Bronx, N.Y., September 14, 2008 — Despite the fact that the Yanks cashed in a rollicking 8-4 victory over the Tampa Rays Sunday afternoon under steamy skies, the hot and humid weather was not the only unpleasent presence wafting over the Stadium. Alex Rodriguez was lustily booed just two innings after he homered for 100 rbi’s, and starter Carl Pavano received mostly derision after he tweaked his hip in the sixth, even though he left the game as the pitcher of record on the winning side. Further, Joe Girardi pulled Robbie Cano after he made a nice play to escape an ugly fourth inning, even if was the second baseman’s particularly lackadaisical play that set it all up.

These are bitter times in the Bronx, more bitter, it seems, than it was 15 years ago when missing the postseason was a routine season result. The two-games-out-of-three series win over the first-place Rays helped the despised Red Sox in the standings more than the Yanks, so the alchemy of successful fanhood has become a twisted mess indeed. Fortunately, the 50,000-plus sweating humans crowding the House That Ruth Built did find a positive way to express some emotion in the presence of Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter.

Derek has been posting records much of his professional life, and he has climbed up the Yankee offensive and defensive ladders, routinely passing players whose names evoke respect and amazement. A few weeks ago, he moved into second place on the Yankee all-time hit list by overcoming the total amassed by the one and only Babe Ruth. And he started this last ever homestand nine safteies behind Lou Gehrig in hits in the Baseball Cathedral with just 10 games to go. He promptly reeled off three three-hit games in a row to tie the Iron Horse. What’s more, Jeter continues to say the right thing, talking about team wins and not his numbers.

The Sunday game looked to be a laugher. Johnny Damon battled Edwin Jackson for a single, and Jeter beat out a perfect bunt down third. First baseman Jason Giambi, batting third with Bobby Abreu being rested, gave a preview of what was to come when he stroked five foul home runs each harder than the last before working a 13-pitch walk. Alex Rodriguez, DH’ing for the second consecutive game due to a stiff neck, blasted a 3-1 fastball into the right field bleachers for a 4-0 lead. Ivan Rodriguez followed with a two-out double to right, but Jackson retired Cody Ransom on a liner to right.

But the Rays were waving no white flags. Pavano did not have great control, and he would throw almost 80 pitches to get through four frames. DH Cliff Floyd singled leading off the top of the second, and Ransom flagged down Navarro’s hard bouncer and threw to second. But as Cano crosseed the bag and prepared to throw to first for the 5-4-3, second base ump Brian Gorman ruled Floyd was safe. Cano may have hurt himself wheeling to make a tag to get the one out. Whether Robbie missed second, or evacuated it too soon, the call was one you don’t often see, and it haunted Pavano a few batters later. Following a walk and popout to short, young center fielder Fernando Perez homered to right for a 4-3 score.

But Jackson just did not have it, and Giambi followed Jeter’s two out double in the second with a deep drive to right and the Yanks were up 6-3. With Jackson pushing 60 pitches through two, young phenom David Price came on to pitch the third, and quickly restored order. Utilizing 97-mph heat and a killer slider, the lefty brought to mind the Joba Chamberlaion of one year ago, and he quickly quieted Yankee bats. Pitching effectively despite his recent promotion from the minors, he retired 11 of 12 until his own error against Ransom in the sixth. The one other batter Price did not retire was Jeter, who came to bat leading off the home fifth swinging a 2-for-2 bat. He took a strike, swung and missed, then fouled off four of the next six as the count went to 2-2. Then he calmly tied Gehrig in hits with a home run to right field.

Although Pavano continued to struggle with his control and pitch count, Tampa could not add to their score. Following a one-two-three third, Giambi dove and deflected Floyd’s base hit into right, and the lumbering Floyd cruised into second while Cano watched, waiting for Xavier Nady to retrieve the ball from deep right. Pavano got two quick outs, but the Rays loaded the bases on a walk and an infield single on which Perez beat the Yankee righthander to first on another bouncer to Giambi. Akinori Iwamura lashed a hard bouncer toward right, but Cano made a nifty grab and threw him out to end the threat. It was not enough to escape Girardi’s doghouse though, and once the Yanks went down quietly in the bottom of the fourth, Wilson Betemit took over at third and Ransom replaced Cano at second.

With most of the crowd murmuring that Joe had done the right thing, however, the move immediately backfired of course. It continues to be 2008, after all. Ransom promptly bobbled a routine Floyd grounder and following a popup, Pavano grabbed his side after strike one on his 95th pitch. The crowd berated the oft-injured righty as he was replaced as if each and every one of them, rather than the Yanks, had paid him $40 mil to sit for much of his four-year contract. With the home team up 7-3 and 95 pitches in in a seething steambath, it seemed a bit harsh to me. Edwar Ramirez did not help matters, allowing a single and a walk, and Damaso Marte came on and walked Iwamura, forcing in a run. Jason Bartlett lined what seemed a sure single on a 3-2 pitch to short center, but Brett Gardner came and made a diving grab.

That was Tampa’s last chance, really. Marte pitched around a walk in the seventh, then Brian Bruney struck out Eric Hinske leading off the eighth. Gabe Gross drilled a seeming sure double deep to right center, but there was Gardner again making another astounding diving play. The Yanks added a second run against Price in the eighth when A-Rod’s popup to short right bounded into the stands for a double. A groundout and Betemit’s single through a drawn-in infield forged the 8-4 final. Jose Veras struggled in the ninth, allowing a single and a walk, and Mariano Rivera cashed in his 478th cxareer save with a strike out of Willie Aybar. The save tied Mo with Lee Smith for second on the all-time list.

Ex-Yankee catcher Rick Cerone moved the game counter from eight to seven once this one was official. It was good to see another ex-Yankee perform this duty after Don Larsen, David Wells, and David Cone had done the chore the night before, but Yankee fans are not feeling the love. After all, September 14 is the day that the team has clinched four different pennants over the years. Chronicling this day-by-day trek not only to the replacement of the old ballpark, but also to the end of the 13-year run at postseason play, the mood is evoked with the words of the old Grand Funk Railroad Tune, “I’m Your Captain”:

I can feel the hand, of a stranger,
And it’s tightening, around my throat.
Heaven help me, Heaven help me,
Take this stranger from my boat.

How else to explain a crowd that booed A-Rod after a first-inning grand slam, and tender Carl, who supplied yet another start in which the team had a chance to win? One can’t fault Girardi for benching Cano, but on the other hand he did make a nice play to escape a sloppy fourth, which admittedly was partly his own making.

But the mood was totally different four times Sunday afternoon, each time the second spot in the Yankee order came around. Jeter singled, then doubled, then homered his first three times up, and the crowd heartily acknowleged him before each of those at bats. He now has seven games to get one more hit to eclipse the all-time Yankee Stadium mark, a record no one will ever be able to match once the door closes in a week. The home team was up 7-4 when, needing a triple for a cycle and the record in the seventh, the Yankee shortstop bounced into a 5-4-3 double play following Johnny Damon’s leadoff single. The throng cheered nonetheless, and his team greeted him back to the dugout. The only one not happy about that was the Captain himself.

But Yankee fandom’s acceptance of the Yankee shortstop is a good thing. He has been much maligned over the years as “experts” compare him to one infielder after another. The 50,000 strong today would have none of that. They left that Grand Funk feeling behind whenever Derek strode to the plate and channeled Walt Whitman instead:

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;

Rise up—for you the flag is flung—for you the bugle trills;

For you bouquets and ribbon’d wreaths—for you the shores a-crowding;
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning.

BTW,TYW

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!