Bronx, N.Y., July 9, 2008 — The first place Tampa Bay Rays left town late this afternoon after playing 19 innings over two days in a ballpark that historically has not been kind to them. Considering that they scored all of one run while they were here, it was business as usual as the Yanks swept them in a two-game mini-series.
Fans could be excused for feeling a little trepidation over a third 2008 Sydney Ponson start in for the Yanks game two Wednesday in light of the way his ex-teammates from the Texas Rangers battered him here last week. And Sydney did not calm those fears early. He not only allowed seven baserunners through his first four innings, he actually threw more balls than strikes in three of those frames. Relying on a fastball that topped out at 93 mph and a mid-eighties slider, Ponson escaped a leadoff first-inning single by immediately initiating a 1-6-3 off the bat of speedy Carl Crawford.
He went for the same magic following a leadoff walk and infield single to start the second, but Cliff Floyd’s comebacker was too hot to handle quickly, and both runners moved up as Syd recovered and threw the ball to first. A struggling Yankee offense missed leadoff hitter Johnny Damon all day, but not when Dioneer Navarro followed with a fly to medium-deep left field. A run would have scored on Damon’s weak arm, but Carlos Pena did not test young Brett Gardner. A hit by pitch of of Eric Hinske filled the bases but Ponson escaped unscathed on rookie shortstop Reid Brignac’s fly out.
The escape was huge because runs were at a premium. The Yanks had taken a 1-0 lead against hard-throwing righty Edwin Jackson in the first when Jason Giambi stroked a two-out single to left center after a Derek Jeter single and Bobby Abreu walk. Jackson pitched around a Jose Molina two-out single in the second, but a two-out rally in the third almost got to him. Alex Rodriguez legged out an infield single up the middle and Giambi walked. DH Jorge Posada slashed a hard hopper down first on a full count, but Pena made a diving grab toward the line and tossed to Jackson to squelch the rally. The Yanks had four hits in three innings, but they would only get two more in the next six frames.
Ponson continued to hold the Rays as well, uncharacteristically striking out the side with the help of a slow curve in the third. He survived a second hit by pitch and a walk in the fourth with the help of a fine play by Giambi, who made a diving stop on a Cliff Floyd base hit bid and beat him to first for the first out. Alex Rodriguex ranged far into the hole for one of three ground-ball outs Sid got following a leadoff infield single by Akinori Iwamura in the fifth. He looked to have Pena struck out looking on an 0-2 fastball toward the outside edge to start the sixth, but Ted Barrett called it wide. Two pitches later, Pena lifted a home run to right center that evened the score at 1-1. Evan Longoria and Floyd followed with long hard drives to center with Melky Cabrera making a leaping catch on the latter, after he had made it a tougher play by initially breaking in at the crack of the bat. But Ponson finished a very respectable start by whiffing Dioneer Navarro on three pitches. The Stadium was abuzz with Giambi and Longoria both playing as their All Star chances are worked out in an online vote. Jason outplayed the young third baseman this day, both in the field and at bat.
Ponson threw 88 pitches (the Scoreboard had 89) through six innings, and issued two walks to go with the two hit-by-pitches. He allowed four singles, and the home run for the lone run, and threw 16 of 26 first-pitch strikes. Despite getting off to a shaky start control-wise, he finished with an adequate 50/38 strikes/balls ratio. Joe Girardi has said Syd will be in the post-All Star break rotation, but if any doubt lingered, it’s been dispelled now.
If the biggest story of the Yankee season is not either the failures of their young starters early, or the multi-month injury to staff ace Chien-Ming Wang, it’s certainly the transfer of Joba Chamberlain from the setup role in the bullpen to starter, a move universally hailed now in light of the Wang injury. But the corollary to that is that minus Chamberlain’s pounding fastball and killer slider, the bullpen is actually performing very well. The team has won four straight and the pen has allowed but two runs over 10 innings in those games. With the Yankee offense on hiatus from the first inning on this day, the relief corps had a critical role to play.
Jose Veras struck out two in a one-two-three seventh, and Kyle Farnsworth fanned one while retring three in a row in the eighth. Mariano Rivera struck out two to survive a one-out walk in the ninth, then got two more swinging in a three batter top of the 10th once the game went extra. On the Yankee side of things, Girardi was pushing every small-ball weapon he had to force a second run from the meager offense. A stolen base and a fielder’s choice grounder moved Gardner to third after an infield single leading off the fifth, but A-Rod struck out. Molina bunted Cabrera to second after a leadoff single in the seventh. The sacrifice got Jackson out of the game, but southpaw J.P. Howell struck out two to escape. Posada walked to start the bottom of the ninth, and eyebrows were raised as hot-hitting Robbie Cano was called on to move pinch runner Justin Christian to second on yet another bunt. Christian swiped third as Grant Balfour, who replaced Howell, went to 2-2 on Cabrera. But with the infield and outfield in, Melky swung and missed and Molina popped out to second.
So for the second time in three games the Yanks went to an extra frame against an Al East opponent they need to beat. A gutsy Joba Chamberlain got them well into Sunday’s Boston game that they won in 10, Andy Pettitte was dominant in a Tuesday shutout, and Wednesday afternoon Sydney Ponson, a prince in his native Aruba, carried the Yankee standard. But the Prince couldn’t win it for them alone. Yankee Captain Derek Jeter had a key Sunday rbi against Boston; he carried the action on both sides of the ball in Pettitte’s Tuesday win. And he singled and scored this game’s first run nine innings earlier. Now he battled Balfour to an eight-pitch walk after Gardner struck out for the third time leading off the bottom of the 10th. Balfour pounded Bobby Abreu in tight four straight times, all fouled back, then missed upstairs. Abreu turned on the next pitch and drove it to right center. Jeter was crossing with the winning run by the time the Rays were working it into the infield. The Yanks had a 2-1 win, and a two-game sweep, and had saved a critical homestand at 5-4 by winning four straight. They did so against teams they need to catch, and they did it largely on the work of their Prince, their Captain, and “Bobby BREUUU.”
Sixty years ago, Negro Leagues star Satchel Paige made his major league debut with the Cleveland Indians on July 9, 1948. Two days back, the first-place Tampa Rays arrived in New York with the best record in the game, four games in front in first place, and with an 8.5 lead on the Yankees. Now both leads have been shrunk by two games after two long battles in a ballpark that has not been friendly. The beloved Mr. Paige would have known how to advise the young Rays as they head off for Cleveland and then the All Star Break. “Dont look back,” Satchel would have said.
“Someone [is] gainin’ on ya!”
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!