Bronx, N.Y., June 5, 2006 — When the Yankees made the decision to promote Melky Cabrera to play in their injury-filled outfield, one supposes they felt that he would benefit from watching the vets, and absorbing their advice like a sponge. But Melky stubbornly ignored Jason Giambi when he signaled that the 1-2 pitch to him had not rolled far enough from the plate last night, and bolted for second. Thus began the bizzaro world that was Monday night in the Bronx.

The classic pitcher’s duel everyone expected never materialized, and the screaming Yankee fans that filled the Stadium couldn’t have been happier about it. Mike Mussina seemed to have brought his “A” game, at least early, and came up big in a tense first inning. Coco Crisp’s leadoff double went for naught because Moose pounded fastballs and slipped in curves to strike out Mark Loretta, David Ortiz, and Manny Ramirez in succession.

In the bottom of the first with Cabrera on first via a force play, the Sox used an overshift on Giambi, all well and good until Jason Varitek’s rushed throw ticked off Mike Lowell’s glove and rolled into short right, and Melky turned for third. Varitek rushed to cover the abandoned base, leaving home plate undefended, and Cabrera turned again and easily beat Varitek to the plate for a 1-0 Yankee lead.

Boston responded with three straight singles for a run, and plated another as Mussina coaxed a dp and struck out Alex Gonzalez. Part of what made the first-inning score laughable was that Yankee bats had done so little with Josh Beckett’s fastballs. That came to an end in a hurry. The Yanks smacked six straight hits in the second starting with Jorge Posada’s two hopper to right. Robby Cano singled past second and Andy Phillips blasted a 2-1 fastball several rows into the left field boxes for a 4-2 Yankee lead. Bernie Williams, Miguel Cairo, and Johnny Damon singled for another run, and Giambi followed Cabrera’s force with yet another three-run bomb. Beckett’s night was over following an A-Rod walk, and the Yanks led 8-2.

Jermaine Van Buren relieved and escaped, allowing a long drive to center and then one to left, but he got a good start in the home third by getting Phillips to bounce to second. Williams walked, but when Cairo topped a ball right in front of the plate, Varitek tagged Miguel and pegged to second. Confusion reigned, as Gonzalez tagged second as if Bernie was forced, but tagged Williams once he retreated toward first at the coaxing of coach Tony Pena. Meanwhile, home plate ump Fieldin Culbreth was pointing to Cairo and to the dirt in front of home plate, claiming Cairo was out for having come in contact with the batted ball outside the batter’s box.

The Sox trotted off the field, assuming they had closed the frame on a double play. But following Joe Torre’s appeal Culbreth checked with crew chief Tim McClelland at second. Once Cairo touched the ball (or was ruled to have touched it), the ball was dead. Williams was placed back on first and play resumed, or at least it did when someone finally found Mark Loretta, who had disappeared into the clubhouse.

The inning did not restart for nothing. Damon’s second of three walks on the night moved Williams to second, and they both scored when Ramirez could not reach Cabrera’s drive to the left center field gap for a double. Van Buren walked Giambi and A-Rod too, and then walked off the mound, as Francona handed the ball to righty David Riske. He promptly drilled Posada with pitch number one for a third run, and Robinson Cano closed the Yankee scoring with a double to right center. The Yanks had tallied five more after the Cairo dead ball play, and led 13-2.

Ironically, it was in this ragged game with the huge lead that Mussina’s quality start (six innings, no more than three earned runs) string came to an end, mostly due to the long Yankee innings, I’m sure. The Sox plated a tainted tally in the fourth after an A-Rod throwing error, then two more when Doug Mirabelli (in for Varitek) homered and Trot Nixon doubled leading off the sixth.

It was a different Moose Monday than the guy who had thrown a complete-game 6-1 win in Detroit Wednesday. He walked two, a lot for him, but he struck out eight Sox too, and his last (Willie Harris in the sixth) was the 2,478th of his career, tying him with former Detroit starter Jack Morris for ninth on the all-time list. Mike’s 67/33 strikes/balls ratio was textbook solid, as was his 18 of 27 first-pitch strikes. The five runs (four earned) came on eight hits, but six of those came in the second and the sixth; he was dominant otherwise.

Scott Proctor, Ron Villone, and Mariano Rivera tossed a scoreless inning apiece to close it, while Yankee bats went to sleep, although Boston continued to spur abortive Yankee rallies with the 10 free passes they issued. A side-effect to all their wildness was that it took five pitchers to subdue an already slowing Yankee offense, and the 40-plus pitches from Van Buren and Riske and 29 from Julian Tavares does not bode well for a Red Sox pen when young David Pauley is slated to take the mound for Game 2 of 4 Tuesday night.

On the Yankee front, the early explosive offense covered up the fact that Captain Derek Jeter was unable to play after being hit on the hand with a pitched ball Sunday. It would be good if he could play, at least in any of the remaining Boston games that is close late. The Boston Masscare of 1978 found the Yankees drubbing their counterparts in four straight in Beantown. No one expects a repeat (though in New York) of that result in the next three.

We can’t expect the Sox to play “dead” ball everyday.

BTW,TYW

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!