Bronx, N.Y., September 21, 2007 — The Yanks hosted the Blue Jays in the first of four Friday in the Bronx, the last regular-season night game in Yankee Stadium in the 2007 season. Following an oft-repeated script, it was a gorgeous night, and the Stadium was packed. Toronto came in after having swept the Red Sox in three at home, primarily on the strength of superb pitching. The bad news for tonight’s home team was that they brought all the great arms with them.

This figured to be a tight game with Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay facing Chien-Ming Wang, and the two stellar righthanders did not disappoint. They carried a mutual shutout into the seventh inning, when the Jays strung together three singles and an error to take a 2-0 lead. Edwar Ramirez replaced Wang in the eighth and gave up a very damaging two-run homer to Alex Rios, but Halladay started the ninth against the Bombers with a five-hit, no-score beaut having thrown just 90 pitches.

The Yanks reached Roy for two hard-hit balls really, each of them for doubles, and it was huge that a runner thrown out on the bases nullified potential Yankee scores both times. Johnny Damon beat Halladay to first on a slow roller to the right side for an infield single in the first, but Greg Zaun pegged him out attempting to steal second base one pitch before Derek Jeter doubled to the wall in right center. One great chance was lost.

The Toronto righty retired the next 12, even getting a double play to remove Hideki Matsui from the bases after he reached on an error. Jorge Posada broke the string with a hotshot single up the middle with one down in the home fifth, and Robbie Cano doubled him to third. But when Aaron Hill caught Doug Mientkiewicz’s high foul popup over the tarp down toward the right field corner, he recovered quickly and threw Posada out at the plate trying to score on a sac fly. That was the Yankee offense through eight, with no walks allowed and just an Alex Rodriguez single in the seventh.

Wang was almost as good, though he allowed his only walk to the second batter he faced. But the Jays added early hits and had one base runner on in each of the first four frames. Chien-Ming made a nice recovery in the second when Damon’s error on a leadoff Hill double to left placed the Toronto second sacker at third with no one out. The Yankee righty popped Russ Adams up foul to Posada, and got two weak grounders to escape. Wang had his sinker going, and garnered 14 ground ball outs in seven frames. Rarely resorting to his slider or change, he struck out four in the middle innings, but because the Jays capitalized on their second scoring chance, he stood to be the loser.

But then the improbable happened, and the Yanks jumped on Halladay for a good old-fashioned ninth-inning rally. Damon got it started with a leadoff double the opposite way down the left field line. Derek Jeter bounced to short, but Bobby Abreu and Rodriguez singles got New York on the board. Hideki Matsui moved two runners up one base with a roller to second, but Halladay appeared to have pitched out of it when he deflected a Posada bouncer to second. Hill threw low to first, however, and by the time Lyle Overbay corralled the throw, Jorge had reached and the score was 4-2.

Southpaw Scott Downs was brought in to face two lefty batters, but Cano and Jason Giambi foiled the plan with back to back singles. Jason’s plated Bronson Sardinha, who had come in to run for Posada. Casey Janssen relieved Downs, and Melky Cabrera bounced out to first, but improbably, we had a 4-4 tie.

The crowd screamed with glee as Mariano Rivera came on to work a 1-2-3, 10-pitch 10th, and the Yanks couldn’t wait to get back to the task at hand. with Damon leading off yet again. And it started well, with Janssen missing on two straight.

But then the game suddenly ground to a halt, and who’s to say what night have happened had it not? We had been treated to three hours of world-class pitching from both sides, and then a scintillating four-run rally when the Yanks had their backs to the wall. Who could ask for anything more for their sports entertainment dollar? But one young woman apparently felt that there was too much cheering going on, and none of it for her, so she grabbed her moment and darted onto the field. She was quickly wrestled to the ground behind shortstop, handcuffed by the police, and led off the field, fighting every step of the way. The game resumed.

But the moment had passed. Hanssen found the zone and retiried Damon on a fly and escaped around a two-out walk to Abreu, and the Yanks never threatened again. Fans cheered lustily when Jeter singled on the first pitch of the home 14th, but once Matsui followed with a two-out walk, Jose Molina struck out. They were the only home-team baserunners after the 10th. The Yanks were blanked over the last five frames by Janssen, Jeremy Accardo, Brian Wolfe, Joe Kennedy, and Jason Frasor, with the last two getting a win and a save, respectively.

The Yankee pen was great too, with Joba Chamberlain following Mo by striking out four against just one walk over two, and Luis Vizcaino getting two quick outs in the 13th and then surviving a walk and a single. With Kyle Farnsworth apparently experiencing yet another tweak and therefore unavailable, Torre turned to Brian Bruney. He did strike out the side in the 14th, but not until surrendering a one-out, game-winning home run to Zaun.

So the Yanks enter the last home weekend of the regular season in the penultimate year of the grand old Stadium still seeking to nail down a playoff spot. And they face some more tough Jays pitching the next three days. The Yankees needed to win their last two home games in 1949 against the visiting Red Sox to advance to the World Series, and they did exactly that. And that’s just one of many examples of what this team has done over the years in this ballpark, a storied site that will be replaced after 85 glorious seasons following next year.

The forward-thinking novelist H.G. Wells would have celebrated his 141st birthday Friday. War of the Worlds is one of his most famous science fiction novels, and The Time Machine is another. Yankee Stadium is something of a Time Machine itself. In 1949, the team earned its fans postseason play with two great rallies. This night, all they got us was 100 extra minutes of baseball.

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!