NEW YORK, N.Y., October 1, 2005 — Perhaps equating the trials and tribulations of a poor bus driver from Brooklyn from 50 years ago with the 2005 Yankees season is a bit of a stretch, but it doesn’t feel overly melodramatic to this Yankee fan. It’s been ugly since the 11-19 start. The team laid out big bucks for pitching that rarely excelled (or even showed up), they were swept in three straight in Kansas City, and were routinely mishandled by the dysfunctional but growing-in-talent group in Tampa Bay. After the Bronx team came to an ignominious and unprecedented end in 2004, all I can say after Saturday’s AL East Championship (and playoff appearance) clincher in Fenway Park is, “How Sweet It Is!”
It became clear early Saturday afternoon in Boston that fans would not be getting a repeat of the show they saw the last time Tim Wakefield and Randy Johnson hooked up twenty days ago. Then the Yanks prevailed 1-0 in a game in New York that played out in a brisk 2:25 and saw 20 strike outs and only four hits (at least, until Tom Gordon allowed a fifth in the top of the eighth). The Boston knuckleballer made one first-inning mistake to Jason Giambi September 11, but he made the Yanks swing and miss (badly) 17 times during a five-inning, 12-strike-out binge. If you want a difference, try there: By the time Wakefield first deprived the Yanks of swinging contact in today’s game, he was down 6-2 in the fourth.
Randy Johnson did not have the same “command” either (in more ways than one), and the primary evidence wasn’t even the 0-2 titan moon shot Manny Ramirez blasted off him to cut a first-inning 3-0 Yankee lead to 3-2 before the Bombers could strike again. The New Yorkers had scored the three on a Jason Giambi fielder’s choice and Gary Sheffield two-run bomb (there were six home runs by the two teams, and not a cheapie in the bunch), all set up by lead-off Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez singles. But much of that momentum was sapped when it took Johnson 24 pitches to escape the Boston first-frame counterattack, and another 27 to wiggle free from a two-walk, three-strike out-second. He almost surrendered part of the second three-run lead his teammates had just given him when he fell to 3-1 on Edgar Renteria with the sacks filled in the home second. But Gary Darling called one borderline pitch The Unit’s way, and Randy threw two more in the zone, with the Boston shortstop missing the second after getting a piece of the first to kill the threat.
A sparkling Wakefield season notwithstanding, Boston’s pitching has not matched what it showed down the stretch in 2004; the team’s defense has been suspect too. The Yanks paid with two unearned runs for choosing offense at first base over defense in a 5-3 loss Friday night; that worm turned today, and it gave the Yanks a 5-2 lead after two. Tino Martinez smacked a hard single up the middle to start the top of the second, and Bernie Williams hit a medium-struck liner into — and out of — Boston first baseman Kevin Millar’s glove. When the ball got through him for a (ruled) double, the runners cruised into second and third. Because John Flaherty’s ensuing sac fly to Johnny Damon in left center was deep enough for Williams to scamper to third, Jeter was able to drive in the Yanks’ fifth run by hitting a fly ball to Trot Nixon in right.
Veterans of Fenway battles against the more-often-than-not offensively endowed home team know the scenario. The Red Sox score easily at home, and often make up big deficits as the game goes along, as long as the opponent can be held at bay. But Hideki Matsui (in the third) and Rodriguez (top of the fifth) stretched the Yankee lead with singleton jacks, while Johnson went about finding himself. Feeling squeezed by Darling in the bottom of the second, he mastered his emotions before it was too late, and he received quite a lift when Gary Sheffield made the first of two dazzling sliding catches on Kevin Millar’s liner in a blinding sun in right field during the home third. David Ortiz, on second after a deep double that Bernie did not see well on the first pitch of the frame, would have scored, but as it was, Ortiz retreated and Bill Mueller popped the next pitch to Robinson Cano at second; it was 6-2 after three.
With successful but middling results, Johnson battled to control the zone and himself. He was brought to New York to win the big one, and there are no trivial battles left this year. Boston second baseman Tony Graffanino, who stroked three of the five hits The Unit allowed (including a homer for a third Boston tally in the seventh), followed two fourth-inning hard liners with a bingle to left, but Johnson took control by retiring Damon on a grounder to second after a 10-pitch battle; the four-run lead held but Randy had thrown 84 pitches to get through four.
Wakefield did his best to hold it, retiring eight of nine Yanks around A-Rod’s fifth-inning homer to left that broke the all-time AL record for third basemen in a season, but The Unit could smell the victory now. He used five pitches to dispatch Edgar Renteria, David Ortiz, and Ramirez in bottom of the fifth, then struck the side out in order in the sixth. Meanwhile, a litany of relievers held the Yanks to one more score after ex-Bomber Mike Stanton took over for the Sox to start the sixth. But Johnson would not be headed. He did allow the Grafaninno tater, it’s true. But the meek bouncer he coaxed from the dangerous Ortiz to start the eighth (and end his day on 122 pitches, though Fox counted 123) spoke volumes about who was in charge. Tom Gordon allowed a Ramirez bomb over the batter’s eye in deep center while closing the eighth, but Mariano Rivera nailed down the 8-4 victory in the ninth.
In early September Johnson never allowed Boston a sniff, allowing just one hit on 100 throws through seven. Although he threw 22 more pitches and surrendered three runs on two homers this day, the effort and skill showed up on the big stage. His 66/34 strikes/balls count three weeks ago approximates a 2/1 ratio, but today’s 82/40 actually bettered it. Saturday’s 19 of 30 first-pitch strikes was an improvement over the 13 of 23 of the former battle. And in both games Randy made the Sox swing and miss 12 times, good each time for eight punch-outs (six swinging this day, all eight two Sundays back).
Derek Jeter was dismissive of the warm conditional “good-bye” cheers Bernie Williams received last Sunday in the Bronx. He’s no fortune-teller, but he knew the Yanks would play there again this year. Perhaps the Yankee Captain said it best today after this game as well. Making the playoffs is just job one of four for this Yankee team.
But the boys cracked the champagne this day anyway. And so did many of their fans. This team had us exploding like Randy Johnson did two starts ago more than a few times; we’ve all heard the “boos” to prove it. A win tomorrow guarantees a first-series home-field advantage. The Pinstripers play against a Red Sox team backed into a corner, and then the wars start anew for the Yanks Tuesday. But before we cross those bridges, the classic television sitcom “The Honeymooners” premiered on this day exactly 50 years ago today. For now, I’m wearing a Ralph Kramden smile on my face.
“How Sweet It Is!”
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!