Bronx, N.Y., June 3, 2004 — It took young Javier Vazquez 27 pitches to negotiate a very tough fourth inning in the Bronx Thursday afternoon. That team from Baltimore may struggle with their pitching all year, but they are packed with guys who know how to have professional at bats. They may have come up with only five hits on the day, but very few plate appearances did not end up being battles themselves.
After Vazquez retired pesky Brian Roberts leading off the game on a welcome fly ball, Melvin Mora fell behind 0-2 and then stroked a deep liner that eluded Hideki Matsui’s try, glancing off his glove and careening off the top of the left field wall for the first Orioles hit. Familiar with Vazquez from the National League, Mora earned two of the five safeties, but he also made the biggest Baltimore blunder on the day. He held second as Javier coaxed a Tejada foul pop to A-Rod on a 2-2 pitch, and then inexplicably, be broke for third with the dangerous Rafael Palmeiro down 0-1 on the count. Vazquez tossed to a breaking Rodriguez and Mora was nailed for the third out.
The Yankee righty struggled early, but he threw strikes, and lots of them. And the Orioles kept making him throw more. Centerfielder Luis Matos, for instance, fouled off nine pitches in extending second- and seventh-inning at bats to seven, and then 11, pitches. Roberts bounced to second in the third on Javy’s 10th pitch, Mora singled in the third on the fifth straight strike he saw, and even backup catcher Robert Machado extended his seventh-inning closer to eight tosses before flying to Crosby in center.
Throwing over the plate from the get-go, Vazquez fell behind in the count only three times all afternoon. Larry Bigbie bounced into a fielder’s choice on a 3-1 pitch to close the fourth, but when regular Baltimore catcher Javier Lopez, DH’ing during a day game after a night game, saw a 3-1 pitch in the second, he promptly tied the game on a blast to left deep into the visiting bullpen. And the other 3-1 count was a turning point. On a 3-1 pitch, Palmeiro followed Mora and Tejada singles in the fourth with one of his own, filling the bases with a hard single to right.
Yes, things seemed bleak with no one out and the sacks filled in that frame. The game was tied at one, the O’s had their fifth hit on the day, and Vazquez’s pitch count was mounting dangerously. The homer-hitting Lopez strode to the plate, took a strike, swung and missed, and then watched ball one and ball two whisper outside. The young righty came back with one hard and in, too far in, as it hit Lopez and the O’s had a 2-1 lead, threatening for more. Visibly upset, Vazquez fumed at his fate and resolved to stop it right there.
And that’s what he did. He fouled Surhoff out to catcher Flaherty on two tosses, struck Matos out swinging on three (one of two on the day; he saved the other for Lopez, revenge for taking him deep), and retired Bigbie on a bouncer to short. The Orioles had a 2-1 lead, but although none of us knew it at the time, their day was over.
The Yankees had scratched a run for an early lead in the first when Bubba Crosby, getting a rare start for Bernie Williams in center, bounced a leadoff single up the middle. Derek Jeter has hit some balls hard in coming back from a season-long slump, but he still has not really found his stroke to right field, and he surprised the whole ballpark when he sacrificed Crosby to second on the first pitch the hulking righthander Daniel Cabrera threw him. Alex Rodriguez delivered Bubba with a hard single past Tejada at short, and the Yanks had a quick lead. Sheffield followed with a single up the middle, but Rodriguez was easily out at the plate on Matsui’s roller to first, and the Yanks had to settle for a 1-0 lead as they took the field.
