it on 24 less pitches, The two righthanders got the opposition to swing and miss five times apiece.

Eight Yankees scored runs; six players drove in runs. Jeter and Cano had two hits each; Robbie and Jorge each drove in two. But I like to think the Yanks won this one because in the first inning Teixeira and Cano were not only each listening to his inner child. This is a team game: Both were listening to their inner children, the guys who played with them in Little League:

It only takes one!

BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!