Bronx, N.Y., July 30, 2002 — Michael Kay and Ken Singleton spent a lot of time musing about shortstop play during this evening’s game, certainly understandable with Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter in the house. And viewing all-time offensive stats for shortstops, Cal Ripken’s name came up. At one point Michael Kay pointed out that Lou Gehrig’s plaque in Monument Park still refers to his streak as “a record that will never be broken.”

There are other records that fans have sworn will never fall. The Babe’s 60 (and Rajah’s 61) are history. After all this time the odds that someone will hit .400 again is more and more remote. Joe’s 56-gamer seems secure. Cy Young’s 511 wins (or perhaps even more unthinkable, his 313 losses!) are safe. But Dolph Camilli snared a record that will never be topped (tied perhaps, but not bested) 65 years ago today, when he played a full nine innings at first for Philly and registered zero putouts. It reminds me (painfully) of the stat I discovered back in 1984 when the Yankees picked up veteran Toby Harrah to play short. Toby, you see, is the only player to ever play a full doubleheader at short without managing even one assist. I’m not at all familiar with Dolph’s leather work, so I can’t fairly weigh in on the causes of his astounding day. But if a fan were to charge that Toby achieved his ignominious record simply because, at least late in his career, his range limited him to covering an area “the width of a postage stamp,” I could fairly reply, “If it looks like a duck…”

There are moments during a season that you can use to measure a team’s progress. And the transition from July to August is as good a time as any, what with all the pretenders making claim to a shot at the Wild Card, second- and third place teams in tight races in their own divisions looking lustfully at the same area, and the nonwaiver trading deadline staring them all in the face. Two years running the Yankees have found themselves playing a three-gamer with the Texas Rangers as this pivotal season moment approached, July 31 through August 2 in the Stadium last year, and July 29-31 at the Ballpark in Arlington this time around. The results, after the first two of those games, are telling.

With hindsight, I can now tell you that the Yanks were offensively decidedly short last year. We lost the first and third games of last year’s series to the Rangers (the first time in eight years the Rangers had won a series in the Bronx, btw), but it was the way we lost to them that stands out. While it is true that Moose had a stinker in the finale August 2, no Yankee fans were worried about his pitching then, and rightfully so. And although Ted Lilly lost the opener, he only surrendered three runs in 6.3 innings.

No, our problems were not on the mound. Ted was bested by mediocre journeyman Darren Oliver on July 31, as we scored one earned run the whole night (on a Todd Greene single and a Chuck Knoblauch triple in the fifth). We managed another run on a fourth inning Shane Spencer single, but Bernie would not have scored without first reaching on an error and moving into scoring position on a balk. Following up, the August 2 offense (off tonight’s starter Aaron Myette) was even worse. Chuck and Derek did both score on a sixth inning Tino double, but they reached base on a walk and a hit-by-pitch respectively. But the trading deadline was long gone by the time that one had played out to a 12-2 final.

The Yanks made no moves, and who could blame them after they got off the canvas after horrible Septembers in 1999 and 2000 and waltzed to titles 25 and 26? And even though their 2001 World Series offense was the worst ever, it was almost enough. Sigh.

So a year later, where are we now? Miles ahead, that’s where. Yankees have three of the top 10 ba’s in the AL. In rbi, we have two of the top seven; three of seven highest hits totals. We have the top player in the league in doubles, stolen bases (where we have a second player tied for fourth) and runs (where we astoundingly have four of the top seven!) And tonight (and last night) illustrated this point beautifully. Though few Yankee fans respect him, Kenny Rogers is a more talented pitcher than Darren Oliver, and Aaron Myette is about where he was when he beat us last year. Two homers last night; four tonight. We had topped last year’s total runs in the two losses (four) in the first innings of these two games (five). We scored 21, on 23 hits. Of the 18 offensive starters (the starting lineups in the two games) 17 scored, 16 got hits, 10 knocked in runs.

And the much maligned starting pitching was solid, with el duque and Boomer. The Duke was solid all night; David bent in the first, on 33 laboring pitches, but Kay and Singleton were slow to pick up on the fact that starting with Mench with no one out in the second, he retired 17 of the next 18 (until Mench homered as his next-to-the-last batter). And the defense, despite Robin’s first inning error (which did hurt) was superb, with two great plays at third, one (and almost two but Derek’s scoop, leap and lob pulled Nick off the bag) at short, one at second and another by Raul who not only ran right at a wall again, but whose homer was the tide turner of the night!

The fun file: It was nice seeing Jason plant one in that little “Bermuda Triangle” in the right field corner that Bernie reached when it was much newer and we were coming from behind in the 1996 ALDS. And I had to chuckle at Kay and Sterling’s report on Kenny Rogers admitting that he “couldn’t concentrate” last night, what with all the trade talk. My favorite clueless player comment at trade deadline time? Oakland A (at the time) Rickey Henderson telling his manager that he was “emotionally unavailable” for a game in Baltimore a few years back, because the trade deadline had passed and he hadn’t been moved!

I will grant that the pen did not overly impress, but Ramiro got the grounder tonight, Sterling looked OK, as did Mike. But good news on Mo is the only thing saving my neighbors from the danger of me yelling out “Yankee Baseball” at any moment. Last year we greeted August waddling like a duck. This year we are strutting our stuff, and I’m ready to roar like a lion.

BTW,TYW

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!