Bronx, N.Y., Apr. 10, 2003 — It was a nail-bitingly close game (though you would have risked forming icy tips on your fingers by engaging in such a practice) played by a team that seems to know how to bludgeon the opposition, but not necessarily how to just outscore them. Although it was a frigid night in the Bronx and a wet one, the light mist and drizzle that had threatened to make the evening unliveable subsided early, and as the evening cooled at an alarming pace, the air became drier too.

The Yankees played a game where their newly crowned hero went meekly 0 for 3 on eight thrown pitches, while Bernie Williams and AL Player of the Week Alfonso Soriano were held at bay. Other heroes were needed; other heroes were found. And prince of inconsistency Mike Mussina came threw with a masterpiece when he had to, and refused to wilt when his defense put him on the short end of the score early.

But honestly, I call this game “just what the doctor ordered” mostly because Moose and Twins righty Kyle Lohse dueled well, but quickly, and sent us on our way in a mere two hours and 25 minutes after the game’s first pitch. I don’t know what it is about the Twins, but back on June 18, 1996, we had experienced a similar game, if on a very different night. Where tonight was frigid, that evening was balmy. But when I saw in the middle of Moose’s challenging, bases-loaded, two-walk, 28-pitch ordeal in the top of the fifth tonight that it was still just a few minutes after eight, I found the earlier game’s memory undeniable and comforting.

Brad Radke threw against Kenny Rogers (yes, him) that night, and he plowed through the Yankees in a determined and orderly fashion. Megapitch, megahit games can be challenging to a scorecard, but nothing looks more scary than a home team ledger showing neat, parallel diagonal lines, as each inning takes three batters, and each time through the nine-man order gets you through three frames. Radke managed to retire the first 20 Yanks he faced, and even though Rogers had kept things even on four or five hits, I was getting pretty panicky.

And the uprising that ultimately dumped us out onto the streets of the South Bronx early that pleasant June Tuesday was much like the one that freed us to go home and get warm tonight. Anyone who has been with the team for two years or more will not be surprised when I tell you that Paul O’Neill and Tino Martinez were the 21st and 22nd batters to face Radke that night. Paul took an outside fastball the other way with two outs in the seventh, lining a double into the left field corner where we were sitting. And the dust had hardly settled around Paul perched on the basepaths when Tino hooked one around the right field foul pole.

Rogers went eight, with Wetteland getting the save. And Radke returned to his masterful form after the Paul and Tino show, but the damage had been done. And the damage tonight was done in a similar fashion. The Yanks had broken through on Lohse for an infield hit by Soriano leading off the fourth tonight, but he ended up at third because of a nice play by Koskie on Nick Johnson’s hard grounder, and because Lohse came through with the big pitch and struck Jason out with one out. Two Yankee ground balls later, now with one out in the fifth, the game turned on Lohse’s second three-ball count of the evening. Jorge took ball one and two, looked at a strike, took another ball, and then drove the 3-1 pitch into the right field seats for a tie game. It was the seventh pitch of the inning, and seven pitches later, Raul Mondesi used the same formula, driving a frozen rope into the lower boxes in left on a 2-1 pitch.

The two home run outburst was necessitated because the Twins had sandwiched base hits by Kielty and Pierzynski around Raul’s error and a fielder’s choice in the second to give the visitors the early lead. But backed by the Posada and Mondesi right- and left-field line drive dingers, Moose was more than up to the task, as he mixed eight strike outs with the six hits and two walks (bunched into an uncharacteristic fifth where he bent but did not break) into his 120-pitch, eight-inning gem.

I got a better look at the Stadium as I surveyed the scene this evening, mostly because I had an uninterrupted view of much of it, unhindered as I was by too many humans occupying the upper deck seats. The Yankees have had the front of each step separating the Tier boxes painted a bright yellow (chrome yellow perhaps?), and on a fairly empty evening the upper deck resembled some strange cousin of a wasp or yellowjacket sitting at rest, with yellow-tinged markings breaking its skin at fairly even intervals.

And we have an early entry into the “best” foul ball catch in the stands contest. But I’m not going to try to fool you into thinking that a guy barely able to move due to the layer upon layer of clothing made a catch that will compete with some we’ll see in the hot sizzling days of summer. This guy in row B of Box 624 (Section 14 Tier boxes) made a nice enough grab, even if he did have the rail in front of row C on which to brace himself. The unique thing was his reaction. Rather than the usual exultant pose with both arms raised in the air, this gentleman raised one arm, and then showed one finger. Pointing to an acquaintance a section or two away, he yelled, “I told you to sit here! Huh?”

Various notes on the game include the fact that Mr. Lohse is a very tough customer and that he threw a great game. From my perch it seemed almost every pitch was either on or just off the inside coner, and it was certainly the night to jam batters by hitting them on the handle. Moose was brilliant, and he kept us as off-stride as he did the Twins, guessing what he would throw next. Jason and Nick were the hard-luck kids. A close inspection of the ball Giambi drove past the right field foul pole in the second might show some yellow paint it was so close, and his sixth inning drive to the left field corner was a nice try too. And as for Nick, in addition to being robbed by Koskie in the second, he was victimized by a nifty Guzman play at short, and he drove several hard liners foul down the right field line. And aside from the first, and therefore most critical, homer, Jorge drew a walk, and picked A. J. Pierzynski off first in the second. We only managed four hits, so the Yankee offensive numbers took a hit tonight.

And a final word about the pen. I was nervous when Moose’s pitch count exceeded 100 after the seventh, and Hammond was warming, but Mussina started and finished the eighth. And one day after Osuna turned in a nice middle-inning hold, Acevedo not only retired the side in the ninth for the save, he did it on 10 pitches. The best part:

They were all strikes.

BTW,TYW

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!