Bronx, N.Y., May 17, 2009 — So how is the new Yankee Palace going to play as the season unfolds? Will balls continue to fly out in right center as the months grow warm, then hot, and the winds grow still? Will the team warm to the new Stadium and regularly win here, or lose too often, as had been the case before their recently begun homestand? Patterns emerge over time, and trends need to be verified through game after game. But at least for the time being Johnny Damon has snagged onto the second deck in right field as his preferred depository for his home runs.
The Yankees and Twins have battled tooth and nail the last three days. Walkoff extra-inning home runs have prompted Yankee smiles for two days running now following the surprise rally the home team threw at Minnesota All Star closer Joe Nathan Friday night, and suddenly the new digs aren’t so bad. But all day through a frigid Sunday afternoon, game three was up for grabs.
Yankee righthander A.J. Burnett was good, notching at least one strike out in every inning but the fifth as he and Minnesota righty Kevin Slowey threw blanks through six hard-fought frames. Mixing 95-mph heat with high 70’s curves, with the occasional change of pace somewhere in the middle, Burnett pitched around two walks in the first, and two singles in the fourth, but he couldn’t work through what eventually became a three-walk, 30-pitch, two-run seventh. Light-hitting second baseman Matt Tolbert singled for one run and shortstop Nick Punto scored the second run by aggressively charging home plate from third on a short wild pitch Kevin Cash couldn’t find. Jonathan Alabaladejo struck out the birthdaying Jason Kubel to close the seventh, but then promptly dug himself a big hole by consistently missing with pitches in the eighth.
The Yanks, meanwhile, had no solution for Slowey, who used 88-mph fastballs and curves at 73 and thereabouts to keep them off balance, and his pitch count down, through inning after inning. He walked no one and retired 18 of 21 batters around three harmless singles through the first six innings on just 73 pitches. He struck out eight, half of them on called third strikes.
But Slowey was virtually unhittable for just so long, then suddenly he wasn’t, and Alex Rodriguez helped the Yanks get off the mat once Minnesota had the lead in the seventh. A-Rod homered to left on an 0-1 pitch leading off, and Hideki Matsui doubled to right three pitches later. Melky Cabrera scored Matsui on a not very deep sac fly to left following one of three sac bunts by the Yanks, and we were tied at 2-2.
Both teams wasted bases-loaded opportunities in the eighth, with three of the first four Twins batters reaching on two Alabaladejo walks around a single. Joe Girardi summoned veteran righty Brett Tomko, who came through, mostly because Mark Teixeira stunned the visitors with a superb play on a Denard Span hot shot. On a day where the Twins infield played in as early as the fourth inning when Derek Jeter reached third base with one out, the Yanks were in with the bases loaded. Tex dove to his right to corral Denard’s bouncer, then lofted a perfect strike home for the force from his prone position. In the bottom half, Jeter and Damon singles and an A-Rod hit by pitch with two down forced Twins Manager to replace Slowey with lefty Jose Mijares, who fell behind Matsui 3-0, but recovered to strike him out.
In their long playoff run from 1995 until it was snapped last year, the Yanks have featured ground ball pitchers and strike out pitchers, but Burnett brings to mind the work of recently retired Mike Mussina. A.J. throws oh so much harder, it’s true, but neither of these righthanders is shy about where the outs are (or were) coming from. The 20 outs A.J. garnered featured seven strike outs, and one infield popup, with ground-ball and fly-ball outs accounting for exactly six apiece. Both Burnett and his counterpart Slowey threw 21 of 31 first-pitch strikes this day, and neither got a win for their trouble. A.J.’s 74/49 strikes/balls ratio was good, he allowed only six hits, but the three seventh-inning walks brought his total to six.
With the game on the cusp of extra innings, the Yanks reverted to their Saturday strategy, with Mariano Rivera for just one inning this time, with Alfredo Aceves to follow. Minnesota countered with Mijares continuing through the ninth and then righty Jesse Crain. Crain actually pitched against this team for Team Canada of the World Baseball Classic back on March 5, and retired Cash, Cabrera, and Teixeira in a game where Canada reached Joba Chamberlain and Albaladejo for six early runs. But Johnny Damon sat out that one, and he had taken a seat well ahead of Crain’s appearance Friday night, courtesy of home plate ump Wally Bell.
The hard-throwing righty can be forgiven, then, for not knowing how careful he needed to be when Johnny worked the count to 3-2 with one down in the bottom of the 10th. Crain tried outside cheese not quite outside enough, and the Yanks had their third consecutive walkoff win when Johnny went to his special place.
He blasted the 3-2 pitch to right, just to the right of where the number 4 subway train can be seen gliding by outside the Staium. But this was no wind-aided, launching-pad liner over the wall. This one reached the The Damon Deck, for the 3-2 Yankee win.
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!