Bronx, N.Y., September 23, 2007 — The good news for the majority of Yankee fans that showed for the rare daygame in the Bronx Monday afternoon was that hard-throwing A.J. Burnett, who had shut out the club in Toronto little more than a week ago, would not be arriving to make his scheduled start. The bad news was that much of the Yankee club did not arrive either, or so it seemed.

Plans were askew all over the place, and Andy Pettitte got the start, on full rest, granted, but the veteran southpaw was supposed to be taking the mound for the first of three in Tampa Tuesday. But nicks to young Ian Kennedy and significantly older Roger Clemens changed things. Still Andy, showing no early ill effects, struck out Matt Stairs swinging in the middle of a one-two-three first.

Young Jesse Litsch had two-hit the Red Sox in his last start, so no one was jumping for joy at his presence on the mound for Toronto either. Any fears that the Yanks would have trouble hitting the youngster were well “grounded” too, as it turned out. He calmly posted 17 of 23 outs through 7.7 innings on ground balls. Johnny Damon stroked his lone well-hit ball on a line to left fielder Reed Johnson, and Derek Jeter followed with the first of three consecutive long flies to right in the bottom of the first, but once Bobby Abreu bounced back to the box, the ground-ball fest was on.

The Blue Jays jumped on Mike Mussina for three runs in the top of the second Sunday. They did the same to Pettitte this game, with a little help, and little did we know that the game was essentially over right then. Aaron Hill stroked a clean one-out single to center, and Andy allowed his lone walk to Greg Zaun, then got a called strike to Curtis Thigpen in the key at bat of the game. A catcher by trade who hit well this whole series, first baseman Thigpen pulled the next pitch hard down the left field line. The official scorer was right to credit the rookie with an rbi double, as the ball eluded an Alex Rodriguez attempt. But the ball went right under his glove, and I’m sure A-Rod would agree that he was a bit slow in reacting.

Hector Luna followed with a slow bouncer that Alex corralled and got the out at first, with a second run scoring. Light-hitting, good-glove John McDonald got the better of Mussina in an extended at bat Sunday, fouling off pitch after pitch until he smacked the one he wanted to center for a single. He followed with a similar plate appearance against Pettitte, finally doubling over Melky Cabrera’s head for a 3-0 Blue Jays lead. Andy got a ground out starting the third, but then was reached for an Alex Rios double off the wall in right. He pitched out of it, or so it seemed, getting a fly to right and a routine bouncer to short, but the ball rolled out of Jeter’s glove for an e-6, 4-0 Jays.

From that point on Pettitte was nigh well untouchable, but the damage was done. Two foul outs followed, the second a very good catch by Robbie Cano down the first base line by the tarp for the first out of the fourth. He hurt his leg on the stands making the play, but stayed in the game. Luna singled off Doug Mientkiewicz’s glove, but Andy got a 6-4-3, and retired the last seven guys he faced.

Mientkiewicz had reached Litsch for the Yanks’ first hit, a one-out double in the third, and made it to third when Thigpen booted a Cabrera bouncer. It was actually Thigpen’s second misplay, but when a Posada shot caromed off his glove in the second it bounded directly to Adams, who threw Jorge out to Litsch, covering at first. Damon followed with a weak grounder that would not have reached first had Thigpen not come to get it. Mientkiewicz probably could have scored, but he froze, and Stairs ran down Jeter’s second straight deep fly to right to keep New York off the board.

The Yanks reached the Toronto rookie for five hits, but four of them were well-struck doubles, and Hideki Matsui bounced one off the right center field wall with two down in the fourth. Posada was hit by a pitch, but Cabrera bounced out. Jeter got a fly past Stairs for a leadoff double in the sixth, and moved to third on a grounder. A-Rod took ball one, then lined a fastball toward the right field foul pole. No squirrel today, no magic either; it curved and barely missed. Alex scored Jeter on a fielder’s choice for 4-1, and Matsui singled, but Posada flied to left.

Abreu finally drove Litsch from the mound with a two-base hit with two down in the eighth. A-Rod moved him to third with an infield single, but Matsui, the only Yankee with two hits, flied to left, and the final Yankee chance passed.

If you really need to extract some good news from the game, Pettitte was really quite good, allowing just five hits, none after the fourth. His only strike out was of the second batter in the game; the only walk hurt. Andy threw 13 of 24 first-pitch strikes, and his strikes/balls ratio was a respectable 61/33. And the work of the pen was good, with Kyle Farnsworth, Jose Veras, and Russ Ohlendorf pitching a scoreless frame apiece. Veras, who struggled Saturday, allowed a leadoff double to Reed Johnson in the eighth, but he may have scored points in the postseason auditions by leaving the Toronto left fielder planted right there.

It was another gorgeous sunny day in the Bronx, 75 degrees yet again, low humidity, with a blue sky Rembrandt could have painted, though it would have been on a day when he knocked off early, as there were no clouds, puffy or otherwise. The Yanks announced a crowd of 53,000-plus, but that was tickets sold. Perhaps 20,000 showed for this makeup of an April rainout.

The Yanks were scheduled to fly to Tampa shortly after the flight. Early in the game, when it mattered, it seemed the left-side gloves had been packed early. The same could have been said for the bats much of the day.

The wacky sit-com of the undead, The Munsters, premiered on TV 43 years ago Monday. Although the theme song that accompanied the show was never sung, it did have words. The following verse speaks to the nature of the hometown play this Monday:

The Munsters may shake your hand clammily

But they’re not necessarily dead.

There’s work to be done in Tampa and Baltimore, and beyond I’m sure. I expect I won’t be using the word “clammily” again.

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!