Bronx, N.Y., May 22, 2008 — Four hours before game time Thursday night, hailstones peppered my house 20 miles north of Yankee Stadium, and I stared at the sky shaking my fist like Snoopy after the dastardly Red Baron had escaped his clutches one more time. The weather and the team’s play have both been gruesome in 2008, and it was after a full day of rain Tuesday that the Bombers were crushed 12-2 in a very ugly ballgame. Things improved Wednesday, but even then the rain started falling two minutes before first pitch, soaking all not covered before the team stormed to an 8-0 drubbing of Baltimore.

The hail passed quickly Thursday, and young Ian Kennedy retired the Orioles batters on 12 quick pitches under clear but breezy skies. By the time the Yanks came to bat, however, the northerly wind began gusting, with the flags atop the Stadium blowing furiously to the left field corner. Johnny Damon reached southpaw Brian Burres for the first of three singles on an 0-2 pitch, but Derek Jeter’s deep fly near the right field foul pole died and dropped into Nick Markakis’s glove. Then a Hideki Matsui drive destined for double-digit rows deep into the right field bleachers struck a wall of wind, succumbed to the crosswind in midair, and fell short of the fence. Markakis made a fine catch and an even better throw that doubled the startled Damon off first. The last of the week’s bad weather moved on, but not before costing the home team at least two early runs.

This Yankee team has been finding ways to lose games all season, and it was hard not to fear that they may have found another. With New York agog over a Mets minisweep in the Bronx over the weekend, the team is nestled in an unaccustomed last place in the American League East. The teams played a scoreless second inning, but the bottom of the Baltimore order rallied in the third, with shortstop Freddie Bynum lashing a one-out triple to the left-ceneter field gap, scoring Adam Jones with the game’s first run. Kennedy, whose control has been erratic, had thrown 22 of 32 pitches for strikes, with five of nine first-pitch strikes, but he grew tentative with a second run 90 feet from home. Brian Roberts walked on five pitches, as did Jay Payton once Roberts reached second when first baseman Jason Giambi made a poor throw to third tryiing to catch Bynum off third once Roberts broke for second. But following a four-pitch swinging strike out of Markakis in the first, Kennedy went after him again, with the same results. A fly to left got Ian out of an inning that cost him 26 throws relatively unscathed at 1-0 down.

Burres was a puzzle though, and it was a concern. He was throwing strikes, featuring seemingly hittable heat but effective sliders and curves, and a killer change of pace. The Yankees were being retired, and quickly. Even though Jose Molina and Damon singled in the home third, the O’s lefty got through nine outs on 26 pitches, 27 less than Kennedy had thrown. But Kennedy came through his tough inning in good shape. He was having trouble throwing anything but fastballs for strikes early, but now a low 70’s curve and an 80-mph change found their mark. He threw a one-two-three fourth, and the Yanks rallied for the tie.

Matsui, who has led the team in hitting at well over .300 much of the way, started the game down to.297, and the lost home run hurt further. But he started the home fourth with a hard single past first on an 0-2 pitch. A string of Burres one- and two-pitch outs finally came to a stop after an A-Rod fly to center, as Giambi changed all of that. In the first of two stellar at bats, Jason fouled off five pitches before singling Matsui, who was going on a 3-2 pitch, around to third base. Playing right field against the tough lefty, Shelley Duncan followed with a line a sac fly to deep left that evened the score.

Kennedy survived a one-out walk of Bynum in the fifth on a strike out and Molina’s peg that nailed the Baltimore shortstop stealing, then gutted out the top of the sixth that began with a hard Payton single off a leaping Robbie Cano’s glove. After a third swinging strike out of Markakis, Aubrey Huff walked, but Ian closed the frame and his night on outfield flies to right, then center. The 57/40 strikes/balls ratio wasn’t ideal, nor were the four walks. But the four hits over six and four strike outs kept the O’s in check. At one run allowed over six, it easily qualified as a quality start. Jose Veras pitched the seventh, surviving a leadoff Ramon Hernandez base hit with the help of a fine play by Duncan in the corner, with a quick retrieve and an on-line one-hop peg to second. Kyle Farnsworth pitched a dominant one-two-three eighth, and Mariano Rivera whiffed Hernandez to close the top of the ninth in order.

