Bronx, N.Y., April 18, 2005 — The Yankees crawled back into New York for a Monday game against the Devil Rays, traveling north from a ballpark that has been a second home. But this most recent trip to Camden Yards resulted in three painful losses in what had become a four-game skid. Their owner had grumbled angrily in public, fans who had booed a sure Hall of Famer in the season’s third game were furious at the 4-8 record, and even Manager Joe Torre sounded embarrassed when discussing the quality of his team’s play.

The lowly Devil Rays had to be worried as they prepared to play the Yanks in the House That Ruth Built. If the Yankees were to recover from their horrid play, this night could be it. The Rays and the fans wondered: What Yankee team would show up in game no. 13?

It was a cool night, following a string of gorgeous days in New York, and the bats on both teams showed no sign of warming things in the first. Tampa righty Rob Bell retired the Yanks in order in the bottom of the first on 10 throws, one more than it had taken Jaret Wright to do the same with the Devil Rays. Jaret’s six-pitch swinging strike out of Rays second sacker Cantu highlighted his 14-pitch second, and when Bell got a strike call from home plate ump Doug Eddings on his first pitch to Matsui in the second, we seemed set for another night of uninspired, mediocre baseball.

In a promotion of the Yankees and a local newspaper, fans received an album designed to hold medallions in honor of 20 of their greatest stars this evening, a group of players referred to as The Immortals. Mostly Hall of Famers, the list is represented at third base by Graig Nettles, a star of the 1977-1978 World Champions who is not in the Hall. But 14 months ago the Yanks acquired a player who now mans the hot corner who is ticketed for the Hall, and when Alex Rodriguez strode to the plate with Matsui at first, the evening changed. Alex swung and missed, then swung and didn’t; the vicious line drive into the left field boxes promptly put the home team up by two.

Twenty-two minutes, 10 hits, 11 runs, and three outs later, the “Bombers” had exploded for a 13-run second inning. Giambi doubled to right center, and Posada moved him to third with a fielder’s choice grounder (that he would have beaten out had he run hard before Travis Lee bobbled it). Tino Martinez had an rbi single down the right field line, then Womack bounced a single off the first base bag. Singles by Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Gary Sheffield, and Matsui had the Yanks up 6-0 with the sacks loaded, and A-Rod doubled over Crawford in left for two more. Posada followed a Giambi walk with a run-scoring single to right, and crowd favorite Martinez plated the last four with a high drive to right.

I couldn’t resist a rueful smile considering the fickle nature of today’s Yankee fan when thinking back trying to recall a similar inning in the Bronx. I’m sure Elias and YES will find things, but the one that sprang to my mind happened late in a 13-10 win over the Milwaukee Brewers almost 13 years ago. The Yanks came to bat in the home eighth down 7-4, and then the first nine guys up scored, capped by a Danny Tartabull grand slam. That was not a good team (they would finish in fifth place, 10 games under .500), but the celebration in the stands was as ecstatic and joyful as it was unexpected.

Surprisingly, despite tonight’s seemingly unprecedented outburst, this game was not over, neither for the Devil Rays nor for one Yankee star in particular. The Rays responded with a leadoff walk and a single off Wright’s leg, and they pushed across both runs for a 13-2 score. Then Lance Carter, who had relieved Bell in the middle of the second-inning onslaught, allowed a 1-0 lead-off single to Matsui in the home third, and that man was up yet again.

It has been particularly surprising to me that Alex Rodriguez has been the main recipient of much of the early-season grief for the Yankees’ woes, and for last year’s ALCS collapse as well. Expectations of baseball’s highest-paid player are high, it’s true, but why not more heat on Randy Johnson this year, and the whole starting pitching staff in 2004? It’s sadly a result of Yankee fans letting Red Sox fans set the discussion agenda if you ask me. He was beloved in Boston until they failed to sign him, but they regard him as the most evil one in the empire now.

Be that as it may, Alex promptly restored the Yankee 13-run margin with an even more impressive blast to left, giving him a two-inning total of two homers, a double, and six rbi’s. I have no expectation that a Yankee explosion in one game will cause Yankee haters and fans alike to mellow a bit and allow the team ease into May, but it would be only fair if the A-Rod detractors gave the guy a break for a couple of days. He followed this with a drive to deep center, a double to the wall in right, and a single in the third base hole. He scored five runs to go along with his 5-for-6 and six rbi’s.

Although all the Yankees contributed to the night’s offensive explosion, Jaret Wright struggled from the moment of the Yankee outburst. Tonight’s incredible 13-run frame happened on the 82nd anniversary of the first game played in the Stadium, a 4-1 win on a Babe Ruth home run. But baseball history is a rich tapestry, and if you look long enough you can find a precedent for pretty much anything. On April 18, 1950, the Red Sox pounded Yankee starter Allie Reynolds for a 9-0, sixth-inning lead, but eventually succumbed 15-10 to a relentless New York comeback.

So if the Immortals were invoked with the night’s promotion, they knew better than any of us that the great thing about baseball is that “it ain’t over ’til it’s over,” with apologies to another medallioned Hall of Famer. The game D-Rays, who no doubt exasperated Manager Lou Piniella as they fell behind, must have warmed his heart (not to mention his competitive juices) as they refused to fold their tent and succumb. They bunched six hits and an Aubrey Huff blast to right for five runs in the fifth that threatened to drive Wright from the mound victory-less, until Jeter pulled off a 6-6-3 to close the frame. Torre surprisingly sent Wright out for the sixth, but a walk and a one-out single precipitated the arrival of Paul Quantrill. Whether Wright was affected by the blast off his leg, or if he lost focus after the Yankee barrage, I can’t say. But he’s 2-1, and this sport is about winning games.

Quatrill allowed a run-scoring single, but subdued the Rays through the seventh in an effective outing. Then hard-throwing Felix Rodriguez finally came out throwing strikes and set down the Rays six straight to end it. The Yanks, meanwhile, added two runs in the seventh, and closed the scoring by plating their only two unearned runs in the ninth for the 19-8 final.

It was an oft-repeated refrain in the stands that this explosion was ignited against the lowly Rays. But one wonders just how ugly the evening would have been had the Yanks’ bats slept for one more night. As it was Wright was greeted with some boos as he loped off the mound wiith a 15-7 lead in the sixth. I cringe when I think how today’s fan would have responded if it was 7-1 Rays instead. Not to enjoy the outburst is to miss the fun of being a fan. Tomorrow is another day.

So the questions about how the Yanks would play game no. 13 have been answered, loud and clear, with that memorable 13-run frame. Worthy of mention are the six rbi’s Tino Martinez garnered as well, with a 3-for-5 night and the grand slam. But that magic number 13 comes up at least one more time in assessing how the Yanks fared on this night in the Bronx. It is the amount of total bases Alex Rodriguez earned in his 5-for-6 night.

BTW,TYW

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!