Bronx, N.Y., April 4, 2008 — The Yanks suffered an embarrassing 13-4 defeat to the visiting Tampa Bay Rays (no “Devil,” thank you) Friday night in a game many supposed would be rained out. It’s not hard to imagine that in a loss by nine runs, there is more negative than positive to be taken away from this game. Ian Kennedy was pounded early; Latroy Hawkins late. But in between those two hard cookie coatings, the Yankee pen provided some seriously delectable “cream.”
Number one on the list of disappointments is the performance of starter Kennedy, who continued some disturbing tendendcies first seen by Yankee fans in Spring Training. Kennedy impressed with his poise and control in last year’s September callup. He just seemed to know “how to pitch.” He was comfortable with the assortment of pitches he could throw, and he used them with efficiency and aplomb. His games flew by, and his pitch counts stayed low.
Not so in Tampa in 2008, and not in the Bronx Friday night either. The Rays piled it on the Yanks in two ugly innings, one of which came long after Kennedy had left the game. In what had been a two-run Tampa bulge in the eighth inning, free agent signee Hawkins was pounded for six hits in a span of seven batters. The Cliff Floyd home run that began the rarnpage came on a 3-2 pitch, but the double-single-single-single-single that followed, which was eventually capped by a three-run Carlos Pena home run off Kyle Farnsworth, was ugly to watch. But it mercifully was over quick. The five straight hits after the home run came on 13 pitches.
Young Kennedy’s struggles could not have been more different. He initially fell behind 1-0 in the first after walking leadoff man Akinora Iwamura to start the game. Two ground outs followed, but a second walk and single plated one in an inning that cost the young righty 29 pitches. Ian went to a three-ball count on four of six batters, then did so against two more in a one-two-three second inning. Iwamura singled on Kennedy’s first third-inning pitch, and Robbie Cano made a great play to nip speedy Carl Crawford on an 0-1 grounder deep into the second-base hole. But six-pitch walks to Carlos Pena and Cliff Floyd around a B.J. Upton infield single started a string of four more at bats featuring three-ball counts that ended Kennedy’s night. Catcher Shawn Riggan, batting for an apparently injured Dioneer Navarro, scored three when he doubled to the right center field wall on a 3-1 pitch and Joe Girardi replaced Kennedy with Jonathan Abaladejo. A 2-2 double by Eric Hinske scored Riggan with a sixth run, but Abaladejo’s appearance began a stretch of very positive work out of the Yankee bullpen.
Before that became apparent, however, the Yankee offense that has been largely absent since the season opener made a brief but loud appearance in the bottom of the third. Leading off, Hideki Matsui lofted a long fly toward the right field foul pole, a ball that somehow hugged the line and landed just fair and just long enough for a home run. Jose Molina follwed with a loud double off the left center field wall. Following a strike out, Derek Jeter tripled to right center. The carom off the fence rebounded past Upton and Jeter had a shot at an inside-the-park home run, but third base coach Bobby Meacham did the right thing stopping him, and the Yankee Captain strolled to a stop on third base. Bobby Abreu, whose first-inning double incredibly was the only hit the Yanks managed in this game outside this inning, scored Jeter with a grounder, and A-Rod singled hard up the middle. Alex crossed with the Yanks’ fourth run when Giambi doubled past Crawford in left center for his first hit of the season, and his second rbi. A struggling Cano fouled out near the Toronto dugout to end the onslaught, and the Yankee offense that had mysteriously appeared so suddenly disappeared, with a Damon eighth-inning walk being the only base runner they would have through the final six frames. The offense, though fleeting, was nice to see though. They hit for the team cycle in the third, adding two doubles, a single, and a triple to Matsui’s leadoff home run.
Given the mysteriously disappearing Yankee bats, this one was over right then, but nobody in the stands was smart enough to realize it, for good reason. Abaladejo, acquired from the Nationals for Tyler Clippard in the offseason, impressed in Tampa, but he was even more impressive here in stopping the Rays in their tracks. Matsui should have been able to catch the Hinske double to left off Jonathan that capped the third-inning scoring, but once that one mark on the righty reliever’s line was over, he was untouchable. It was apparent in Tampa, and now in the Bronx too, that something in Abaladejo’s motion, or perhaps some late tail on his fastball, causes serious confusion to opposing batters. He closed the third on a grounder and a strike out, struck out two more in a 13-pitch fourth, and took just 12 pitches to post a one-two-three fifth that featured yet another strike out.
