Bronx, N.Y., September 5, 2004 — It took one Jorge five pitches to strike out another for the last out of a 3-1 Orioles win Friday night. On Sunday Jorge Julio made the mistake of throwing a sixth pitch and Jorge Posada unflinchingly took it, to drastically different effect. Yankee fans had groaned in dismay when Julio got a called strike one from home plate ump Dan Carlson after having walked the bases loaded (the latter two being by defensive choice) in the bottom of the ninth. But the two tosses that followed were off the plate, Posada swung and missed at the next, and Julio missed badly to set up a full count.
Every bit as overpowering as the big Baltimore closer appeared in striking out the side on fourteen pitches in the ninth inning two days ago, he looked a flawed pitcher searching in vain for the plate today. Posada has gone 2-for-4 against Julio this season, and when the two faced each other on August 1, the Yankee catcher walked on four pitches. Julio’s miss with the sixth pitch to the Yankee catcher today sent the winning run across in a much-needed 4-3 Yankee victory, one the Orioles threatened to win, and then strove to give back all day.
The fact that Baltimore’s closer, and sixth pitcher of the day, was in there in a tie game in the ninth is telling, and for this we need to give credit to much-maligned (of late) Yankee starter Javier Vazquez. Despite the unsavory feeling of deja vu engulfing fans once Raffy Palmeiro blasted his first-pitch fastball into the lower boxes for a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning (the same score after one in Tuesday’s 22-0 debacle), the young hurler righted himself, striking out eight (six swinging) and allowing just four more singles before retiring in a 3-3 tie after seven. The Orioles were signaling for their fifth hurler in the eighth when Joe Torre summoned Tom Gordon as his second, an undeniable Yankee advantage fashioned on the strength of 97 pitches Javy threw from the second through the seventh.
And even though Vazquez posted just two 1-2-3 innings, he gave his team all they asked for, a chance to win. And then, when his day was approaching its end, he delivered a little magic (or luck — no matter, it is equally welcome either way). With Larry Bigbie, on second after a leadoff bloop single and a Roberts sacrifice, breaking for third, Javy reached out with his right hand and snagged Davd Newhan’s one-hopper up the middle, forcing Bigbie toward third before throwing to A-Rod. Alex’s relay to Jeter brought a quick tag on a stumbling Bigbie, and then Jeter wheeled and fired a strike to Cairo to catch the sliding Newhan trying for second. The 1-5-6-4 scoring seems cut and dried; it was anything but, and the Yankee Captain came up big too.
Which is only right, because this victory belonged to Derek Jeter even more than to Posada or to Vazquez, deserving of praise as they both are. Leading off for the first time in almost three months as Joe Torre shook things up a bit in an attempt to create some offense, Jeter stroked hits and scored runs batting first in both the first and third innings. Derek reached safely four out of five times on the day, scored three runs (including the game winner), and he was robbed on his only unsuccessful at bat — a fine Miguel Tejada grab of his low liner that would have given the Yankees the lead five innings sooner.
Sounds like an exciting game, what with the Posada, Vazquez, and Jeter heroics, doesn’t it? But we’re not through. Mariano Rivera walked a successful high-wire act in the top of the ninth, damping a Baltimore first-and-third, no out attempt with precision and flare. Veteran B.J. Surhoff lined Mo’s first pitch for a single, and Gibbons’s roller past a wrong-footed A-Rod, in for the bunt attempt, rolled into short left as pinch runner Tim Raines, Jr. sped around to third. Rivera made escape possible by whiffing Bigbie swinging on five pitches. Joe Torre then gambled with one out, keeping his infield in rather than playing for the textbook double play, fearing (as he did in the 2001 World Series) that the oft soft-stroked roller off Rivera would render two for one impossible. This time the tack worked, as Raines held on Roberts’s bouncer to Cairo, and Rivera pounced on Newhan’s attempt to drag bunt the go-ahead run home, nipping the visitor’s DH at first.
It was surprisingly cool in the Bronx, and although there was enough sun to keep things light, a description of partially cloudy would win out over partially sunny in a landslide. In this year of 50,000-plus midweek crowds, the third consecutive Labor Day week crowd below that benchmark number (48,252) screamed desperately for a win all day. People tried wearing “lucky” garments, converting baseball caps to rally caps, and nervously fingered the knit cap Yankee freebies doled out before the game in an attempt to snap the Bombers out of their lethargy. For our part, we resorted to bringing a high school friend who hadn’t seen the big ballpark in many many moons. Good job, Charlie. Come back soon.
Of course, with all this excitement, it has to be granted that along with scoring their fourth run on a walk, the Yankees’ third tally reached on an error before rounding the bases, and Derek Jeter scored their first run after Orioles catcher Javy Lopez fired off third baseman Mora’s glove on Jeets’ steal of third base. The Yanks had but six hits on the day, and none after Cairo’s two-out single in the sixth. Vazquez did fall victim to the gopher ball again, and early, and Posada bounced into yet another double play with a runner on third with one out. Not everything that happened in Yankee Stadium on Sunday was good for the home team, but enough was.
Because it’s one, two, three strikes you’re out in the old ball game, but with four balls first you draw a walk. Just ask the two Jorge’s. They can tell you.
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!