Bronx, N.Y., June 9, 2002 — The Scoreboard really set the theme for the day when they played that Paul McCartney-penned anthem to sun and happy times. Delighted that we had such a gorgeous afternoon for the day that we had my partner’s brother, nephew and her brother’s friend as Yankee game guests, we were surprised when early in the festivities her brother and his friend went looking for a shady spot.

We, you see, spend our days in offices in front of computer terminals; they work outside in this “beauty,” and were looking for a break.

We survived the first Giants visit to the Bronx in forty years by winning the series two games to one after today’s dramatic, come-from-behind, 4-2 victory. Unfortunately, if you’re anything like me, you forget that we won a one-run game with an unearned run on Friday night, and just focus that the reverse befell us yesterday afternoon. You forget that we have moved from 3.5 games to 1.5 games behind the Red Sox, and remember that it could have been 0.5. It’s a high bar we Yankee fans set for ourselves and for our team, though in this case, this strict look at the standings might be in order, as we prepare to face Randy and the D’backs (fresh off their Boston sweep), while what would have to be called the overachieving Rockies (at one game under .500) head to Boston.

The Scoreboard continued to entertain us today. In a feature I can’t recall having seen before, they played Richard Strauss’s “Also Spake Zarathustra” (think “2001, a Space Odyssey” music, but not the space waltz) at 12:54 while showing pictures of many, if not all, of the players on the 25. It was a stirring feature, but nothing compared to the Paul O’Neill tribute just before the top of the fifth. They played Patty Smyth’s “The Warrior” while showing Paulie highlights, then flashed his live picture from the YES TV booth, and finally flashed his name on the Scoreboard. The crowd went wild and broke into a lively “Paul O’Neill” chant that forced Giant third baseman Pedro Feliz and the Rocket to wait before restarting the day’s festivities.

Of course the Scoreboard and staff do misstep from time to time. One year ago yesterday while welcoming groups in between the second and third innings they flashed the following:

The Yankees Welcome
Banana Kelly High School
St. Anastasius

The first is a school in the Bronx associated with the Police Athletic League, but the second is a Roman Catholic saint who was martyred in the fourth century. (I doubt he made the game.) And on Friday night the usually impeccable Mr. Sheppard introduced our slugging first baseman as “Jason Giambini.” And today in the third, they listed the count on Derek Jeter as 2-1; when he swung and missed, however, he was struck out (the fifth by Ortiz, and the fifth in a span of six batters!).

We have a disturbing habit of making starting pitchers with whom we are unfamiliar look (and feel, I imagine) like Cy Young, but it was almost eerie today how we went from an offense that seemed to have Ortiz on the ropes with two hits, a run and 24 pitches in the first inning to the one that succumbed to three straight K’s on 14 pitches in the second. And although Ventura was the only strike-out victim following Derek until we loaded the bases with one out in the seventh, Ortiz was in command. He threw first-pitch strikes to 14 of 16 batters starting with Alfonso in the third, and Posada’s fifth-inning walk constituted our offense from the second until Derek was hit by a pitch (in retaliation for Bonds in the third?) leading off the sixth. It looked as if West had warned Ortiz after he came close on Giambi in the third, but apparently not, as there were no ejections.

I refuse to include the strike outs by Posada and Johnson to close the seventh in my positive Ortiz assessment, because you can’t convince me, sitting right behind and above home plate, that West didn’t expand the zone to a place it had not been before when he called Nick out on a 3-2 pitch that ended the seventh, ending our next-to-last hurrah and Ortiz’s day. The Giants seem to be a team that contests the NL West tightly every year, but either fades late, or fails early in the playoffs, and I have to wonder if Dusty Baker’s use of his starters plays a part in that. Hernandez, Schmidt and Ortiz threw 131, 124 and 125 pitches respectively during this series. Granted, his pen failed today, but they did well Friday and Saturday and, although I know pitchers used to throw those kinds of numbers in “the old days,” those days are long gone.

Of course I can’t finish this game report without a glowing tribute to Nick, The Rocket and Mr. Karsay. Roger’s been so consistent that I’m almost disappointed that he “only” K’d nine today, and the 128 pitches Joe asked of him without Mo in the pen was an exception I’m relieved to say. And Steve? Getting the first two outs was key, and I think West squeezed him on Ball Two to Barry after he scared us with the Aurilia walk (who has to get some credit after doing it in the ninth two days in a row). But a save is a save, and I feel saved.

But “The Stick’s” two-out double on a 1-2 pitch from a premier closer was a lifesaver. He struggles; then he succeeds, and is getting better all the time. Friday night’s three-K, one foul out to the catcher, wasn’t pretty, but he cost Hernandez and Rodriguez 20 pitches even then, and he has accounted for five of the seven runs we have scored since. And as stated earlier, I think Joe West robbed him of another rbi while calling him out in the seventh. But it’s not time to quibble; it’s time to bask, as Sir Paul (with one minor alteration) has told us:

I need to laugh and when the sun is out
I’ve got something I can laugh about
I feel good in a special way
MY TEAM WON and it’s a sunny day!

BTW,TYW

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!