Bronx, N.Y., July 11, 2004 — Baseball fans and enthusiasts checking their morning paper on Monday on the first day of the three-day All Star Break will see that the Yankees closed out the titular first half of the season with a 10-3 bashing of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays with a barrage of five home runs, each one longer and more majestic than the last. Although the 53,000-plus in attendance thrilled to all that firepower, however, most would tell you that this contest was won on the heart of a returning hero, and a six-hit rally in the home third inning.
Once it was confirmed that Mike Mussina would be resting a tender right elbow and that Orlando “el duque” Hernandez would be making the start, the Stadium fairly buzzed with aniticipation. El duque had made his last Baseball Cathedral appearance on October 2, 2002, in relief of an ineffective Andy Pettitte in Game Two of the 2002 ALDS. Demoted to the bullpen, he retired nine of 10 Angels as the Yanks stormed back from a 4-0 deficit to a 6-4 lead. But he tired and allowed back-to-back jacks to Garret Anderson and Troy Glaus to open his fourth, and last, inning in Pinstripes, and the Yanks lost the game, and series.
But with the Yankee rotation struggling with injuries and ineffectiveness, he made his return this Sunday. He was not overpowering, but the Duke did not disappoint. He allowed a 1-1 single to the speedy Carl Crawford to start the game, but it was Miguel Cairo to the rescue, as the Yankee second baseman allowed Orlando to settle in. Cairo smothered an Aubrey Huff bid for a single to right and pegged him out in between catching short popups by Rocco Baldelli and Jose Cruz to close the inning.
Once lefty Mark Hendrikson retired the Yankees around a Gary Sheffield single in the home first, The Duke had his most effective inning, retiring the side in order on a strike out and two flies. Given a 1-0 lead on Jorge Posada’s booming home run to left in the second, he lost a seven-pitch battle to left-handed second baseman Geoff Blum, who singled to right center to start the top of the third. A-Rod made a fine play smothering Crawford’s first-pitch shot toward the shortstop hole, and second base ump Dan Iossogna ruled that his underhand toss from his knees to Cairo just beat Blum to second base. Lou Piniella quickly trotted out to argue the call; after an expression of disgust, his slow stroll back to the third base dugout took considerably longer. El Duque came back to strike Baldelli out swinging, and ran off the mound once Posada nailed speedster Crawford trying to steal second, the second time he caught him this series.
One of the many startling graphics Yankee personnel have added to the matrix board and to the Diamond Vision screens in center and right fields, and the auxiliary boards down either line proclaims, “Two Out Lightning.” But there are no colors or special effects that can more effectively convey what that phrase is all about than what took place after Hendrickson retired Miguel Cairo and Bernie Williams to start the home third.
Jeter lined a 2-0 offering to the wall in left center for a double. One batter later, Alex Rodriguex fought off a tough pitch on his fists and blooped it over third for a single, but it was not as disruptive to the Tampa Bay defense as the opposite field singles stroked by Sheffield before A-Rod and Giambi after. Gary’s plated Jeter on a 3-1 pitch; Giambi’s scored Sheffield after Jason fouled off one 2-2 offering. Posada followed his second-inning blast to left with a sharp single to right center on a 2-1 pitch next, bringing in A-Rod for a 4-0 lead. Then once Hendrickson got a strike call on a borderline outside pitch against Matsui, the Yankee left fielder scored Giambi with a scorcher right up the middle that almost took the Tampa lefty out one batter earlier than Piniella did, as Lou did not allow him to come out again once he retired Clark, and the Yanks, on a bouncer to short.
Two-out lightning indeed! But to the Rays’ credit, they did not take the onslaught lying down, challenging a wobbly Hernandez immediately on a 1-1 Huff homer off the right field foul pole, followed by an 0-1 single by Tino Martinez to right. The wily Hernandez eschewed the use of his fastball for a few batters after the hard shots, but he got swinging strike outs on sweeping curves to Cruz and to Fick, sandwiched around a six-pitch walk to shortstop Lugo. At 1-1 to Toby Hall, the Tampa backstop fought off a hard one inside, and then delivered Martinez on a soft single over second. But Blum followed with a first-pitch grounder to old reliable Cairo at second, and Hernandez strode to the dugout with a 5-2 lead.
