Bronx, N.Y., May 27, 2007 — All eyes were on Mike Mussina in Yankee Stadium Sunday afternoon following his most disappointing loss of the year. Mike melted early and late in a 7-3 loss to the Red Sox Tuesday, costing the Yanks a sweep of their rivals. In danger of the opposite kind of sweep at the hands of these Angels, who always seem to beat New York, fans started the day more focussed on the mid-eighties gorgeous afternoon than the prospects for the day.
It didn’t stay that way for long. The masterful righty vet was on his game, his control was precise, and all the pitches were working. He struck out the side in the first, and the first four overall, with a fastball that several times topped out at a fast enough 89 mph. He featured the heater, but mixed a mid-seventies curve, a 73 mph change of pace that buckled knees and a low-eighties cutter that coaxed eight ground ball outs.
The Yanks, meanwhile, continued batting in a daze, each hitter hoping the guy before him or the one after could pick him up. Derek Jeter reached on an error in the first followed by an A-Rod walk, but Hideki Matsui and Jason Giambi went out meekly, something they would collaboratively do six more times. A still struggling Bobby Abreu was hit by a pitch in the second and stood on second with two down with the .037-hitting Wil Nieves coming to bat.
Many hoped the backup catcher would walk when the count went full, but Nieves began his best big-league day with a single over third base and the Yanks had a 1-0 lead, their first of the series. I had to pinch myself when Melky Cabrera singled as well, but I realized who — and where — I was when Jeter’s liner traced right to center fielder Gary Matthews, an eerie prefiguring of the game’s final moment, though I did not know that at the time.
Did I say time? This game was a delight, a series of short but dramatic half innings, with both teams pitching and fielding well. Melky Cabrera emerged from a dangerous almost collision with an Orlando Cabrera short fly in the sixth and he also hit the cutoff man with a seventh inning throw that helped bring that damaged chapter to an end. Mussina kept his dynamite start going and only allowed a Howie Kendrick single through the first four innings. But he was throwing to the minimum number of batters because Nieves threw Kendrick out stealing four pitches later.
It all came up roses for Nieves this day. When Abreu flied to left, failing to advance Robbie Cano following his leadoff double in the fourth, Wil came up after Doug Mientkiewicz was apparently hit with a pitch. Up to .071 now, he wasted no time, lining his second straight rbi single to right on Lackey’s first pitch. The Yanks were set up with Mientkiewicz around and on third with one down, but Lackey induced a grounder up the middle from Cabrera and escaped further damage on a 6-4-3. It was a run not scored that we missed right away.
The Angels solved Moose’s array in the fifth, with Matthews singling off Mike’s glove, and Casey Kotchman blooping a single to short right. The veteran righty almost escaped on a Kendrick 6-6-3, but catcher Mike Napoli, smoking currently at the bat, halved the Yank lead with a single up the middle. Lackey then retired the Yanks six straight and Moose got a 1-2-3 sixth as the innings came and went and the drama grew.
It’s often said that the charm of baseball is that it has no clock, and this contest was proceeding apace with team at bats that went by in anywhere from four quick minutes to a long of 14. Both pitchers dominated, and Mussina whiffed Matthews to start the seventh on his 88th pitch. But he walked Kotchman on a 3-2 pitch, and was lifted. The great Yankee outing left the building, and so did the well-paced game.
Scott Proctor throws hard, and usually quite well. But although he hit 99 on the gun, it wasn’t his day. He’d be in this frame for a while, a top of the seventh that stretched to an agonizing 28 minutes. Kendrick took his third pitch to left for a double, as the crowd wilted. He filled the empty base at first with a six-pitch walk of Napoli, setting up the double play.
Anaheim pinch-hit lefty batter Erick Aybar for Robb Quinlan and Proctor pounded strikes. And strikes. A ball or two. And strikes. But Aybar missed one and fouled the next six. Scott missed with two straight and the game was tied on a fabulous piece of work by Aybar. Nothing was close as a shaken Proctor walked weak-hitiing Chone Figgins to hand Anaheim the lead. Brian Bruney came on and closed the frame in three throws, but a sac fly plated the fourth Angels run before it was over on Cabrera’s outfield assist.
Bruney and Karl Farnsworth closed it out but the damage was done. Nieves fleshed out his perfect day with a five-pitch walk and Jeter lined a two-out double in the home seventh, but Matsui grounded out weakly for the fourth time. Lackey finished the eighth strong with two K’s and a fly to left, and the control-averse Francisco Rodriguez came on for the close.
Where Jeff Nelson found strikes as Rodriguez pounded balls in all directions in the 3-1 Yankee Saturday loss, at least Sunday home-plate ump Jim Wolf recognized wildness, and Abreu walked to start the inning. Pinch-hitting, Jorge Posada singled to right, and fellow pinch hitter Damon moved the runners up with a fielder’s choice to first. Cabrera lined hard to right, a shot that Aybar almost misjugded, to plate Abreu, and Jeter came to bat. Derek worked K-Rod to 3-2 through eight dramatic pitches, and then lifted a long liner to right center. Matthews ran it down and the game was over.
Down to the Red Sox 4-2 five days ago, Joe Torre stayed with Mussina after a leadoff seventh inning walk. Although Mike almost escaped (he allowed back-to-back two-out hits), I put the loss on Joe for not pulling his starter in a key inning. So it goes without saying I understood when Mike was out in favor of Proctor. Mussina threw 94 pitches, and had it going. He struck out six and walked just one fateful guy, and his strikes/balls ratio was a superb 64/30. He threw 14 of 24 first-pitch strikes. He deserved to win.
Joe is criticized for loving and trusting his vets, sticking with them to a fault. Did he cost us a chance Tuesday by not going to the pen? Hard to sit in judgement after the exact opposite course of action took such an ugly turn today. The team continues to struggle; the right move is the one you didn’t make. Who could blame Joe if he flips a coin next time? If a loss is looking for you, what does it matter what you do?
Six of one, half-a-dozen of another.
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!