Bronx, N.Y., July 6, 2009 — Well, the Yankees came oh so close to completing a four-game sweep over the Blue Jays Monday afternoon, even if young lefty Ricky Romero was every bit as good for the visitors as his notices claimed. Deftly mixing 95mph heat with mid-eighties sliders and changes of pace, he kept the Yanks off balance once he escaped a messy first with some help from third base ump Marty Foster.

Derek Jeter worked a leadoff walk, was balked to second and stole third, but because catcher Rod Barajas’s peg beat the Yankee Captain to the bag, Foster called him out despite the fact that Jeter avoided the tag. This became especially painful because Nick Swisher singled to left on the next pitch. Even though Alex Rodriguez would be hit by a pitch too, the Yanks failed to score. And the Jays responded with a two-out rally against Andy Pettitte. He walked the always hated in Yankee Stadium Kevin Millar, Jose Bautista singled, and Barajas caught the fair line below the foul pole in right with an rbi single.

While Romero was retiring the home team in order in the second and around a Swisher double in the third and an A-Rod single in the fourth, things got worse for Pettitte. He walked Marco Scutaro leading off the third, then Aaron Hill barely beat the relay on an attempted 6-4-3. Hill was less lucky on a Wells grounder into the shortstop hole, or should have been, because Jeter’s catch, spin and throw clearly beat him to second, but Wally Bell joined Foster on the Yankee hit parade by blowing yet another call. It was huge because after a swinging strike out of Scott Rolen that should have been the third out, Rios homered for three just barely over the wall in left, 4-0 Jays.

The Yanks couldn’t score on Romero until the fifth. Joe Girardi, who was tossed arguing the Jeter call in the first, had worked new Yankee Eric Hinske into the lineup, starting him in right, with Swisher subbing for the DH’ing Mark Teixeira at first. Eric paid immediate dividends with a diving carch of a Wells sinking liner in the first, and then he homered around the pole in right with one down in the fifth. Gardner singled, but Jeter forced him before Swisher walked and Teixeira bounced out to third, but it was now 4-1.

Pettitte, meanwhile, retired seven straight after the homer, then worked around a two-walk sixth, doing so with two strike outs. But he paid for his wildness in the seventh, falling behind ninth-place hitter John McDonald 3-0 before coming back with two strikes. The next strike was too good though, and the light hitter drilled it over the fence in left, for a 5-1 lead. When Andy followed by walking Scutaro yet again, Tony Pena and Dave Eiland replaced him with Brian Bruney, who has yet to show the command he had early in the year since returning from the DL. Brian looked sharp striking out Hill, but Wells and Rolen reached him for back-to-back booming doubles that upped the Toronto lead to 7-1. David Roberston and Jonathan Albaladejo held the visitors there, but was the lead too big?

The comeback began right away, as Melky Cabrera and Hinske singled in succession to start the bottom of the seventh. With one out Jeter walked to fill the bases and Brandon League replaced Romero. Swisher greeted him with a single for two runs, his third hit with a walk. But Teixeira and A-Rod went down swinging. The odd eighth inning rally off Jeremy Accardo consisted of a Cano double, two straight hit by pitches (Hinske and Johnny Damon, batting for Gardner), and then a Jeter’s walk off Jason Fraser with the bases loaded to close it to 7-4. Swisher swung at the next pitch but skied to center.

It looked to be over quietly when Tex and A-Rod went down in the ninth, but Jorge Posada singled and Cano doubled him to third. Hideki Matsui hit for Cabrera and came through with a two-run single, and Hinske was up again, with pinch runner Cody Ransom on first and the score 7-6. Fraser fell behind him 3-1, but Eric fouled a pitch, then swung and missed and the game was over. So were the glorious four straight day games and the homestand.

Because it was a loss, and because the Yanks made some bad plays and pitches (though actually safe, Jeter’s attempted steal of third was too close a play with no outs, and A-Rod was doubled off first when Bautista caught a Cano liner at the wall in the fourth), the Yankee history from July 6 that leaps to mind is negative; it happened 19 years ago. Andy Hawkins has two claims on Yankee fan memories: He could not pitch in Fenway, and he actually lost a complete game no-hitter 4-0 in 1990. Following up on that hard-to-achieve negative stat, he pitched shutout ball against the Twins in his next start, on July 6, 1990, into the 12th inning, then lost 2-0.

Pettitte actually was not hit that hard, the two home runs notwithstanding. He allowed only five hits in six-plus innings, but he missed the zone too many times. He threw just 13 first-pitch strikes to 28 batters, and walked five, two of them leading off an inning. The 3-0 count to McDonald played a hand in his subsequent singleton home run, and Andy’s 58/52 strikes/balls ratio was really poor. Still had umpires Foster and Bell done better jobs, and Brian Bruney pitched better, he would not have suffered the loss.

Still, the team hits the road for six games against contending teams leading into the All Star break off a 5-2 homestand and having won 10 of their last 12. Umpires and bad calls are a part of the game, and that’s not going to change. Also worthy of consideration is yet another spirited late-innings comeback, this time from just a little too large a deficit. And they have found themselves another solid performer in Hinske, who played a flawless right field, homered to start the Yankee scoring, and reached safely three of his first four times at bat wearing Pinstripes. As to the fifth time, well, it was just like the game.

A Near Miss.

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!