Bronx, N.Y., September 19, 2007 — The Yanks looked to be in for an old-fashioned pitchers’ duel against the Orioles Tuesday night, until a fourth-inning offensive explosion. The only thing that exploded Wednesday was one ball off Hideki Matsui’s bat, and perhaps the blood pressure of thousands of fans.

Baltimore lefty Brian Burres was superb, staying ahead of Yankee batters and keeping them off balance into the eighth inning. He thrice retired the home team on 10 pitches, featuring fastballs that hovered in the high eighties, interspersed with sliders and curves that had the Yanks flailing all night. He mixed three walks in with five hits allowed and struck out seven frustrated Bomber batters. But he made a few mistakes, just enough really that the home crowd could go home happy.

Truth be told, although Andy Pettitte was very, very good, for most of the night Burres was better. The veteran Pinstriped southpaw was reached for seven hits and two walks, and the Birds combined one from each of those columns with a couple of stolen bases to plate their one run in the top of the seventh. When Melvin Mora knocked in Brian Roberts, however, it just halved the Yankee lead, and that 2-1 score would last through Mariano Rivera’s 34th, and last, pitch of the ninth inning. Pettitte relied on his fastball and cutter, and he lasted two outs into the eighth inning while throwing 104 pitches, just 39 of them off the plate. He threw 17 of 28 first-pitch strikes, posted four K’s, coaxed nine ground ball outs, and benefitted when catcher Jorge Posada nailed two runners trying to steal second base.

But Andy had to battle for the win, and cashed it in when two of three bad pitches came back to haunt Burres. The young lefty pounded seven first-pitch strikes to the first nine Yankees, but he followed a called strike to Hideki Matsui with two down in the second with two off the plate, and the Japanese star drilled the next fastball several rows back into the low porch in right. Robbie Cano followed with a sharp single to center and DH Shelley Duncan walked on five pitches, but Doug Mientkiewicz took a third strike to end the inning with the Yanks up 1-0.

A leadoff Melky Cabrera single in the third went for naught, as did a one-out walk to Matsui the next frame, with third baseman Melvin Mora snatching Duncan’s rbi base-hit bid down the left field line to end the threat. But Mientkiewicz lined a single to right leading off the fifth. He made second on a Derek Jeter single and third on a Bobby Abreu fielder’s choice grounder for the second out.

Then came two mistakes in succession, though just the first one would cause damage. Trying to muscle up some high heat to Alex Rodriguez on a 1-2 pitch, Burres’s missile soared out of the reach of catcher Ramon Hernandez, and the Yankee first baseman crossed home plate with what would be the deciding run. After a ball, Burres left a slider over the plate and Rodriguez lined it toward the wall in left, but Brandon Fahey ran it down on the warning track. The Orioles lefthander retired seven of the next eight around a two-out Cabrera walk in the seventh, and Chad Bradford got the last two outs after Burres got Abreu to go down swinging for the first out of the home eighth.

After allowing the Baltimore run in the sixth, Pettitte survived a Hernandez single with two down in the seventh. Alhough Joba Chamberlain was warming, Andy came out for the eighth and garnered two outs, the last thanks to an A-Rod barehand snag and a Mientkiewicz stretch and scoop on a slow Roberts roller. Then Joe Torre broke what had been among the most inviolate of the “Joba Rules,” bringing the burly righthander in in the middle of an inning. The rookie set Melvin Mora up with 96-mph heat, and struck him out swinging with two straight darting sliders.

Fans had been watching the scoreboard for Boston results all evening. After an early 1-0 lead we knew that Toronto had gone ahead 2-1, and also that Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon had come on to quiet another Jays uprising in the bottom of the eighth. Once Mariano Rivera retired Miguel Tejada on a broken-bat bouncer to short on the field before us, we got the news that a grand slam had given Toronto a 6-1 lead, and the crowd cheered as Nick Markakis fought off a cutter and parachuted it softly into no man’s land in short right. He scampered into second as it bounced and rolled to the foul stands down the line.

Mariano then battled to three straight full counts, with Millar flying out to right for the second out first, but Aubrey Huff and Hernandez then walked to fill the bases. Rookie Scott Moore hit for Fahey, who had replaced Jay Payton once the latter was thrown out for arguing called strike three in the sixth. (Mr. Payton is in some trouble, by the way, as he flung his helmet back at Mike Reilly, and almost hit him.) Mo then missed with ball one, but the lefty batter took the next three, all of which were called strikes. With Sinatra singing in the background, a happy crowd realized that the Yanks are one game behind the Red Sox on the loss side! Temper that news with this, however: Following a day off, New York hosts rampaging Toronto, a team that swept the Red Sox and that will begin four straight games with some of the hottest starting pitchers in the league. If New York passes Boston, they will have earned it.

It was yet another beautiful night for baseball in the Bronx, and the Yanks sent 53,000-plus home happy. September and big ballgames are synonymous with the Yanks. Roger Clemens beat the White Sox 6-3 on this day in 2001 to become the first pitcher ever to achieve a 20-1 record, but not all the outcomes have been happy ones. One year before that, the aforementioned Blue Jays pummeled the Yankees 16-3 to start them on a consistently ugly eight-game losing streak. But at least there was a Championship to savor later that year, not so after the 14-1 pasting they took at the hands of the Brewers on September 19, 1982.

The Yanks did not just win a ballgame this night, creeping closer to the Divison lead and a postseason berth. Andy Pettitte won his 200th career game in this 2-1 win over Baltimore. Two hundred wins — a rare day that a pitcher comes up with that number, don’t you think?

Perhaps not. Thirty-one years ago this day, Yankee Catfish Hunter won his 200th career game, a win over Milwaukee on September 19, 1976.

It was by a 2-1 score.

BTW,TYW

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!