Bronx, N.Y., August 28, 2005 — The Yankees looked to be in one of those battles of attrition Sunday afternoon that happen once a week or so, in the case of this team often coinciding with the turn of Al Leiter in the rotation. Al was extended to 23 pitches to retire the Royals in the first after a David DeJesus leadoff single, and the ugly inning was still to come.
Royals righty Zach Greinke seemed to be willing to take Al on in a game of “miss the plate” in the first inning, this despite the undeniable fact that home plate ump Mike DiMuro had a decidedly generous strike zone. So Greinke walked Yankee left fielder Hideki Matsui with one down in the first, and then Jason Giambi to fill the bases after a Gary Sheffield single and an A-Rod liner to left. He tossed one off the plate to the recently resurgent Bernie Williams, DH’ing Sunday with Matsui playing center field. Bernie then took a strike, and looked bad on a swing over a low curve, but he smacked the next pitch past first baseman Mike Sweeney’s outstretched glove, and Matsui and Shef crossed for a quick 2-0 Yankee lead. To make matters worse, Grinke’s 34 pitches easily outpointed the plate-averse Leiter.
Al responded with a dominant second inning, though the consecutive strike outs of Terrence Long, Angel Berroa, and John Buck cost him (understandably) another 19 throws. The Yanks failed to add to the lead despite a Robby Cano one-out bingle in their second. In just one more example of the “you don’t see that every day” syndrome, Cano beat the throw to second when Jeter bounced to second on a hit and run, but the rookie second baseman was tagged out after Berroa nailed Jeter at first because he apparently thought he had been called out and walked off the base.
But the only similarity between Leiter’s dominating second and the third that followed was pitch count. He walked Denny Hocking on five pitches to start it off, and surrendered a 1-1 double to Joe McEwing that seemed to surprise newly arrived left fielder Matt Lawton in the way it caromed off the stands. A quicker response may have held the K.C. (and former Met) third baseman at first, but it hardly mattered. DeJesus scored Hocking and moved McEwing to third with a slow roller to first, and Leiter went timid and walked Chip Ambres and Sweeney to fill the bases with just one down.
It must be frustrating playing on a team that has struggled as Kansas City has, but if the ensuing undisciplined at bat of Designated Hitter Emil Brown is any indication, they have a ways to go. With the tying run 90 feet away and the go-ahead tally a base behind that, he took ball one and two from the struggling Leiter, who had no base available to which to send him. But Brown popped a cutter on his hands to Jorge Posada behind the plate next, and the Yanks could breathe a little easier. We didn’t know it at the time, but when Terrence Long bounced to Cano, the last Royals opportunity of the day had passed.
That’s because Yankee first baseman Jason Giambi was about to take over the game. Matsui started the Yankee third innocently enough with a first-pitch roller to second, but Sheffield and Alex Rodriguez followed with back-to-back singles. Giambi had proven how valuable his superior eye at the plate was Saturday by starting the five-run, game-winning, ninth-inning rally with a walk, he had walked three times Friday, and also got a free pass his first time up in this game. So the crowd cheered when Greinke started Jason off with a ball, but the Yankee first sacker fouled one off and swung and missed before taking a second pitch off the plate. Greinke’s fifth pitch was neither as high nor tight as he apparently wanted, and Giambi blasted it to right center. DeJesus gave it a game leap at the wall, but the ball cleared and the Yankee lead ballooned to 5-1.
Perhaps the Royals were swinging both the white flag and their bats more often, or Leiter was inspired to take his chances with pitches in the zone, but from that point on, the Yankee vet operated with dispatch and ease. He eventually walked Brown with one down in the sixth, but he retired nine of ten before hitting the showers after six and took just 38 pitches to do it. Al’s teammates were pitching in with lessons on the good that can happen when pitches find bats, as Rodriguez snagged a Hocking hot shot down third to close the fourth, and Jeter timed his jump perfectly to snatch a Sweeney drive ticketed for the gap leading off the sixth. The Yankee lefty threw just 13 more strikes than balls, and 13 of 24 first-pitch strikes, but the nine three-ball counts were four better than what he accumulated 16 days ago when he threw 125 pitches in just five frames.
