Bronx, N.Y., April 28, 2006 — Although the big crowd who showed up for the series opener vs. the Toronto Blue Jays in Yankee Stadium Friday was eager for a good time, it did not take long to realize that a significant percentage of them were not confident in the contest’s result. Jaret Wright, coming off a disappointing 2005 season and an ineffective outing in his only previous start this year, would be facing former Cy Young Award-winning righty Roy Halladay, whose 3.60 era coming in was exactly half that of Wright’s.
So although the late arriving crowd had little to say when the Yankee righthander delivered a first-pitch ball to Jays shortstop Russ Adams at 7:11 pm, scattered mutters were heard as Wright fell behind 2-0, 3-0, and issued a free pass on four straight, none of which were close. The Yankee starter got a call strike on Frank Catalonotto, but fell to 3-1. Two pitches later the Toronto left fielder drilled a 3-2 high fastball over the short porch in right, and the Yanks were behind 2-0. Mutters had become boo’s by now, and these grew as Vernon Wells worked a seven-pitch walk. The frustrated crowd cheered as Wright escaped via a double-play grounder and a long fly to center, but few seemed to notice that Wright had found something.
It was exactly 13 months ago that I first saw Jaret throw in a game as a Yankee, in the last week of spring training, versus Toronto then too, in Dunedin, Florida. Knowing him more by reputation than by recent performance, I recalled the brash young hard thrower who helped usher the Yankees out of the 1997 playoffs for Cleveland by pounding fastballs and hitting Yankee batters with pitches. But I was shocked to discover in an 8-3 Yankee win that 2005 day a guy who had apparently learned something about pitching, with a brand-new approach. He retired 12 of 18 Jays over six on ground balls, and did not coax a Toronto swing and a miss until his 75th toss with one down in the sixth.
That Wright pitched in the Bronx tonight, although he threw a lot more off the plate. But Mr. Halladay couldn’t find the zone in the blustery conditions either (missing on 44 of 99 tosses), so I’ll attribute the control issue to the conditions on both sides. Jaret threw 42 of 82 for strikes Friday while lasting two batters into the sixth, and not once did a Blue Jay swing and miss against him. He allowed at least one single or walk in every subsequent frame, but coaxed three more dps to escape each time no further scathed. It was a creditable performance for a rarely used fifth starter in the early going, and on the heels of good outings from Chien-Ming Wang and Shawn Chacon, the Yankee rotation seems ready to come into its own.
Jaret’s third walk of the night, issued to Catalonotto leading off the sixth, was his undoing. A-Rod charged a weak hopper by Wells and appeared to nail him with a strong peg, but first base ump Bruce Dreckman made the first of two tough calls on the Yanks, and Wright was lifted with two on and no one out. Things changed dramatically when Scott Proctor took over, first because he immediately got a swinging strike three on Lyle Overbay after a long fly out, but second because subsequently Shea Hillenbrand blasted a 1-1 pitch for a three-run homer to left center.
This in turn removed much of the drama but none of the fun from the Bernie Williams’s two-run jolt over the 399 marker off Scott Schoenweiss in that inning’s bottom half. Justin Speier quieted things with two strike outs after a leadoff Jorge Posada single in the seventh, and Dreckman’s second questionable call, punching an apparently safe Bernie out on a 5-4-3 after two singles in the eighth, ended the Yankee chances. The Jays fashioned the final score by reaching Tanyon Sturtze for a homer, single, double, and sac fly in succession with one down in the ninth, and Overbay put the Bombers out of their misery on a fine stab of Derek Jeter’s sinking line-drive bid for a third hit after three hours and four minutes.
Before the game, PA Announcer Bob Sheppard announced the sad news that former Yankee lefty reliever Steve Howe had died in a tragic car crash. A butt of many jokes and poster child for cocaine abuse in the sport, I’m reasonably sure Steve had his own demons to overcome in life, and I can only pray and hope that he succeeded in that and had some peace before the unexpected end came.
The news made a cold night even colder. It was this day back in 1930 that the first organized baseball night game was held in Kansas. Having shivered through so many April ballgames, I have to wonder what they were thinking. Night baseball is a summer joy, and might be played in those months only if TV rights didn’t rule the spectator sports world.
It was also on this day in 1789 that Fletcher Christian and the crew of HMS Bounty staged their famous mutiny. Subjected to harsh treatment and continuous punishment by Captain Bligh, one can understand their fateful decision even if one disagrees that they should have done it. What is far harder to understand for this Yankee fan is the cascading “boo” echoing around the Stadium two batters in. Apparently nine first place finishes out of 10 with four Championships is just too hard a legacy to put up with for today’s “fan.”
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!