Bronx, N.Y., June 27, 2003 — Well, it was business as usual in the Bronx tonight, but it was different too. David Wells and Jae Weong Seo have arguably had the best years for the Yankees and Mets respectively, so we expected a pitchers’ duel, but the score stood at 5-3 Yankees, after two. Both pitchers gave up five hits in the first two frames, and between them they surrendered 21 on the night in less than 12 innings.

But both guys were economical in their counts, and the game moved along at a regular pace. David Wells threw 69 pitches to get through five innings; Jae Weong Seo 71. The place was packed, and the heat was on. Was it the early summer heat wave that had the place cookin’, or does this series have some buzz left? I heard all the back-and-forth banter, and I’m judging it to be the latter.

I don’t know Seo very well, but judging his night’s work against the numbers he had coming in, he was off his game, perhaps due to the time off between starts after a fingernail problem, or was it the Yankee team, the Yankee crowd, and the Yankee place? Despite the “manageable” under-three-hours game time, he kept the Yankees, his teammates and the crowd waiting often, the defense behind him was far from crisp, and his 13/14 first-pitch strikes to balls ratio had the crowd fidgeting.

Boomer, on the other hand, was Boomer. He worked quickly, his 18/10 first-strike ratio was better, and he built that percentage largely in the nine consecutive first-pitch strikes he threw to pitch through the second and third innings. He threw only three balls in the 21 pitches in those two frames.

Of course in another way, David wasn’t himself at all. Yes, he threw another walk-free six innings this night, and the 59/24 strikes to balls approaches the three to one he hovers around. But anyone who has seen David pitch knows his game. He throws strikes. His pitches, and his demeanor on the mound, combine to say, “Here it is. Go ahead. Hit it.” The difference is that the Mets gamely took up that challenge, started hitting him in the two-run, three-hit first, and didn’t stop until Matsui corraled Roger Cedeno’s fly to center to end the sixth, and Boomer’s night was over. He gave up 12 hits all told, at least one an inning, and three during his last inning, just as he had his first.

But he remained true to himself and hit more bats than he missed, and even when Boomer’s curve is hanging and his fastball doesn’t have quite the usual crackle, that is the way he tries to win. When David dominated the Devil Rays in the Stadium last Tuesday, he threw 82 strikes. At only six of those 82 pitches did the Devil Rays swing and miss. And likewise tonight. In the 59 strikes David threw at the Mets’ batters, they only swung and missed seven times. David throws it over the plate. David wants you to hit it (only not quite as successfully as the Mets did tonight).

As mentioned, the crowd was into the game from the first. Some Mets fans bare their souls and their wardrobes coming to the Bronx. Others slip in incognito, with generic sports-related caps and shirts. But the hiding places of even the most discreet Flushing rooters were well known by the time they took the 2-0 lead in the top of the first. The foul ball action was lively all night, and several of the players kept things interesting by dramatically shattering their bats, something Jeromy Burnitz managed in both the first and sixth innings. People were dressed in shorts and tees and were ready to move. No ball that landed in any section of the crowd went unclaimed for more than a bounce or two, and the catch of the night was a barehander by a gentleman in the first row of Box 611 on Raul Mondesi in the second. The manner in which everyone in the crowd was into this game all night, and how they all stayed up to the last pitch, was one of the reasons the game seemed to generate so much buzz.

Both teams scored in the first, the second and the sixth. Roger Cedeno led off the first with a single past Ventura at third, scored one of the two runs that frame, and tied the game at three in the second by knocking in rookie Jose Reyes. The Yankee first-inning table was set with a Soriano single, Jeter hit by pitch and five-pitch walk to Giambi (the only free pass of the night until Chris Hammond gave one up with two outs in the visiting eighth). Sierra and Matsui cashed in the runs on a sac fly and double, but the offensive turning point of the game came much sooner than any of us in the stands realized it.

As described, the Mets rebounded immediately to tie it in the second, a run largely built on the blazing speed of rookie Jose Reyes, who stole a double on a shot past Jeter (and that speed makes Posada pegging him out on an attempted steal of second in the sixth doubly impressive). Then Juan Rivera and Alfonso Soriano followed with one-out singles in the inning’s bottom half, and Jeter’s grounder to third moved them into scoring position. Mets rookie third baseman Ty Wigginton, by the way, knocked in the second run in the first and made three fine plays around third on the evening, including getting Derek for the second out of the second.

But when Giambi strode to the plate with second and third and two outs in the second, there was an open base. The decision was made to pitch to Giambi carefully, but Seo was as surprised as Jason (and many in the crowd) that Larry Hohn called strike one on the first pitch. Even though Seo followed with ball one and ball two, you got the feeling the first strike made him think that he could handle Giambi, and his fourth pitch got way too much of the plate. Jason didn’t miss, Shinjo had no chance on his liner to the wall just right of center, and the Yanks had a 5-3 lead.

The Mets challenged in every inning, and their fans continued to rally behind the threats, only to shrink into the background when they all wilted. But Tony Clark wrapped a 1-0 Wells offering around the foul pole in left in the sixth, and Wells passed the torch onto Chris Hammond for the seventh. The Yanks threatened the Mets pen big-time in both the sixth and seventh, twice failing to score a bases-loaded run with one out, but they were able to cash in Matsui’s lead-off single in the sixth, and the Bombers had their two-run lead back.

The Mets’ relievers (Dan Wheeler, John Franco, David Weathers) had their troubles, but they held the Yanks at bay except for that Matsui score (on a Raul Modesi single to left). The Yanks relief corps was superb. Chris Hammond retired the first five Mets he saw on 14 pitches, and he got rookie Reyes routinely on a hopper to third after issuing Clark a two-out walk in the eighth.

And that’s when I heard a new sound in the Bronx. Joe had decided Rivera had the day off and that Miceli, if needed, would come in to close, and the scoreboard, in what is almost certainly deference to a choice made by new Yankee Miceli, played T Rex’s Twentieth Century Boy as Dan (he was ID’d as “Danny” on the board!) made his way to the mound and warmed. Checking historic events of the day earlier, something had stuck in my mind, and there I later found it listed that the 27th was the day T Rex percussionist Steve Peregrin Took passed away back in 1980.

Miceli issued pinch hitter Timo Perez a four-pitch leadoff walk in the ninth, and just as the “faithful” began to scan the pen for Mo sightings, Dan righted the ship. He retired Cedeno on a bunt (great play by Posada), Alomar on a foul pop to Ventura and Wigginton on a grounder to third, with Giambi saving Ventura from an error, coming off the bag to tag Ty with those very athletic hands of his.

We have a new righty in the Bronx pen, and a new old song blaring from the Yankee Stadium speakers late in games. Dan may be a big fan of Twentieth Century Boy, but he pitched like he’s ready to perform in this millennium.

BTW,TYW

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!