Tampa closer Sosa came on for the fourth, and the hard thrower escaped a leadoff Cairo double to left center by overpowering Williams and Jeter on strike outs and coaxing a harmless Sheffield pop to left, the only time all day the Yankee right fielder would be retired. Strike outs of Giambi and John Flaherty, in for the hobbled Posada who had sprained an ankle trying for a catch at the Tampa dugout rail, highlighted Sosa’s one-two-three fifth.
El Duque had retired the Rays in the top of the fifth around a five-pitch walk of Huff, striking out Baldelli for the second out and coaxing a high foul pop to Flaherty by Martinez to close it. Hernandez is obviously in need of some more arm strength, as he can only spot his fastball, but the cunning, the guile, the sweeping curve, the darting slider, all set up by the huge leg kick and all that motion, are still there. He threw 50 of 87 pitches for strikes, and hit the zone on 12 of 23 first pitches. Six of the nine times he got Rays to swing and miss contributed to the five swinging strike outs. He walked three and allowed five hits and two runs over his five frames on a return trip to the Bronx.
Felix Heredia allowed a run on a Toby Hall (3-for-4, two rbi) single in the sixth, a frame closed on a fine grab and throw of a Blum hopper by A-Rod, and the lone Yankee lefty set the Rays down in order in the seventh. On the home side of things, Tony Clark reached Sosa for a two-run homer to right in the sixth, and followed Matsui’s blast off the front facade of the black seats in center off Lance Carter in the seventh with a high fly homer at the Tier in right.
The Yanks had a 9-3 lead entering the home eighth, but the paying customers were wise to stay for one more mini-drama before this one played out. Cuban defector and former Cleveland closer Danys Baez took the mound, and struck out Williams and retired Jeter on a comebacker to bring Sheffield to the plate. Apparently incensed that Gary jumped all over a 1-2 pitch, which he fouled hard straight back, Baez decked Shef with a high hard one right at his head. The violence of Gary’s dive and fall must have hurt, but it’s obvious that at the least pain is something the new Yankee right fielder can ignore; it’s possible that he actually feeds off it. Returning to his feet, Shef fouled off several pitches, each one harder than the last, and then drilled a vicious low liner that reached the netting over the retired numbers in left center in an instant, on the 12th pitch of the battle. 10-3 Yankees.
Heredia got two more outs in the eighth, then gave way to Yankee rookie Sam Marsonek, whom they obtained from the Rangers in the Chad Curtis trade almost four years ago. With the Yankee thunder extending the lead, Marsonek was allowed to garner four outs around two hits in his major league debut to close the Rays out, an absolute thrill for him, I’m sure. If there is any payback to come from the Baez head shot at Shef (aside from the dart Gary sent to the northeast), it will obviously come in some future game.
The day was hot, largely cloudless, and gorgeous. The four-game sweep allowed the Bombers to extend their lead to seven over the Red Sox, and to close the first half with the best record in baseball. It is hoped that Posada’s scrape is nothing that three days’ rest cannot go a long way toward healing. Blum actually popped back-to-back fouls near the visiting dugout in that third-inning at bat, and on the one before Jorge’s bump, the Yankee Captain treated the Stadium to a bit of comedy. As Rodriguez leaned in past the camera box in a vain attempt to reach the ball, Jeter took a cap from a young fan, then flipped it back to him as he wheeled and returned to his position. A day after the Old Timers Game, it brings to mind a similar episode former Yankee Captain Don Mattingly had with a young fan’s popcorn down the first base side more than 10 years ago.
Mr. Sheffield went 3-for-4, scored twice, knocked in two, and homered. Tony Clark homered twice and knocked in three, even if he suffered a rare defensive blip, as he should have flagged down Blum’s single after the two aforementioned third inning pops. And Matsui homered, stroked three hits, scored twice, and plated two. A-Rod had two sparkling plays at third, and the steady Miguel Cairo recorded three putouts and five assists. The late stage and film star Yul Brynner would have been 84 this day, and his line from the stage and film hit The King and I would sum it up thusly: “et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.”
But the best news of the day for Yankee fans, of course, is that The Duke is back, that he won, and that he showed some command in doing so. Perhaps a second half of continued Yankee dominance with el duque’s help, followed by materful performances under postseason pressure, will garner the Yankees Championship Number 27. As Mr. Brynner said in the famous line as the Pharaoh Ramses in Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments:
“So let it be written. So let it be done!”
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!