Bronx, N.Y., April 29, 2005 — Just when the Yankee offense is stumbling around and in need of a positive outing, the expected pitching duel between Randy Johnson and Roy Halladay fully materialized in Yankee Stadium last night. The Jays were rolling after a sweep of Tampa at home, while the Yankees had scratched just one run in each game of back-to-back losses to Anaheim (sorry, that’s what I’m calling them) after a win behind Alex Rodriguez’s three-home run outburst. In both of the losses, the home-standing Bombers ran themselves out of an early score, and the offense fizzled.
Annoying losses to be sure, but I’m putting the 2-0 defeat to a fabulous Roy Halladay and Toronto Friday night in a different place. Although admittedly desperate for some offense for the local team, it was impossible for a baseball fan not to appreciate the terrific game that was unfolding before them. Toronto Manager John Gibbons kept one lefthanded power bat in his lineup against the superb Yankee southpaw, and Eric Hinske put a quick swing on The Unit’s only real mistake of the night. The 2-0 score gives a painful feeling of deja vu, because I have seen two similar Yankee losses by that score in the Stadium in the last few years.
On May 28, 2000, ex-Reds Sox (and Blue Jay) hurler Roger Clemens was wearing the Pinstripes when he faced Pedro Martinez and the Red Sox in an ESPN Sunday night game, and the two righthanders dazzled opposing hitters for an enticing eight innings. It ended when Boston right fielder Trot Nixon blasted a two-run shot to right in Yankee Stadium to break up what may have been one of the most civil of all the contests between these rivals I have witnessed in a decade. There was no time for fan baiting with such dramatic baseball taking place on the field. That 2-0 loss was then duplicated last year on April 25 when new-to-the-Yankees Javier Vazquez matched Pedro, once again, except for one bad pitch to Manny Ramirez with a runner on. Both 2-0 losses with both hurlers dominant. Both decided on two-run home runs. But Nixon went yard in the ninth; Ramirez’s blast took place in the fourth.
Randy Johnson split that difference in the Bronx this time, as he left an 0-2 pitch to Eric Hinske up with one out in the seventh. But Johnson was very good. Although he retired the Jays in order only three times, he was dealing. He struck out six in the first three frames, including the side in the first after a Frank Menechino first-pitch single. But even in those innings, he needed a Bernie Williams long run to the wall and catch on nonpower hitter Orlando Hudson to close the second, and then had to pitch around a two-out Reed Johnson double the next Jays turn at bat.
Although Halladay was having no such problems, some patient Yankee at bats looked to be mounting his pitch count early. The Yanks only came up with two singles, a walk, and a hit by pitch through four, but they had Halladay up to 65 pitches, with Tony Womack battling the Toronto righty through 14 pitches himself in two times up. But once Jorge Posada lined to third to close the fourth, Halladay turned it up a notch. He struck out one Yank an inning to close with nine, and retired 15 of 16 on just 50 more pitches. He held the Yanks to just three hits and five baserunners on the night, and his 40-75 balls-strikes ratio was good.
Johnson struck out nine in nine complete innings also, but only one from the end of the third until he closed the visiting ninth by whiffing Hinske and Hudson swinging on just six pitches. Randy’s 38-71 ratio was also good, and he threw first pitch strikes to 23 of 35 (with Halladay just 18 of 32). But Johnson walked three to Halladay’s one, and one of the seven hits The Unit allowed was a crippler. Johnson got the Jays to swing and miss 16 times, twice Halladay’s number, but therein lies a tale as well. It’s an amazing stat really. Halladay managed nine strike outs (seven swinging) with the Yankees swinging and missing only eight times. There is certainly no luck there, it has the residue of design to it.
And if the pitching was superb, and the hitting less so, a word should be added about the defense. It would have been a shame if a contest such as this was settled on an error, but you needn’t worry on that score. Willliams’s catch of Hudson’s drive in deep center would have been a good play by anyone. Considering the tentative look Bernie has had in center, it was terrific. Johnson made the highlight films with a backhanded blind grab of Hillenbrand’s come-backer in the sixth; he repeated it only slightly less impressively on shortstop John McDonald in the seventh. And McDonald figures defensively too. He went high to steal Bernie’s liner toward left in the fifth. Hillenbrand made a nice pickup and throw on a Jeter swinging bunt to start the first, and second baseman Hudson robbed Matsui of a single up the middle three outs later.
Randy and Roy certainly picked a good day to record their 18 strike outs. April 29 is the day that the aforementioned Mr. Clemens struck out 20 Seattle Mariners in 1986, (the first of two times he has achieved that number). And on this day in 1981, Steve Carlton made Tim Raines his 3,000th career K in a 6-2 win over the Expos.
A lot of numbers there. A few more: It’s rare that you see a full nine innings thrown by just two pitchers, or that they would retire 54 major league hitters while throwing just 224 pitches between them. But even rarer still is the number 128. As in minutes. In a cold spring night with a punishing breeze pelting the stands, these teams played to the 2-0 conclusion in just two hours and eight minutes.
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!