Burres, meanwhile, returned the Yankee offense to a slumber after the Duncan sac fly, retiring 12 straight before Damon finally sent him to the showers after 99 pitches with a two-out single in the eighth. Johnny was the only one to face Burres four times, and he was one of five Yankees to see less than 10 pitches through three at bats. Melky Cabrera was 0-for-3 on 10 throws, Jose Molina 1-for-3 (with a just missed foul home run in the fifth) on 12. And Duncan fought through 14 throws. The guy who really got Burres out of the game, then, was Giambi, who forced Brian to throw 21 times to retire him twice with the one single. Ironically, it was the guy who saw the lowest amount of pitches who would decide this game.

Hard-throwing righty Jim Johnson replaced Burres, and he got Jeter on a hard but foul liner down first that Kevin Millar gloved to end the eighth. He pounded 95-mph heat to get Matsui to 3-2 leading off the ninth, but the Yankee DH reached him for a leadoff single to left. Continuing to throw hard, Johnson surprised Rodriguez for a swinging strike three on a 79-mph curve. Jason Giambi worked him to 2-2, then home plate ump Chris Guccione ruled that the fifth pitch ticked his bat and called him out. Seeing that no call was made until Baltimore catcher Hernandez pointed out the tip, Yankee Manager Joe Girardi exploded. Confronting Guccione face-to-face in a manner Joe Torre certainly never taught him, the home-team skipper got himself tossed and then some. With Johnson waiting on the mound, Joe yelled at Guccione, kicked his Yankee cap toward him, then retrieved it and came back for more. Already thumbed, he poured a postscript onto crew chief Tim Welke, then pounded off to fume out of sight.

Bobby Abreu brought his hitter’s eye to the plate batting for Duncan, and a five-pitch walk moved Matsui into scoring position. Sad sack Robbie Cano, off to a start line-drive hitters fear but rarely live through, had a very bad moment in the field in Tuesday’s game. He had a two-hit night in the Wednesday victory, but he was low man on the pitch count vs. Burres, going out weakly three times on just four throws. But he took two pitches from Johnson, then punched a 1-1 offering into left field for a single. Matsui never hesitated, and when Payton’s throw to the plate came in on-line but high, the Yanks had their first walk-off win of the season.

And not only the first walk-off. It would be difficult to find a game that could be more accurately described as a team win as well. Alex Rodriguez, who had homered in two straight after returning from injury, was hitless, as was Melky Cabrera and Jeter. But Derek made a nice play on a Jones pop to short left in the seventh, one at bat after Duncan had held Hernandez to the aforementioned single. Damon ranged far for a Millar fly down the line in the second, and Molina fought a breeze to flag Luke Scott’s foul pop in the fourth. Mariano Rivera not only completed a lights-out 10-up, nine-down bullpen night, he snagged a Millar liner back to the box. Ian Kennedy both pitched well and survived adversity, two qualities he had yet to show in 2008. And Matsui, Damon, Giambi, Duncan, and Cano provided key offense, quite an assemblage on a night the team scored but two runs.

The new Sports Illustrated cover trumpets “Bizarro Baseball,” discussing the Yanks’ early-season struggles while perennial doormat Tampa Bay hovers near the top of the division. “Not so fast,” the Yanks replied this night, led by the fiery (finally) Girardi, who certainly deserves props for the win as well. Joe’s passion carried over, but more to the point, he stuck with his young righty, handled the pen flawlessly, and pushed the right lineup buttons with Duncan, Giambi, and Abreu (whose at bat came once Girardi was out of sight, at least). The Yanks started this mini winning streak Wednesday, the 28th anniversary of the day George Lucas’s The Empire Strikes Back premiered in 26 select theaters around the country.

This team has a long way to go, but they have stopped the beeding, have one of two key injured players back, and one of their young starters has produced a quality start. Darrell Rasner has emerged from AAA to give the team a boost with a quick 3-0 start, the pen has been great, and Chien-Ming Wang and Mike Mussina figure to be better if they do not have to carry the load themselves. And as for “Empire,” well, there is a growing role for the team’s very own Joba. Two days ago, many were writing the team obituary even though it’s just mid-May. Forty-eight hours later,

The Empire Has Struck Back

BTW,TYW

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!