Bronx, N.Y., August 28, 2009 — Despite a stellar though short career playing on baseball’s biggest stage, young Robbie Cano appeared to be on the way to another of “those” nights in a rainy Yankee Stadium. Possessed of a solid glove and stellar arm, the Bombers’ second sacker fields his position and turns the dp as well as anyone. He is possessed of a sweet, line-drive swing to all fields, and his .313 ba going in give him an offensive number unmatched by anyone in Pinstripes this side of mvp candidate Derek Jeter. But. There’s a new-fangled number on a 2009 boxscore, pretty far down the line. It comes after doubles, triples, home runs, times at bat, rbi’s. Right after two-out rbi’s. “Runners left in scoring position, 2 out.” After nine innings, three players had made this ignominious list: Chicago’s Alex Rios, 1, Yankee Nick Swisher 1. And Robbie Cano 4.
And nothing Cano could do in extra innings could erase that. But with two out and two on in the bottom of the tenth, Cano changed the equation. His three-run walk-off home run, the first walkoff hit of Robbie’s big-league career, gave him a big 3 on the line above: “2-out rbi’s.” It got the Yankees and reliever Brian Bruney a big 5-2 win, and Robbie both the adulation of a soaked and tense crowd in the Stadium and his first whipped cream pie in the face in a magical first season in the new Yankee Stadium.
The bad word on Cano used to be that he got off to horrendous starts, struggling to hit in the low .200’s early before becoming red-hot in the dog days, punishing the ball and piling up great numbers. But not this year. Cano got off to a good start, and has pretty much maintained it all season. But although the three-run bomb gave him a quite respectable 68 rbi’s, he hasn’t had many big rbi’s, not many with two outs, and certainly not late with the game on the line. On Thursday he had had come to the plate early with the bases loaded and two outs with A.J. Burnett mowing down Texas batters. Robbie scorched a liner down the line in left, but Rangers left fielder David Murphy closed quickly and made a running catch. It seemed that Cano was just destined not to get the big rbi hit. Seemed destined. But that was yesterday.
Yesterday, too, the Yanks had a dominant starter on the mound, striking opposing batters out left and right; Burnett whiffed 12 in six innings, but left down 3-2 on one bad pitch. CC Sabathia had a similar problem Friday. Notching five punch-outs through two frames, CC held the White Sox to two late runs in seven innings, finishing up with 10 strike outs. In this game he had a lead early, really early, as the aforementioned veteran Jeter deposited southpaw Mark Buehrle’s fourth pitch in the first in front of the left field bleachers for a 1-0 lead. Two innings later Johnny Damon went yard leading off too, giving the Yanks a 2-0 lead with a long drive to right. Mark Teixeira followed with an opposite-field double to right, Alex Rodriguez walked, and Nick Swisher moved both runners up with a roller to third.
The table was set for Cano, and he grounded sharply up the middle, but Chicago shortstop Alexei Ramirez was shading that way, and Robbie’s first chance was gone. But he had hit the ball hard, harder than he would the next time he got a chance, two innings later. Ramirez booted Teixeira’s one-out grounder in the fifth, A-Rod singled to left and with two outs Swisher drew a walk, after facing his second of three 3-2 counts on the night. Cano took Buehrle’s first pitch for a strike, then bounced back to the box, another opportunity wasted.
It seemed at the time that Sabathia would be able to contain the White Sox offense right there and hold onto his 2-0 lead, but Chicago bats were beginning to home in on his pitches. Ramirez had a two-out single in the fifth and Jayson Nix a leadoff base hit in the sixth. CC escaped the sixth with his last two strike outs, but veteran outfielder Jermaine Dye doubled to the right-center field gap leading off the seventh. For the first time all night Sabathia’s pinpoint control wavered and he walked Carlos Quentin. When Alex Rios doubled over the first base bag the lead was halved to 2-1. But the Yankee “D” picked CC up. Cano nabbed a tricky humpback liner, then Alex Rodriguez nailed Quentin at the plate on a bouncer to third. Nix threatened the lead with a grounder right down the third base line, and Rodriguez gloved it with a dive, though the young second baseman reached to fill the bases. Sabathia fell behind Gordon Beckham 3-1, got a called strike, but Beckham lined a single into the hole between first and second. Swisher corraled the ball and made a strong throw that pulled Jose Molina a few feet foul of home plate on the third base side. But the backup Yankee catcher made a terrific play. He dove back and tagged out his counterpart, catcher Ramon Castro, carrying the lead run, at the plate.
Both teams went to their bullpens, with lefty Matt Thornton and righty Scott Linebrink retiring the Yanks in the seventh through ninth, and Phil Hughes and Mariano Rivera setting down six straight to get the game to extras. Brian Bruney retired three in a row in the 10th, including A.J. Pierzynski pinch hitting, and Molina made another nice play retiring Beckham on a swinging bunt in front of the plate. Lefty Randy Williams struck out Teixeira and got A-Rod on a fly to start the 10th, but lost the plate and walked Hideki Matsui and Swisher with the next eight pitches.
Sabathia was very good, even if his defense had to come through to help him in the seventh. He got seven ground-ball outs to go with the 10 whiffs, and just one outfield fly, just as Andy Pettitte had done in winning Wednesday. Worthy of mention aside from the big defense and the Jeter, Damon and Cano home runs was 14 strike outs by Yankee pitching, with just one walk. Also we had another quality night at the plate from Swisher, who forced Chicago arms to throw him 32 pitches while walking twice and striking out once, to go with his crucial outfield assist. As Swisher and Cano got ready to hit against hard-throwing Thornton in the eighth, he had retired four straight Pinstripers while throwing 18 pitches. By the time both Yanks struck out, the pitch count was 39.
August 28 is an auspicious day in Yankee history, especially for devotees of the team that won back-to-back crowns 30-plus years ago. Mike Torrez (63), Lou Piniella (66), and Ron Guidry (59) from the 1977 champs all celebrate birthdays today, and on this day in that storied season Guidry blanked the Rangers 1-0 on a Graig Nettles triple while facing just 28 batters in a complete-game win. Mickey Mantle beat the Twins with a two-run shot in a 2-1 win on August 28, 1960.
August 28, 2009 would also have been the 260th birthday of Johan Wolfgang von Goethe, most famous perhaps for the drama Faust, a tale involving a deal with the devil. But Goethe also contributed one of the earliest novels of the Romantic tradition, The Sorrows of Young Werther. Werther considers himself to be quite the extraordinary young man when he falls under the spell of his beloved the young Lotte. Though perhaps not young by baseball standards, the Chicago lefty who fell victim to Cano’s home run certainly qualifies when his 33 years are compared to the classic author. Randy Williams had a similar problem. He looked in control retiring two straight, then lost control and the plate and walked two. But he didn’t lose the game until he threw a 2-2 strike to Robbie Cano. Perhaps I should have called this,
The Sorrows of Young Williams
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!