Bronx, N.Y., July 30, 2004 — The deafening drumbeat of the news about the wavering Yankee starting rotation has grown to a crescendo with the approaching non-waiver trading deadline. The party line of late has been that with two guys with quality arms like those of Kevin Brown and Mike Mussina lingering on the disabled list, the triumphant return of either, or both, would prove even more beneficial to the roster than a deadline trade.

Perhaps Brian Cashman had intended to quiet the fears and calm the fanbase as Kevin Brown worked his way back into starting shape with three rehab starts in the minors. But the net effect of the elbow pain that continues to slow Mike Mussina, the disturbing ineffectiveness of Jose Contreras and the tweaked right leg of Orlando “el duque” Hernandez, imbued Brown’s impending return with a tremendous amount of pressure, and a sense that Friday night’s game was a “must win” in a way one rarely sees with a team with a 7.5 game lead in late July.

The Yankees have largely owned the Orioles this year, but Sidney Ponson humbled them Thursday night, and Baltimore had young, tall, hard-throwing righty Daniel Cabrera going against Brown in the Friday night tilt. Cabrera was very good early, and all night really. He walked one batter each in the first two innings, but held the Yankees hitless until Derek Jeter singled with two down in the third.

Brown started strongly too, retiring the first six Orioles and doing it with only 19 pitches. Any discomfort Kevin may have felt did not come through in his performance, as he appeared to be throwing quite hard, and pain-free too. And it was a good thing, as the Birds mounted a strong challenge in the next inning. Left fielder B.J. Surhoff cleared the short porch in right on Brown’s second pitch of the third, and Jerry Hairston followed with a 2-2 single to left. The crowd was calmed by two flies to Matsui in left, but David Newhan singled past second and a five-pitch walk to Melvin Mora loaded the bases with two down.

It was clear that Brown sensed his comeback night was at a turning point, and he rose to the task. He escaped the inning by striking out cleanup hitter Miguel Tejada for the second time, and was barely threatened from that point on. He pitched around a leadoff walk of Javy Lopez and a Posada passed ball in the fourth by whiffing Surhoff in between two infield pops. After a one-two-three fifth, he survived a Melvin Mora leadoff single in the sixth once Tejada smacked into a 4-6-3 and Lopez flied to left.

The Yanks, meanwhile, had evened the score following Surhoff’s leadoff home run in the third with a leadoff bomb of their own, a high drive over the retired numbers in left center by Alex Rodriguez in the fourth. Cabrera got through that frame tied by pitching around Hideki Matsui’s one-out single, a drive down the right field line that easily could have netted two bases but for the quick and effective response by right fielder Jerry Hairston, an infielder filling in in right and making the most of the opportunity.

But Cabrera could not wiggle off the hook in the fifth, even though continued fine Baltimore outfield play minimized the damage in what could have been a breakthrough Yankee inning. After Wilson led off with a popup to second (and how strange it was that all three ninth-place-in-the-order at bats by Enrique led off innings), one-out singles by Kenny Lofton, Derek Jeter, and Gary Sheffield filled the bases. Next, homer hitter A-Rod worked the count full, then fouled a third strike, and a fourth. He lined Cabrera’s eighth pitch into short left for an apparent single, but Surhoff charged and dove, and to most reports came up with a clean catch. The heads-up Lofton had stayed aware at third, and he scored on the sac fly, and the Yankees had a lead.

Brown, then, was looking at a win when he pounded through the sixth on seven pitches, and he flied Palmeiro out to right to start the seventh. Ironically he was removed after 6.3 frames, not because he allowed a hit or a walk, but because his strike out pitch to Surhoff bounced off Posada, caroming toward the Yankee dugout as B.J. hustled his way down to first. The old Yankee bullpen troika to the rescue, as Quantrill closed a scoreless seventh despite allowing a single to Hairston. Tom Gordon struck out the side in the eighth, and Mariano Rivera closed the one-run win despite two singles (one really earned) and largely because of a fabulous 6-6-3 with none down by Jeter.

Kevin Brown was a sight for sore Yankee fan eyes all evening. His numbers were good, not great, though to extend the start one out into the seventh on just 86 pitches was a godsend. He threw 54 of 86 for strikes, and 13 of 25 first pitches found the zone as well. Home plate ump Nauert did nothing to hurt Brown’s chances, but he did not help much either, with only 14 called strikes. Brown had the O’s fouling pitches into the delighted fans all night, and used six of the 10 Orioles’ swings and misses to garner his five whiffs, four of them on the two key strike outs of Tejada. Brown may have been correct when he has said that he didn’t really pitch well enough to earn the 7-1 mark he had coming in. He would be crazy, however, to think he didn’t earn the win that moved it to 8-1. He certainly earned the thanks of the Bombers’ fans, a thanks he was gracious enough to acknowledge with a tip of his cap as he trudged from the mound.

But there was another feel good story to this Yankee win too, one we can address by granting Alex Rodriguez an offensive gold star. Rodriguez has had a tough couple of weeks, and the hurtful and mesmerizing decision that besmirked him with a four-game suspension following the brawl last Saturday in Boston has been a distraction. It would be inaccurate to say that Alex was blameless in that embarrassing display that so disgraced the sport six days ago. He certainly did not “turn the other cheek.” But that baseball has deigned to punish him as severely for being hit as they are the player who did the hitting could not have been easy to take.

But Alex brought none of that onto the field for this game. Once he bounced back to the box to close the first inning, he calmly drove in both Yankee runs of the night, scoring the first himself on the long homer to left. He extended Cabrera to a 3-2 count before driving in the go ahead with a hard liner in the fifth; he did the same to O’s reliever Jason Grimsley leading off the home eighth, singling up the middle once he had extended the count to full. Alex insists he is appealing the decision punishing him with a four-game suspension.

I found his Friday night play pretty appealing regardless of major league baseball’s response.

BTW,TYW

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!