Bronx, N.Y., June 16, 2005 — As one who confesses to being devoted to all things Yankee, I had a surprisingly negative reaction to a silly movie called “The Scout” that I saw a decade or so ago. Containing scenes filmed entirely in the House That Ruth Built, it tried to get the audience involved in a pitching prospect so dominant that he actually strikes out 27 opposing batters (for the Yankees in the Stadium!) in the minimum amount of 81 pitches. After seeing Randy Johnson operate on the Pirates Thursday night, perhaps I should give the film another chance.
Of course, although The Unit was dominant in the Yankee 6-1 victory, he never approached the mythical performance alluded to, allowing a Jason Bay single in the very first inning. But Randy Johnson had no interest in setting batters up this night, as the three strike outs he posted in the first inning took only 10 pitches. He would strike out 11, including getting Daryle Ward swinging to close the game in a mere two hours and 19 minutes. His fastball was routinely hitting 95, but the mesmerising action of his slider had the Pirates flailing all night.
All 12 pitches Johnson threw in the first inning and the 10 he offered up in the fifth were strikes, and he completed two innings with just two off the plate, and two more throwing just three balls. His 86/24 strikes/balls ratio was almost 4-to-1, and he reached a three-ball count only twice, the first of these in the seventh inning. Among the five hits he allowed (including a beautiful bunt by shortstop Jack Wilson) was the singleton home run by left fielder Michael Restovich with two outs in the fourth. Not to nitpick, but it just barely cleared the short porch in right, something center fielder Bay tried to duplicate after a Derek Jeter error in the sixth, with Gary Sheffield retreating for a nice catch a step from the wall.
Johnson walked no one, he got the Pirates to swing and miss 20 times, and eight of his 11 punch outs were of the swinging variety. He even made a nice defensive play on a comebacker off the bat of Humberto Cota in the fifth; the Yankees would not need the stellar defense they displayed Tuesday to win this one (although A-Rod’s leaping grab of Bay’s liner to open the ninth was special). In fact, nitpicking once more, I found just two negatives in Johnson’s work. He balked just before closing the game against Ward in the ninth. But more seriously, he gave half an attempt to flag down Jack Wilson’s grounder up the middle in eighth with his bare hand! Oh, the broken finger visions I had!
As for the Yankee offense, most of the damage was done by the three lefty bats Joe Torre left in his lineup against young southpaw Oliver Perez, the Pittsburgh ace. After Captain Derek Jeter bounced a long drive off the warning track and over the wall in left center for a grounds rule double on Perez’s first pitch, Hideki Matsui, batting second and DH’ing again with his tender ankle, blasted an 0-1 screamer deep into the right field bleachers for a quick 2-0 Yankee lead. Much will be made of the resurgence of Jason Giambi that surfaced in the sweep over the Pirates, and rightfully so. But if his walk-off 10th-inning bomb Wednesday was just his fifth homer of the season, how surprising is it that Matsui notched number five to open the scoring just the night before? The Yankees have given starters quick leads on homers the last three nights, and you can almost hear the big five crying, “Bravo!”
Perez recovered after the quick Jeter/Matsui assault, retiring Sheffield, A-Rod, and left fielder (again) Ruben Sierra on a foul pop and two swinging K’s, but he walked Bernie Williams on five pitches leading off the second. Jason Giambi drove in two with a double off the centerfield wall Tuesday, and lifted the game winner into the right field upper deck in Game Two, but Perez put him in a quick 1-2 hole following the free pass to Williams. Just as I was thinking how tough it would be for the lefty-swinging first baseman to build on those at bats in the hole to Perez, Giambi turned on the next pitch and drove it deep into the right center field gap to score Bernie. Impressive rookie Robinson Cano, Joe Torre’s third lefty bat, scored Jason with a single to short center, the first of his two hits off Perez, and the Yanks had a 4-0 lead.
That was more than enough to offset the Restovich homer, and when Gary Sheffield lofted a soft fly to no man’s land in short left with the sacks filled in the home fourth, it bounded into the stands for another grounds rule double and two more tallies, and the final 6-1 score was forged. Perez left after five having taken 108 pitches to retire 15 Yankees, and the Pitt pen held the Yanks from there.
Giambi continued his resurgence with a hit by pitch, a walk and a long drive to right, and he caused a rushing Restovich to make an error when he continued onto third after Flaherty’s fourth-inning single. When Jason runs the bases with abandon you know he’s feeling good, but he was subsequently out at the plate on a Cano bouncer to Jose Batista at second. Flaherty, by the way, is deserving of praise for his excellent work with Johnson on consecutive starts. John also had two hits, and lined hard to third in a bid for another. Jeter had two hits as well, and gets huge credit for the big hit against Perez in the first before the youngster could settle down.
Perhaps more surprising than the Yanks’ mini-resurgence in the three-gamer is the complete game Johnson turned in just two days after Mike Mussina went the distance as well. Mussina recorded 27 outs on 109 pitches, while Johnson needed 110, but the fact that Randy’s game spanned 43 minutes less time is quite significant. Former Yankee star and AL Cy Young Award winner Ron “Gator” Guidry threw his first complete game for the Yanks 28 years ago to the day, shutting out the at-the-time quite competitive K.C. Royals, 7-0. In further Yankee news of the day, the long-time voice of the Yankees Mel Allen passed away this day in 1996. With the Yanks struggling to beat three battling teams in the AL East in 2005, I’m just thrilled with the victories; I don’t know what else to say about the complete games. But I do know what Mel would have said:
How About That?
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!