Bronx, N.Y., August 30, 2006 — Even though the team returned to New York late Sunday, the longest Yankee road trip of the year didn’t “feel” over until the team finally played a game in Yankee Stadium, and they did that in spades on Wednesday. After an off day and a rainout the Yanks met the AL-leading Tigers in a pair of games chock full of playoff implications. And, as often is the case when the team with the best record meets the one looming largest in their rear view mirror, the results were a mixed bag for both squads.
Both teams pitched well. Neither team hit a lot. The superb Chien-Ming Wang dominated southpaw Nate Robertson and the Bengals all afternoon in a 2-0 Yankee win. Then the Tigers turned the tables on the Yanks with patient at bats in the ninth inning of the second game, and Craig Monroe made the work pay off. With expected backup closer Kyle Farnsworth never entering the game, Scott Proctor was stretched to 31 pitches, two well-fought walks, and a three-run home run in the Yankee 5-3 loss.
But there is good news aplenty lurking behind the deflating game-two loss. Although Wang was dominant in the opener, his grounded work has come to be, if not expected, at least hopefully anticipated. He did not disappoint.
But as the Yanks approach the season’s last month awaiting Mike Mussina’s return from the DL, the search for a reliable fourth starter has taken on the trappings of an impossible dream. New arrival Cory Lidle has been alternating good outings with bad ones, the train wreck that has been Carl Pavano’s stay in New York has sunk to the level of lowbrow comedy, and after a season of effective but short appearances, Jaret Wright’s work had hit its nadir in the last three weeks. The Yanks could not feel good about the night game with Wright taking the hill.
The leadoff walk Jaret issued Curtis Granderson seemed a bad sign, but then the righthander found something. He pitched around the walk, and even though he surrendered a home run to Carlos Guillen leading off the second and another tally on a double and single in the fourth, Wright was pitching efficiently. Often just a source of mild interest to many fans, pitch counting has become an obsession to enthusiasts who have labored through long Jaret Wright innings in 2006. But he retired the Tigers four times around the two scores on just 49 tosses, and reached his high inning number of 17 in the fifth simply because it took that many to strike out the side. Ten pitches was all it took for Wright to retire Detroit in order in both the third and the sixth.
It seemed the great work might go for naught, however, because Tigers southpaw Wilfredo Ledezma was dazzling the Yanks. He retired 15 of the first 17 Yanks, allowing just a Sal Fasano double and a Derek Jeter walk through five. But when he hit Fasano with an 0-1 pitch leading off the home sixth, it proved his undoing. After a flyout Melky Cabrera, batting second, recovered from an 0-2 start to work a full count, then doubled past Monroe in left, moving Fasano to third. With just 68 pitches out of his arm, Manager Jim Leyland replaced Ledezma with hard-throwing righty Fernando Rodney to face Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter with the tying runs in scoring position.
The Yankee captain fouled a pitch, took three off the plate, then fouled again for another full count. With much of the crowd and the Tigers expecting a trademark “Jeterian” liner to right, or perhaps a bouncer up the middle, Derek lashed the next pitch over third and into the left field corner for a game-tying double. He stole third on a 1-0 pitch to Jason Giambi, then scored the go-ahead run on Alex Rodriguez’s slow roller to third. Robinson Cano thrilled the crowd with a fly to the wall in left, but when Monroe caught it, the Yankee offense was finished. They had managed to take a 3-2 lead while stroking just three hits — all doubles — on the night. When the team took the field for the top of the seventh, the Scoreboard rightfully played the lyrics from “Ride Captain Ride” from Blues Image, as many cheered, “MVP! MVP!”
Wright then did something he hadn’t done this year, taking the mound in the seventh without leaving until an out was recorded, even if it was on a stolen base attempt after a Sean Casey soft single to right. When Neifi Perez”s grounder scooted under Craig Wilson’s glove for another single, Brian Bruney replaced Wright and retired the side by pounding 97- and 99-mph high heat around a Brandon Inge single.
But Monroe doubled to the wall in right leading off the eighth, and Ron Villone came on to put out that fire. He struck out two around an intentional walk to Magglio Ordonez, and went up 0-2 on Casey. But Ron missed badly with three straight sliders, and with the runners off, Casey bounced one into the second base hole. Robinson Cano flagged it down with a dive after the ball was seemingly past him, and nipped Casey at first just before Sean crashed into Aaron Guiel, who was playing first after having hit for Wilson in the seventh.
Although Octavio Dotel had been up warming earlier and Farnsworth was the expected closer for game two, Proctor, who had retired one batter in the day game, came on to pitch the ninth. He started Perez with a 95-mph fastball, then acceletrated it to 98 in retiring the second sacker on a bouncer to third. But Perez fouled three 0-1 pitches, and Inge fouled three more before working a walk.
Proctor was good, but every at bat was a war. He retired Pudge Rodriguez on fly to right after a 1`-2 foul, and when Curtis Granderson fouled four more hard ones while lasting through for a second walk, Proctor had been worked for 27 hard pitches on his second appearance of the day. Pitching Coach Ron Guidry trotted out for a chat, but at no time did the bullpen stir. Proctor tried to fool Monroe with a first-pitch slider, and Craig didn’t miss it, reaching the netting over the retired numbers in left for his 23rd home run of the year.
The crowd was stunned; one supposes the players were too. Proctor surely was. The largely moribund Yankee offense failed to fire against Detroit closer Todd Jones, who closed out the 5-3 Tigers win. The Yanks outhit the Bengals in Game One 10-4, and beat them 2-0, scoring on a home run and a long sac fly. Detroit responded by winning 5-3 in a game they outhit New York nine to three, and the Tigers homered twice.
One knows in baseball, “it ain’t over ’til it’s over,” but as this game progressed, I couldn’t help contemplating how fitting a Yankee double win on three doubles would be on August 30, 2006. The New York Highlanders not only won a double header on this day in 1906, they amazingly posted the first of five double wins in a six-day span. I harkened back one hundred years, but amazingly, that wasn’t far enough. One year earlier, the legendary Ty Cobb made his major league debut, stroking a double in a Tigers win on August 30, 1905. The score? 5-3. The opponent? The New York Highlanders.
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!