Bronx, N.Y., August 23, 2002 — Mrs. Carmela Soprano, who goes by the name of Edie Falco when she is not playing someone having a love/hate relationship with the idea of being a mafia wife, is currently appearing on Broadway in “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune,” a superbly written story of two people (and coworkers) struggling to connect on the night of their first date. At one point during their evening they call a radio station that invites listener requests, and ask the deejay to play “the most beautiful piece of music ever written.” Claude DeBussy would be 140 years old on August 22, so alas, we can’t ask him if he is flattered that the disk spinner chooses his Clair de Lune to play.

But we can talk about works of art and, although it was more of a struggle than David (I’m sure) and I would have liked, I think the start the Boomer fashioned in the intermittent light rain in the Bronx last night was a masterpiece. David’s bad back is not news, though the extent to which it is responsible for the struggles he has had of late is uncertain. Checking John Lackey’s “last three starts” stat in the paper because his 5-2 record and 3.11 era concerned me, I was mildly relieved to see his recent earned run average had “ballooned” to 3.66. The fact that even that number was below Boomer’s 2002 4.22 wasn’t the problem. What verb would appropriately describe David’s number in his last three starts — 10.12!

But if I am correct and David did rise from the canvas of his recent failures and fashion a beauty, the finished piece was the result of the work of many a collaborator. Terrence McNally’s writing stands out in “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune”; it’s clear he knows these two people intimately. But without the stellar performances of Ms. Falco and Stanley Tucci (as Johnny), under the deft direction of Joe Mantello, the play might not work.

David Wells’s fellow cast members were at work helping fashion his riveting performance right from the outset. David himself made the first great defensive play in the fourth, nailing Erstad on as “deer in the headlights” a play as you’re likely to see, catching him off second on a comebacker and slowing an Angels inning that did result in a run scored, and threatened to do a lot more. Following David up in that vein, Derek and Robin also exhibited their finest glove work just when things were bleakest, as they sandwiched Alex Ochoa’s homer that moved the Angels to within a run in the fifth with a perfectly timed leap on a liner by Robin, and then Derek scampering a few steps to his right and spearing a nasty Eckstein one-hopper in the hole, retiring him on a nifty 6-3.

And the relief core rose to the occasion yet again, Stanton nailing Garret Anderson as he batted as the tying run at the plate with two outs in the eighth (even if it was on a hard liner to center fielder for a night Raul Mondesi), and Karsay closing it in the ninth on a Mariano-like one-strike out/nine pitch performance.

Offensively the tablesetters extraordinaire Soriano and Jeter were on base five out of eight times and scored three of the four runs. And “new” center fielder Mondesi, after frustrating all of New York yesterday by grounding out to short with the winning run on second and nobody out in the ninth, grounded a hard two-run single through the shortstop hole in the first with the bases loaded and two outs. And kudos too to Robin Ventura for proving that effective “mistakes” can also add to a masterpiece. To all the world the 7-2-6 that saw him tagged out at third to end the two-run first will look like a mistake, but it is not at all clear that Giambi would have been safe at the plate had not the Angels been tempted to get the sure out that Robin represented, as he became stranded between second and third once he “blundered” past second on Raul’s base hit. Tying up the offensive loose ends, kudos to Alfonso for garnering his 44th double, the most by a Yankee right-handed batter since Joe D in ’36. Seventy-six extra-base hits (with his two triples) for our new 30-30 guy!

But the star of the show without a doubt was the Boomer. Mr. Lackey threw a good game (100 pitches in eight innings — he could have gone 11 innings by himself), but David knew what he had with the Yankee two-run first, and he wasn’t going to let it go. Even though he went to three three-ball counts (the last to Mr. Spiezio before Ed hit the booming double that ended David’s night with two outs in the eighth), we never felt threatened that he was about to walk anyone. His elevated pitch count (120) was more a tribute to Angels’ professional at bats as he only threw 33 balls all night. The almost three-to-one strikes to balls count is a ratio rarely achieved.

Boomer’s 23-9 first-pitch strike ratio was good, but after surrendering the first Angels run in a difficult fourth inning (Erstad double, nifty play on Spiezio comebacker, Anderson single, Glaus run-scoring, ground rule double) he escaped by recording two of the only three strike outs he would tally all night. He clearly had decided that he would throw what he had to the plate, and they would try to hit it. If they couldn’t, he would win. And the Angels were tough. The elevated pitch count is no mystery; they fouled off 36 of the 87 strikes the Boomer threw. And in the fifth it was like he and Lackey decided to have a “who can throw the most strikes?” contest. Between them they threw 20 of 23 pitches for strikes, as they scored to close to within one, and we answered, and quickly. David threw first-pitch strikes to 14 of the last 16 Angels he faced. It was no surprise to anyone there why Boomer was applauded as long and as hard as he was as he strolled off the field. Heck, they even stopped the wave to acknowledge his work.

With the 100/120 pitch counts, this was a night of round numbers. The trivia question posed in the Stadium in the fourth inning was “Who threw the pitch that Mickey hit for his 500th home run?” (Stu Miller). And if that’s (500) not round enough for you, how about this quirk? On August 22, 34 years apart, Babe Ruth his 40th homer (of 60); Roger Maris hit his 50th (of 61). (Gee, I wonder who finished better?) And the pregame ceremonies were in honor of the Bicentennial (that’s 200 years) of the United States Military Academy at West Point. And further, how about two numbers that may have not been round, but were eerily “exact”? Wells released his first pitch (a called strike) at 7:07 but, by the Scoreboard digital clock, it struck Chris Widger’s glove at exactly 7:08. Several levels wierder though, and certainly more poignant, was the time that read on the clock when the Kate Smith tape of “God Bless America” ended at the seventh-inning stretch: 9:11!

BTW,TYW

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!