Bronx, N.Y., August 1, 2006 — It is a tribute to how hot a ticket Yankee Stadium games have become that a huge house showed up to see Bobby Abreu’s first game in Pinstripes in sweltering heat and under stagnant skies that are strangling the eastern half of the country. And they got to see a great at bat from their newest player, though the guy with the most seniority on the team took the star of the game honors.
Jaret Wright and A.J. Burnett of the Blue Jays met up in a rematch of the battle Burnett won in Toronto 11 days ago. Burnett dominated the Yanks that night, going seven inninngs in a 7-3 win in which Alex Rodriguez’s 450th career home run was the only blemish. It seemed Yankee fans might be in for a repeat in the early going.
After striking out Reed Johnson to lead off the game, Wright surrendered a Frank Catalanotto double into the left field corner. Vernon Wells flied to Abreu in right, but Jaret fell behind power-hitting third sacker Troy Glaus 3-0 before recovering for a 3-2 sinking line out to right that turned the offense over to the good guys.
Only Burnett picked up where he left off, retiring the first eight Yankees by pounding them into submission with fastballs that routinely reached 97 and 98 mph. The only trouble spots were a long Jason Giambi liner to the wrong part of the Stadium in left center in the first and a Bernie Williams leadoff, third-inning liner over second that Wells snagged with a run and slide for a nifty grab.
It was a big play as Miguel Cairo broke the hometeam hitless skein one out later on a double into the right field corner that probably would have scored Williams. Johnny Damon followed with a good at bat, but home plate ump Gary Darling punched him out taking on a seven-pitch strike out. On a hot night, Burnett was stretched to 20 pitches after having thrown just 13 each in the first two frames. But if Burnett’s elevated count worried the Jays, what could be said about Wright, who was in much bigger trouble?
With the much-anticipated trade deadline come and gone and razor-tight races in both the Al East and the Wild Card, it feels as if the Yanks (and the Jays) have been battling down the stretch of the season for a month already. August 1 is certainly no time to relax, but there were indications that some were having trouble giving their all. Jaret Wright pounded a 95 mph fastball past Lyle Overbay for strike one to start the second, then walked the Toronto first baseman on four straight that weren’t close. He recovered for a strike out and an eight-pitch pop to short, a routine floater that initially seemed in danger of falling between Derek Jeter and A-Rod, not because they both went for it, but because neither did. Then Wright lost the zone again, hitting Aaron Hill with a 2-0 pitch and finding too much of the zone to light-hitting John McDonald, who doubled to right for the game’s first run.
Wright escaped on a liner to right, then started the third by surrendering an 0-1 drive to deep center, but the scare was more his count, as he threw 31 tosses in the second and suvived a two-single fourth by coaxing his first ground ball of the night to retire McDonald on his 88th pitch. But that got him far enough as it turned out, as the game turned in the bottom half. Captain Jeter worked a leadoff walk and Giambi’s 3-2 bloop to right fell in after a Jeter steal. Although eight Yankees went down to start the game, the faithless Yankee fans only booed after a called third strike against A-Rod. Surprise, surprise, not one of them jumped to their feet and admiited they were wrong when Alex drilled a 3-0 double to the wall in right center for a 1-1 tie.
Abreu wasted nine Burnett bullets and frustrated him to the breaking point on a bases-filling walk on an at bat that reflected the plate presence that was advertised. It was his only offensive contribution in his first Yankee game, and it was significant. But not as significant as the first pitch liner to deep left from DH Williams after a Posada strike out. Johnson’s game effort to intercept the tracer was as futile as it was costly, as all three runners scored without a slide. It was Bernie’s 442nd double and it moved him into a second-place tie with Don Mattingly on the all-time Yankee list. Burnett managed to close it out from there, but the 40-pitch frame (20 strikes, 20 balls) did both him and his team in.
Following a leadoff single, Wright got through the fifth for a win on a justice-serving double play and strike out. Umpire Darling, subject to much Toronto wrath over balls and strikes in the big fourth, blew the call on a Catalanotto roller that clearly missed Frank. The ball then took a left turn into fair territory when it caught the grass beyond the first base line. With Johnson standing on first base and Catanotto picking up his bat at home, Posada had an easy dp when he alertly pounced. But although Darling’s incorrect foul call frustrated Jorge, Joe Torre, and many of the fans, it became moot when the Toronto DH bounced into a 6-4-3 two tosses later.
The Toronto pen went four after the four-run outburst, as did the Yankee relievers once Wright closed the fifth by striking out Wells, who gave a perfect Jack Benny one-arm-akimbo, hand-on-his-face pose when Darling made the call. A-Rod stroked another hit and stole a base but was thrown out at home by Alex Rios in the sixth. Jeter stroked a single in the seventh and scored on A-Rod fielder’s choice for the final 5-1 score. On the Yankee side, Ron Villone was good in getting five outs, and Kyle Farnsworth broke 100 while retiring the side in the ninth, but the recently resurgent Scott Proctor was reached for two hits and actually paused a few fan hearts when Catanotto drove Abreu to the wall with two on in the seventh.
Bob Sheppard announced several times that the Yanks were conserving electricity, and the out-of-town scoreboard in the left field corner and even the big Diamond Vision in center were off for long periods at a time. The Scoreboard people got smiles from the players and fans alike when they asked Yankees to choose among three Christmas Songs in the music question feature after the first. Everyone cooled off, even if for just a second, to the strains of “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow,” which eked out a win over Jingle Bells and blew out Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, my personal favorite.
We actually got a good, if typical, Jaret Wright outing. His 63/40 strikes to balls ratio was fair, as was the 11 of 21 first-pitch strikes. The leadoff second-inning walk that scored was the only one on his record, he struck out five, and and gave up five hits and just the one run. The Yanks were able to post a win on the strength of one good inning, and the four pen innings were OK after an off day. But it’s becoming clear we won’t be seeing Jaret pitch into the seventh inning anytime soon. The sixth would have been nice this night, but he gets a 100-degree mulligan on that score.
After all, A.J. Burnett, who dominated Yankee bats in the midst of a forgettable Toronto weekend days ago, went just four. And his 20/20 fourth inning gave us all a clear view of first place.
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!