Bronx, N.Y., July 17, 2002 — It didn’t take long to see what kind of performance Mark Redman, and by reverse extension the Yankee bats, would have tonight. I’ve become spoiled enough to always feel disappointed when Alfonso hasn’t smacked one hard in the first couple of pitches, but there’s no disgrace in a ground out to short. But on Redman’s seventh pitch of the game, when Derek made a complete swing and hit a ball more exactly on the very end of the bat than I have ever seen, sending a cue shot with english right to first baseman Pena, the pattern was set.

Mark would record five strike outs tonight, but that wasn’t the game plan. I can see it now on an imaginary Tigers blackboard: “Let ’em hit it, and don’t let ’em hit anything hard.”

And so it went. Foul out to first. Soft liner for a single off Jason’s magic bat. Pop out to second. Strike out swinging. Pop out to right. Roller to first. Two strike outs swinging, and then another after a grounder to short. There were 49,000 people in the Stadium, and they were quiet. Granted, many showed up for the Giambi CelebriDuck, but this is the Baseball Cathedral, and this wily lefty was putting the crowd to sleep! As the pattern settled in, my first overriding thought was to get past this guy and into the Tigers’ pen. But with inning pitch counts of nine, 10, 11, 12, 12 and 15, that strategy was doomed.

Of course, being a self-centered and proud Yankee fan, the tendency was not to give the guy his due. I could paint this as a mystery, on what would have been Perry Mason creator Erle Stanley Gardner’s 113th birthday: “The Case of the Hidden Hitters.” Or go with the Donald Sutherland connection on his 68th birthday, with another remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, this one involving the Yankee offense. And it’s not like the day in history doesn’t claim enough ominous precedents. Joe’s 56-game streak ended today in 1941. Ty Cobb passed away 20 years later in 1961. The infamous Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan set off to fly to California on this day in 1938, only to arrive in Ireland. And bringing the events full circle back into Yankee land, Reggie and Billy clashed over “the bunt” on this day in 1978.

And the play on the field unfolded in that “negative vibe” pattern too. The Tigers’ first two hits didn’t travel 90 feet between them, they got another hit on an unintentional swinging bunt that struck third base, and a fourth on a real (and good) bunt. They scored their lone run on one of the two soft Damian Easley liners to center that were hit too softly for Bernie to reach them, though I really think he may have had that first one if he kept coming. (By the way, that is one of two reasons why I wanted to literally scream at some of my section-mates during the action tonight. First, I don’t care if Easley is hitting .180 or .080 or .008 when he comes to plate in the Stadium. If you’ve been paying attention for a few years, you know he’s dangerous. And second, Andy actually did pitch pretty well (and critically, best when in trouble) tonight, though it was disconcerting to see his Scoreboard totals come out looking like 1111 once Halter bunted his way on in the eighth [1 run, 11 hits, 1 error]. As just indicated, six of the hits were not hit hard.)

But when I wasn’t enjoying the show the Yankee Stadium people put on, I actually did realize how well Redman was doing, even if I did my best not to focus on it. It was a thrill to see the first Fan Marquee announcement be a conratulations to her parents and a welcome into the world for one-day-old Paulina Posada. Jamie Lynn Siegler (Meadow Soprano) gave us a Seinfeld stumper for Yankee trivia in the third: “Whom did Kramer say founded Central Park?” (Your choices: A, Henry Hudson; B, Joe Pepitone; C, Art Vandelay; D, Whitey Ford.)

From my third-base-side vantage point, there were fans hanging K’s close by on the Tier facade in Section 5 (small but clear and distinct sans serif letters) and far (near the foul pole in Section 25, but these were huge and vertically elongated to fill more than half the facade’s depth — clearly visible from my perch directly across the Stadium). It was eerie (though obviously just his throw day?) to see el duque warming in the pen in the second. And we all had fun when they played Will Smith’s “Getting Jiggy With It” after Bernie’s six-foot roller was thrown wildly past first when he led off the seventh. Standing on second with no one out, none of us expected him to still be there when a third out was recorded. And the only real cause for early celebration was the wonderful Modesi peg to third that nailed Halter in the fourth. (However, although I caution myself that this is not the night to judge, as no one hit, I was a little distressed with Raul’s approach at the plate on this tough night. I hope he proves me wrong tomorrow.)

But the fact of the matter is that Mark Redman deserved to win, and that we beat him in the only way available to us: We wore him down. Robin, Rondell and Nick extended him to 19 pitches, and three three-ball counts, in the eighth. This is why, I’m sure, the first pitch in the ninth was grooved to Alfonso. It was a play Halter could have made, but didn’t. Derek came back from 1-2 to walk, and no one was surprised that Jason singled in the equalizer. Relieved to be even, I had three reasons to believe I would make the 10:10 train, and do so happily (i.e., we would win it right then and there). First, Jorge hit two of perhaps four balls hit hard in the first eight innings, a fly to center in the second, and a double to center in the fifth. Second, he was too tired and happy to be nervous. And third, Box 622 brought out the “Jorge, Jorge, Jorge, Jorge, Jorge, Jorge” cheer. That’s almost all that’s left to say, except this: Joe Pepitone, answer B, founded Central Park, according to Kramer.

BTW,TYW

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!