Bronx, N.Y., June 19, 2002 — It’s no surprise really. Anyone checking out the whole industry, looking up and down their lineups, witnessing the pitches they can afford to throw out there, isn’t really surprised that it comes down to this. And of course we can hope — and expect — that the rivalry as it plays out will bring lots of goodies and benefits to the fans. These guys are swinging from their heels, and neither intends to come in second place.

What’s that you say, then? How did the Yanks do? Well, they won, but it’s not their year-long battle with the Red Sox (that can thankfully resume now that that Queens aberration is over with) that I was talking about. Nestle, throwing down the gauntlet, is merging their United States ice cream business (big hitter – Haagen Dazs) with Dreyer’s Grand, which includes Edy’s, Starbuck’s, Godiva and M&M/Mars. Unilever, proud owner of both Ben & Jerry’s and Breyers, is feeling the pressure. Summertime and an ice cream price war! Grab your spoon and I’ll meet you outside the super market!

But it’s after midnight now, and the price reductions will probably happen during the day, so I guess we might as well talk baseball. With a Yankee-game-free Monday behind me and all that time to kill, I did a little research. But first I started my day this morning with that occasional call to CableVision Customer Service. (“Yes, I really do think you are the worst company on the planet, I believe Mr. Dolan is acting like a spoiled child, and no, I do not believe you are working very hard to settle this.” For those interested, I can inform you — as I had to with the mouth with a script at CableVision — that in reply to a suit from YES, CableVision lawyers argued they would need two years of discovery before they’d be prepared to go to court. As a point of comparison, some tiny software company called…um…uh, oh, Microsoft, asked for 60 days.)

But anyway, the baseball research was almost as off-putting as talking with people paid not to know their subject (and doing very well at that goal). It was on this day in 1977 that Billy went to war in the dugout with Reggie on national TV, in (where else?) Boston. Trailing the Sox by three in the bottom of the sixth, Reggie let a fly ball hit by Jim Rice drop in in front of him and then lobbed it in toward the pitcher as Jim continued to second. Billy pulled Reggie for Paul Blair on the spot. Feeling (rightly, but correctly) shown up, Reggie went after Billy verbally. Billy’s bombastic reply surprised no one, but he was restrained by Yogi and Elston Howard. Although I loved Billy’s spunk, this hardly seemed like a good omen for Yankee baseball and June 18.

Thankfully, another moment in Yankee history proved much more prophetic, as the Yanks scored against the Indians in every inning but the eighth in 1916 to win 19-3. We actually missed scoring in three innings last night (though it doesn’t seem that way), and the 10 runs seem paltry, but I’m satisfied. The home runs keep coming (the humidor must have been on the fritz tonight; Torre revealed pregame that Andy had gone deep several times in bp), as does the quality pitching.

And speaking of pitching, Jennings and Mussina (and eventually Torre) had a few unconventional lessons for us. First-pitch strikes? Jennings (whom we beat severely about the head and shoulders, so to speak) had 15 out of 18 in the three innings he survived (sort of), while during Moose’s most successful of three trips through the Rockies lineup, his last, he threw only four strikes as first pitches (he was 6-3 each of the first two times he faced one through nine). And Joe Torre made us all look silly as we totalled things and decided that of course Moose would go seven (the Scoreboard had him at 85 pitches through six; I recorded 84). Once Ramiro toed the mound in the seventh and Marcus rescued Nick from left (in a very satisfying double switch for this American League fan), I had to tip my cap to Joe when I realized that guys coming to bat not only included Walker and Helton, but Brett Butler (?) too.

The offense — mountain-high or not — was good. Sure we grounded into two dp’s, one with a man on third and one out, but fully six of the eight K’s came against the pen after we had built the 7-4 lead. And the new leadoff guy (you know, the one who goes the other way and even walks now and again) almost hit for the cycle (someone has got to get Tony Fernandez off the Yankee stat page as the last Pinstriper to do it, please), Derek looked strong and aggressive despite the Sunday knee, and Shane hit the ball hard all night against right-handed pitching. (I love Sterling’s new one: “Shane Spencer: the home run dispenser!”, btw.)

I suppose balanced reporting calls for at least mention that last night the Sox survived on a come-from-behind, three-run dinger from Hillenbrand, with Willy Banks (!!!) getting the win. Moving on, meanwhile, the Yanks’ chances of continuing this two-headed pennant race got as big a boost as the impending return of Manny in Boston, as el dugue’s march back to the Bronx had a very good day in Tampa. And a lot of pitches down in the zone from Andy tonight would be almost as welcome as hearing Jack Buck say, one more time, “I can’t believe, what I just saw!” You will be missed, sir.

So the heat of the pennant race is upon us. And there are all kinds of tough calls to be made. Joe’s calling to the pen. Ramiro? Mike or Steve? How about Mo? Hmmm. I don’t know, let me think. Cherry Garcia, Rum Raisin or Cookie Dough? How about a Klondike Bar, or Good Humor? Maybe Fishfood. It’s going to be a long hot summer. I can hardly wait.

BTW,TYW

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!