Ross Ohlendorf took over for the sixth, and used 96-mph heat to record three outs in nine pitches, including a strike out of his own. Lefty Billy Traber pitched the seventh and whiffed one too, finishing the Jays in three batters after a leadoff Iwamura single (the second of three, and the Tampa second baseman reached base five straight times) by getting a 4-6-3 double play from Crawford that wasn’t even that close a play, surprising considering his basepath speed.
The 2007 Yankee pen was experiencing a serious meltdown just five games into the season following a slew of short outings from the starters. Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera have been exactly what was hoped for and expected in the eighth and ninth frames of tight games this year. But Brian Bruney, Billy Traber, and now Abaladejo and Ohlendorf too, have dominated in relief, an encouraging sign for a team anxious not to have yet another bad start this season. Anyone who remembers how they felt about each Scott Proctor and Mike Myers 2007 meltdown should be singing “Hallelujah” about the work we saw from most of these guys tonight.
Scott Patterson, Jose Veras, and Edwar Ramirez are waiting in the wings if anyone trips up. The Yankees have not had that kind of bullpen depth since, well… Ever. They are “armed” to finish games. They need to start them well, something Chien-Ming Wang and Phil Hughes have done suuperbly. Mike Mussina pitched an almost quality start too, and veteran southpaw Andy Pettitte joins the fray Saturday. Fifth starter Ian Kennedy will get plenty of chances to get past the disappointment from tonight’s start, to find what he showed last year, to find the confidence to throw his impressive array of pitches, his low-nineties heater, his slow curve and his change of pace, for strikes.
For all the hope the pen work in innings three through seven generated this night, the disastrous Hawkins eighth inning appearance is a cause for concern. Major-league hitters get their hits. Though some hitters would disagree, for every “at ’em” ball there is one that finds a spot where “they ain’t.” And much of that did befall Hawkins in the eighth. Although four of the five Rays batters to hit safely in a row batted lefty, all five went to left field (as opposed to the Floyd home run that started it). And three of them blooped in, floating softly to the outfield grass over the infield but well short of Matsui and Damon in the outfield. But if they were not hard hit, they were lofted into the air. It’s early, and Mr. Hawkins will get plenty of time to work this out. But two 2008 appearances in, Latrell’s pitching begs the question, “What happened to the ground-ball ratio that so impressed the National League last year?” Hawkins has morphed from the hard chucker he was in the AL years ago. He no longer goes for nor gets a bunch of strike outs: He “lets ’em hit it.” Which is fine. But if they don’t start hitting it on the ground, Latrell is not in for a good year.
The crowd was all over Hawkins, as is their prerogative. But that bespeaks a disturbing trend too. According to published reports, Morgan Ensberg was almost forced to surrender the number 21 that adorns Latrell’s uni back in Tampa when Yankee “fans” harangued him that he was not worthy to wear the number that former right fielder Paul O’Neill wore. Paul is a beloved figure, and fans apparently want his number retired. But it was the club and not the players who decided that the number was available. Once Ensberg ran away from it, Hawkins decided to take the number 21 to honor his boyhood idol, Roberto Clemente. It’s hard, no, make that impossible, to fault that, not if you know anything about that late Pittsburgh Pirates star. Latrell is rewarded handsomely for his exploits afield, and fans should (and will) feel free to let him know about it if he is underperforming, which he certainly did Friday night. But one has to wonder about a fanbase that is so out of control that they feel more strongly about the numbers that adorn the players’ backs than they do about their performance in games. Let’s hope that the fans snap out of it and start rooting for what really counts. Captain Derek Jeter has been clear for what has become 14 years now what is at stake. He cares nothing about numbers, about awards, about TV guest spots and Ton Ten lists. His focus is on nothing but Championship no. 27.
What do the “fans” abusing players over what they wear on their backs care about?
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!