Bronx, N.Y., April 17, 2009 — Friday would have been financier J.P. Morgan’s 172nd birthday, which may explain the remarkable abundance of empty seats closest to Yankee Stadium’s home plate as the Yanks struggled to a 6-5 nail-biting win over Cleveland on a gorgeous spring afternoon. Seated as I was in the left-field-most corner section of the grandstand, staring down toward the plate and its environs (to the left, the right, and just above), I had plenty of time to contemplate where all the missing fans were (at the big birthday shindig?) as a Yankee starter struggled with his control for the second straight day.
The Yankee offense, too, continued with their disturbing difficulty coming up with hits with runners in scoring position, 0-for-8 in that situation today following on yesterday’s 1-for-11. The good news, on the other hand, is that given the five singleton home runs to right field the team came up with, this gang may be batting with runners in scoring position even when the bases are clear. Still, it is a bit of a downer that even with all those explosive at bats, they still would have come up short if the Indians hadn’t allowed them to tally a game-tying run without benefit of a hit in the seventh inning. Mark Teixeira’s dribbler in front of the pitcher’s mound with Johnny Damon on first via a walk certainly didn’t deliver the goods. But it must be said that even though the run scored because reliever Vinnie Chulk threw wildly past first, Damon and third base coach Rob Thomson deserve heaps of credit for a very aggressive baserunning play on a ball that didn’t appear to travel far enough away for the Yankee left fielder to advance three bases.
The Yankees were in the predicament of needing that tainted run late because Joba Chamberlain had all kinds of trouble finding home plate, much as C.C. Sabathia had the day before. Chamberlain threw just eight of 23 first-pitch strikes and walked five batters before being removed with two down in the fifth, having thrown less than half his 93 pitches for strikes. Behind 1-0 in the score on a Mark DeRosa home run in the first, Chamberlain survived his first two walks with back-to-back strike outs and a double play. But two of the next three scored, one on a Ben Francisco single in the fourth, and the other on two consecutive singles in the fifth. The difference between the Sabathia and Chamberlain outings was that C.C. didn’t allow base hits after he got into trouble except but once, while Joba gave up two rbi base hits and a sac fly in his last inning.
And the sac fly play betrayed a sad lapse in the officiating, as second base ump Ed Hickox seemed to take a break from his responsibilities for one play. With one run in on a walk and Grady Sizemore and DeRosa singles, Joba moved the two runners up a base with a wild pitch. When Victor Martinez hit a sac fly to medium-deep left, DeRosa tagged and tried for third as Sizemore scored. Damon’s throw and DeRosa arrived at third at about the same time, with Cody Rasmus making a swipe tag. Third base ump (and crew chief) Jerry Crawford had run into short left to verify the catch, with Hickox apparently not noticing that that left the third-base bag uncovered. DeRosa was neither safe nor out as the whole Stadium waited for a few embarrassing seconds until Hickox finally made an emphatic “safe” call from near second, apparently trying to sell the notion that he had been on top of the bing-bang play from a bad angle and 90 feet away. I’m told by TV viewers that the Cleveland third baseman may have gotten his hand on the bag just in time, but that goes no distance toward convincing me, or several thousand others, that the belated call was a lucky guess at best.
It could have been huge because given a possible fourth out, Ryan Garko delivered DeRosa with a booming double to left, putting the Tribe up 5-3. The Yanks had taken a 2-1 lead on back-to-back Damon and Teixeira roundtrippers in the second, and Melky Cabrera gave them a 3-2 lead in the fourth after Franciso’s single had tied it. Two frames later, Robbie Cano narrowed what had become a two-run deficit to 5-4 with his home run, but although Ransom followed with a one-out single and moved to second on a fielder’s choice, ex-Met Joe Smith preserved the lead by striking out Derek Jeter. Even when the Yanks tied it on the Chulk throw in the seventh, Teixeira never budged from the second base position he had achieved on that error, even though it came with nobody out.
But the Yanks not only caught the Indians, but went ahead, because as opposed to Thursday’s opener, the bullpen held them right where they were once the relievers entered in the fifth. Phil Coke retired four straight batters after relieving Chamberlain, but the young lefty gave way to Jonathan Albaladejo after allowing a Sizemore single. Jonathan coaxed a dp and a grounder, and Brian Bruney came in for his typical one-two-three inning, though he “only” notched two strike outs this time. Hard-throwing Jensen Lewis then came on for the bottom of the eighth and garnered back-to-back swinging strike outs. Earlier, with Brett Gardner on second with no one out in the fifth, Jeter had surprised us all when he swung at a 3-0 offering from starter Anthony Reyes, lifting a deep fly into the right field corner 10 feet short of the wall. The Captain has had a nice power swing to right for years, witness the night Jeffrey Maier became a household name in 1996, and the time that Mr. Jeter earned the title “Mr. November” five years later. Now, after a swinging strike, Lewis fell behind 3-1. Jeter leaned over and drilled an outside fastball, the ball cleared the fence, and the scoreboard video board displayed the words “Captain Clutch” to fanatical cheers.
Still, this one had been a struggle all day, and it remained so. On what was not Mariano Rivera’s sharpest day, Ben Franciso lined deep to left center on a 1-2 pitch leading off the ninth, but Brett Gardner ran it down. Sharp singles by Tony Graffanino and Asdrubal Cabrera followed, but Mo whiffed Sizemore swinging on four pitches. Mark DeRosa then took a close 2-2 pitch and survived, but Phil Cuzzi punched him out when he took the next pitch too and the Yanks had their first win in their new ballpark.
Even with Mariano’s uncharacteristic ninth inning, the pen was superb. While it took Joba 93 tosses to get 14 outs, the pen threw 60 times to get 13. One wonders if there may be a problem with the new Stadium’s pitching mound, because although the Yankee offense rarely took advantage, Reyes had all kinds of trouble throwing strikes too, as Joba did today and C.C. yesterday (not to mention Misters Veras and Marte). The Cleveland righty threw just two first-pitch strikes to the first 18 Yankee batters, and five of 23 overall. He did throw more strikes than balls, but barely (47-43).
As for the long-ball heroics, this is a day in Yankee history that has featured plenty of the same, much of it coming from the late Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle. Mickey homered for the final runs on a day when the Yanks scored on the long ball only in a 5-2 win over the A’s on April 17, 1965. Nine years earlier, Mantle reached Camilo Pascual for two tape-measure blasts in a 10-4 win in Washington, reminiscent of the 565-foot shot he had hit in Washington’s Griffith Stadium as the Yanks won 7-3 exactly three years earlier. Only Jackie Jensen had a Yankee home run in a 5-0 over Boston in Yankee Stadium on April 17, 1951. Not much history that day, except that the young Mr. Mantle collected his first hit in his debut game, one that was the first ever announced by a young fella named Bob Sheppard.
So now April 17 becomes a tie to some of the magic that took place in the old Stadium across the street, not only due to the first win, but to the home run barrage as well. But on a team many expect to go as far as its stellar starting pitching will take it, it was the youth and the veteran in the bullpen that guaranteed this victory.
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!