Cabrera stiffened early. After the three singles had him down one, he retired 14 of the next 16 Yanks, walking Rodriguez on five pitches in the third and allowing an infield single by Sierra in the fourth. He retired the Yanks in the fourth and fifth on just 19 pitches, and had tossed a mere 71 entering the sixth. But the sleeping Yanks stirred, and A-Rod lined toss no. 72 into the left center field gap for a double. Six straight balls had Sheffield down at first and a 2-0 count to Matsui, but a loud crowd quieted quickly when Surhoff corraled a hard liner to the warning track in right. Sierra tied the game on a humpback liner over first that might have been catchable if Palmeiro was as tall as Tony Clark (but how many first sackers are?), and the Yanks were threatening for more. But it was not to be. Tony Clark received a free pass, and the fact that Flaherty bounced hard to third simply contributed to the ease of the 5-2-3 that closed the frame at 2-2.
Vazquez had battled the O’s gamely through the fourth, and thereafter he dominated. He threw 20 out of 28 first-pitch strikes, and threw 82 strikes while missing the plate just 36 times. Pushed to 80 pitches just to get through the pivotal fourth, he coasted through the fifth and sixth on 17 more. Matos worked a one-out seventh-inning walk while fouling off six pitches, but Bigbie and Machado flied out. As Javier strode to the dugout with his day complete, the Yankee offense struck again.
The 18 pitches Cabrera was forced to throw as the Yanks tied matters in the sixth cost him, and lefty John Parrish came on for the seventh. The Yanks did not mind. Miguel Cairo, getting a rare start, singled to left on Parrish’s first pitch, and Crosby sacrificed him to second. B.J. Ryan replaced Parrish after John hit Jeter, and Ryan whiffed Rodriguez. Sheffield was having a great day as a DH, with Sierra taking his place in right. Gary had singled, driven Surhoff to the wall in right and then walked, and now he doubled down the right field line for two runs on a 1-1 pitch. Shef is learning Yankee Stadium quickly. Five of the 10 Yankee hits were to right field this day, and three of those were hit by right-handed batters. The lesson: A defense stretched to cover center and left in the Bronx ballpark leaves some dangerous holes.
Matsui singled hard off Palmeiro, plating Gary to close the scoring, and the Yankee pen closed it out. Gordon whiffed two while walking Tejada in the eighth, and Mariano Rivera retired Surhoff on a comebacker in between a soft pop and a roller to Cairo at second.
Yankee subs had a good day. Bubba Crosby scratched a single, scored the first run and scarificed successfully too. In the field, Sierra made all the plays in right, caught Brian Roberts’s fly to the wall in the fifth, and the Birds refused to challenge his arm when Palmeiro singled to right with two on in the fourth. And Cairo started the winning rally with a single. But although all the plays were routine, Miguel contributed more with his glove. All three Orioles in the third grounded out to Cairo, and he had five assists and three putouts on the day. But for sparkling defense, you’ll have to look to Vazquez himself. B.J. Surhoff surprised the ballpark when he bunted the first pitch of the seventh inning in a 2-2 game. Placed beautifully in between home and the mound, it seemed Javy would be able to do nothing with the ball once he reached it. But he picked it up and fired to first in one motion to nail Surhoff in an eye-popping manner.
Perhaps it goes without saying that it was a glorious late spring day in the Bronx. The sun shone brightly in a dazzling blue sky, dotted with huge puffy clouds. To me it’s always a good day in the Bronx when renowned tenor Ronan Tynan gives his heart-breaking rendition of God Bless America, as he did at the seventh inning stretch. And the taped voice of Frank Sinatra regaled us with New York, New York after the victory, as it always does.
But before the first pitch of the game, we also got a stirring offering of the National Anthem from one very live source. A Broadway star, this gorgeous woman initially made her name on the Great White Way in the still-running Rent. I also saw her a few years later as a vivacious party girl in The Wild Party. And there’s another show that song stylist Idina Menzel is appearing in right now. Its one-word title is the same word I think of when I consider Melvin Mora breaking for third with two outs and Raffy Palmerio up in the first, a descriptive adjective that could also apply to the play Vazquez pulled off in nailing Surhoff on his seventh-inning bunt. What is the name of Ms, Menzel’s current show?
It’s Wicked, man.
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!