Bronx, N.Y., August 17, 2008 — Fifteen days ago on Old Timers Day in the Bronx, the Yankees suffered an early tense moment following the festivities in the game with the playoff-bound Anaheim Angels. Jered Weaver had just struck out the side in the bottom of the first, and a single and double by the first two batters in the second set Anaheim up with second and third with no outs. A grounder and walk later, second baseman Wilson Betemit’s bad throw allowed two runs to cross. Mike Mussina shrugged, and calmly retired the next 16 batters he faced.
The last-place K.C. Royals jumped on Moose even more quickly Sunday afternoon, rolling two seeing-eye singles through the infield before Moose whiffed Mark Teahan. Jose Guillen’s swinging bunt loaded the bases, and Billy Butler’s soft line double over third delivered two runs; a sac fly drove in one more.
The Yanks came back for six unanswered runs over the next five innings that day against Anaheim. Today they equalled that response in the first inning. Alex Rodriguez slugged a three-run bomb on an 0-2 pitch after a walk and a single, and one out later Xavier Nady went the other way with a four-base hit off the right field foul pole. Robbie Cano singled, then scored from first on a nifty slide on Jose Molina’s double off the wall in left. Finally, Brett Gardner punctuated the rally and brought the crowd to its feet on an rbi triple into the right-center field gap.
But the Royals weren’t done, despite the six-run explosion and 6-3 deficit. John Buck doubled into the left field corner to start the second, and Esteban German singled him to third. That’s when Mussina went into Moose Mode. A short fly to center got the first out, and young Mike Aviles smacked a double play grounder to short. Two grounders and a strike out closed the third, two flies and a punch out the fourth. After four more ground outs and two more K’s, Mussina’s day was over after six innings and 96 pitches.
Looking back on both games, it seems Moose’s excellence exceeded the need. The Yanks beat the Angels 8-2 on August 2, and they did considerably more this day. Derek Jeter started the bottom of the second with his second of four singles, and Bobby Abreu and Rodriguez reached KC starter Brian Bannister for back-to-back walks. Jason Giambi took ball one, fouled a pitch at the plate, then drilled a grand slam to the right field bleachers. When Giambi crossed, the Yanks were up 10-3, and Jason had scored his 500th run as a Yankee.
The bats didn’t stop, but the scoring slowed, at least for a while. Nady and Cano singles drove Bannister from the game, but the Royals escaped when second sacker German doubled Cano off first on Gardner’s hard liner. Johnny Damon led off the third with a walk against reliever Josh Newman and Jeter singled again. Abreu grounded into a double play, but Damon scored when Teahen couldn’t find A-Rod’s pop fly to left under a blazing sun, though Alex was caught trying to stretch it into a double.
Neither team scored through the next three, and Moose gave way to Billy Traber in the seventh. In the bottom half, righty Jeff Fulchino struck out Damon, but he hit the 4-for-4 Jeter with a pitch. Jeter scored on an Abreu double, and A-Rod singled in Bobby. Joe Girardi sent Cody Ransom up to hit for Giambi, and Ransom drilled a 1-1 pitch deep into the left field seats for his first Yankee home run (and hit) and a 15-3 lead. The Royals reached Traber for one in the eighth and Ross Gload hit a two-run home run off Chris Britton in the ninth to forge the 15-6 final.
It was fun though bewildering watching the explosive bats after weeks of struggles on offense. The three-run KC first would have begun many a loss in those weeks, but today the team was back up 11-3 in three frames. A-Rod had three hits, two walks, and five rbi’s, and the Giambi and Ransom bombs gave the home team six runs batted in from the fifth spot in the order. Jeter scored three times, and Nady, Cano, and Gardner had two hits apiece. Tony Pena made a diving stop on Gardner’s hard hopper toward second in the eighth, but Brett immediately proved what we all expected: an infielder cannot leave his feet and expect to peg this speed burner out. Gardner hit the ball hard five times today.
On August 17, 1944, Yankee Johnny Lindell tied a record with four consecutive doubles in a 10-3 win over Cleveland, sixty-four years before the Captain Derek Jeter had his four singles in a row, an onslaught that brought the hot Yankee shortstop’s batting average up to .295. But the thunderous offense notwithstanding, Mike Mussina was the star yet again. He threw 19 first-pitch stikes to 23 batters, and his 67/29 strikes/balls ratio was stellar. Four of the six hits against him came in the first inning, and he struck out five. Moose not only didn’t walk a batter, just one Royal reached a three-ball count. It made for Mike’s first 16-win season since 2003, this with six weeks remaining in the regular season.
But more important than that is the way he has made two offenses disappear for five innings at a time. The Yanks, it is true, will be hard-pressed to make the postseason this year with the time they have left and the deficits they need to make up. But if they do, think about their last several playoff series. Imagine a starter who can reel off 15, 16, 17 outs in a row at any given time.
Think about postseason baseball in Moose Mode.
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!