Bronx, N.Y., August 22, 2005 — Yankee fans who had resigned themselves to a Jaret Wright-less season received quite a surprise last week when the oft-injured righty emerged from the obscurity of the Tampa minor-league complex to perform well on a major league field several miles away in St. Petersburg. With Mike Mussina and newly acquired Shawn Chacon performing to rave reviews of late, the arrival of Wright on the scene was just what the doctor ordered for a fanbase stressed about the uneven performances of titular ace Randy Johnson.
But one stellar start against the AL East’s weakest team could have been potentially nothing more than a tease. How would Wright perform against a better Toronto team Monday, and how would he react to pitching in front of a crowd that had quickly soured on him earlier this year?
The early reviews were disturbing on a gorgeous night in the Bronx. Wright’s first-pitch 7:08 pm fastball to lefty-hitting Toronto shortstop Russ Adams sailed high and off the outside corner, but Jaret coaxed a strike call out of home plate ump Marvin Hudson on pitch number two. Wright was throwing hard, and looking back, I am intrigued as to just what he was up to when the next fastball pounded into Jorge Posda’s glove at 95 mph, and Hudson called ball two. Wright mixed high cheese with a slider, a curve, and a change of pace all night, but that was the last heater that hit 95. Could Jaret have been setting up the Blue Jays hitters?
If he was, he has the poise of a riverboat gambler, because that first frame frayed the nerves of many a fan. By the time Wright retired catcher Geoff Zahn on a deep liner to Hideki Matsui in left, he had walked the bases loaded, uncorked a (harmless) wild pitch, pounded a three-pitch strike out, and zoomed his early pitch count to 27, with 13 of them off the plate. He walked the first three lefty batters around a Vernon Wells strike out and a Shea Hillenbrand infield pop, and had to face switch-hitter Zahn because there were no available free bases to hold him.
Wright was back out there after the Yanks went meekly against Blue Jays lefty Scott Downs, and although he struck out two Jays and retired them in order in the second, he faced his fourth three-ball count, and accumulated a worryingly high 45 pitches to go through the nine-man order in two innings. That would compute to 135 pitches just to go six, and this Yankee season has been a minefield in games where starters don’t pitch at least into the seventh.
Downs, meanwhile, gave up hard hits to Alex Rodriguez and Hideki Matsui leading off the home second, and had A-Rod standing at third with nobody out. He jumped ahead of Jorge Posada 0-2 and looked to be in good shape when the Yankee catcher hit a medium hard liner right into shortstop Adams’s glove, but the ball glanced off the leather and the Yanks had a lead. Downs may have escaped the inning too, because he struck out two around a hit-by-pitch to shortstop Felix Escalona, who was playing with Captain Derek Jeter getting a rare night off.
Whether it was the sudden lead, or that Wright had pounded the Jays enough to unfold part two of his devilish plan, the Blue Jays would rue that unearned run. Because a different Jaret Wright answered the bell for inning three. Flip the number 45 that it took Wright to get nine outs and you have the amount he needed to get another 15, as he pitched through the seventh on just 54 more pitches. He was extended to three-ball counts four times in the first two innings, and another four over the next five. With a fastball averaging 92, with a few 93-mph spikes, he wasn’t perfect, allowing four hits over those frames, and after a one-two-three third, Toronto had the tying run on third base with just one out in both the fourth and fifth innings.
Shea Hillenbrand doubled between first baseman Jason Giambi and the bag to start the fourth, and coasted into third as Korey Koskie hit a high hopper to first. Joe Torre brought his infield in with the tying run 90 feet away, and young second baseman Robinson Cano made a solid catch and throw to Posada to nail Hillenbrand on a 1-2 two hopper. In the fifth, speedy Orlando Hudson and Adams stroked one-out singles, with Hudson cruising into third on a hit and run that cleared Cano from the area before the Blue Jays shortstop found the hole with a grounder into right. But Cano responded again, teaming with Escalona on a 4-6-3 on a Catalonotto grounder to preserve the slimmest of leads.
The Yanks doubled the margin in the inning’s bottom half. Designated Hitter Bernie Williams worked a no-out walk after taking a strike, and sprinted to second on a fielder’s choice. A-Rod’s sharp single to left moved Bernie to third, and Hideki Matsui showed the Jays what to do with a man on third and one down, driving a ball deep to the left centerfield gap that Wells traced down; Bernie tagged and trotted in with run number two.
Wright retired the next five with some stirring help from his infield. After a routine sixth, Zaun ripped an 0-2 hard hopper between A-Rod and the third base bag leading off the seventh. But Alex made the dive and grab, and then Giambi made a stretch at first toward the outfield worthy of a gymnast on a balance beam, and Larry Young punched Zaun out. Escalona then timed his leap on Alex Rios’s liner perfectly, making the grab at his highest point for the second out. Cano just missed on an Eric Hinske liner to his right, and Hudson strode to the plate as the tying run as Mel Stottlemyre ambled out to the mound for a chat. It seemed certain the Jays second sacker would be Wright’s last batter regardless, and the fans made it clear who they wanted on the mound to close the inning, cheering Wright on. Jaret does have a flair for the dramatic, and his 2-2 pitch soared over Posada to the screen, before he got Hudson swinging on his 99th, and last, pitch of the night.
The Yanks reached the Toronto pen for five runs the next two times up to open a lead and calm the crowd. Tony Womack led off both innings with hits and scored, Giambi walked and had a second hit, and the reliable Matsui drove in his second and third runs of the night on a bases-loaded single to right. Tino Martinez ran for Giambi, thereby entering his 2,000th career game, and when Alex Rodriguez stroked his second double (and third hit) into the left-field corner in the eighth, Womack crossed with A-Rod’s 100th rbi of the season. Alan Embree came on and allowed a double, but Tanyon Sturtze used eight pitches to put that fire out, and when Scott Proctor retired the side one-two-three in the ninth, Wright’s 7-0 shutout was preserved.
Each time the Yankees return from a road trip this season, it seems the infrastructure of the old Stadium finds little ways to fail the challenge posed by 50,000-plus fans night after night, and Monday was no exception. The DiamondVision board, the matrix board, and both the old out-of-town scoreboard in left field and the new high-tech ones down each line performed well this time, but concession stands were once again unable to dispense soda before the game. In addition, security banned all but a few from entering the Stadium via Gate Two in the left field corner, not an insignificant imposition when 50,000-plus who usually gain entry through three gates are reduced to two. And those of us arriving by subway and sitting on the left-field side were faced with the prospect of circling most of the Stadium twice just to get to our seats.
One of the tunes the Stadium Scoreboard spikes the action with when a Yankee player receives a free pass is Walk Like an Egyptian by eighties girl group the Bangles. But the Board was silent as Jaret Wright walked three in the first on August 22, the birthday of drummer and singer Debbi Peterson from that group. But six innings later after striking out Hudson and shutting the Blue Jays out through seven, Jaret Wright was feted like a pharoah as he made his way to the Yankee dugout.
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!