Despite a dispiriting 3-15 mark coming in, young righthander Greinke could have been expected to be a little confident facing the Yanks. He used a hard fastball and big-breaking curve to dominate them in 2004 and also to beat them in K.C. two months ago, and there was cause for concern in the Yankee camp with the way Toronto’s David Bush and J.C. Howell of the Royals handled the Pinstripers earlier this week with similar breaking stuff. But Greinke apparently wasn’t feeling it with his soft stuff and leaned on the fastball, not the best call when facing the Bronx Bombers.
He whiffed Sheffield taking on three straight leading off the Yankee fifth, but how DiMuro could stand up to Gary’s withering look (and comment) after that I’ll never know. A-Rod smacked the next pitch to left for a single, and Giambi worked the count like the pro he is; it was 3-1 after four pitches. Greinke’s next fastball was far inside, but Jason adjusted, tracked it, and smashed it. Veteran Terrence Long must have needed the exercise because he actually spun from his right-field position and took a few strides as Giambi’s majestic blast settled into the upper deck more than 100 feet above his head. K.C. Manager Buddy Bell left Greinke out there through a Williams soft liner and a four-pitch Matt Lawton walk, but Posada’s double past first ended Zach’s day.
Southpaw Jeremy Affeldt, who made the key error to allow the Yankee Saturday comeback, retired Cano to close the fifth, but he was instantly in the soup in the sixth on a Jeter single and Matsui double. He walked A-Rod with one down to fill the sacks, and the crowd roared for a Giambi grand slam to top his two earlier drives. After Jason fouled three straight he singled to right for his third hit and sixth and seventh rbi’s. Williams singled to plate A-Rod and the Yanks had the 10 runs they would end the game with, but only because DeJesus made a fabulous leaping grab of Posada’s liner to deep center to close the frame.
Tanyon Sturtze, Alam Embree, and Felix Rodriguez combined to finish K.C. over the last three, though none looked sharp. Sturtze walked two and allowed a Sweeney two-run bomb in getting four outs; Embree closed the eighth but walked Mark Teahen (who came in to play third once Bell sat Berroa) and was saved when Lawton leaped and grabbed Buck’s drive over the left field fence. Rodriguez walked one in the ninth before ending it on an Embres grounder to Escalona, who subbed for A-Rod at third in the late innings. At 3:23 in length, the game had a lot more in common with the Saturday struggle than the Randy Johnson beaut Friday, a contest that was over in 59 minutes less time.
Although the Yankees beat Seattle by an identical 10-3 score on August 28 during the glorious 1998 season, what stands out more Yankee history-wise is the short list of Bomber birthdays. Ron Guidry the great (1950), and the gritty Lou Piniella (1943) were born August 28, not to mention Mike Torrez (1946), who won two in Pinstripes in the 1977 Series before losing the Bucky Dent playoff game for the Red Sox in 1978.
Also born this day was sociologist C. Wright Mills (1916), who was all the rage when the Bombers were dominating baseball with the long ball in the ’50s and the ’60s. The Yankees have not pummeled opponents with home runs during their six Championship campaigns since 1970, but clearing fences is a tool of choice for this 2005 team Cashman, Torre, and Steinbrenner have assembled. Taking a back seat to no one in this group is the eagle-eyed Mr. Giambi, who netted his 1,000th career rbi with his three-run liner and garnered his 1,500th career hit with the Upper Deck blast two innings later.
Teamed with the AL-leading Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield with his wicked cuts, and the rbi machine Hideki Matsui, along with strong contributions from Messers Williams, Posada, and Jeter, they are earning the title Mr. Mills used for his most famous book:
The Power Elite
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!