Bronx, N.Y., August 19, 2010 — In a game where the word “remarkable” could be used to describe both the Yankees’ nine-run sixth inning and a play Mark Teixeira made on Johnny Damon in foul territory down the first base line in the fourth, the pitching got off to a “remarkable” start as well. Cumulatively, of the first 10 batters in this game, eight faced an 0-2 count.
Although the stat was largely achieved via Phil Hughes throwing strike one and two to six straight once Austin Jackson flied out to start the game, that wasn’t as good a thing for the home team as you might imagine. You see, the object of the game is not to have your guy pitch to more batters than the other team’s guy. Of course, going 0-2 on six straight is good, and Phil was pitching well, but unfortunately three of those six batters actually reached Hughes for a hit. Jhonny Peralta would roll a single through the first/second hole to start the second inning on an 0-2 pitch to no harm. But in the first, Will Rhymes poked a single off Ramiro Pena’s glove going the other way to left after six strikes (four fouled off). Ryan Raburn struck out on his 0-2 pitch but Miguel Cabrera worked the count from 0-2 to 3-2, then homered for two runs into the Yankee bullpen.
Fans were divided as to how bad a thing this was. The Yankees were routinely hitting shots off righty Rick Porcello, but Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira liners in the first and Robbie Cano and Nick Swisher hard-hit grounders in the second were all “at’em” balls, stroked directly to infielders. Sometimes early near misses are a sign of thunder to come; sometimes they represent the few real chances a team will have to score. We wouldn’t discover what was in the offing this game until the fourth inning.
Meanwhile Phil Hughes’s troubles were behind him. Featuring a 92-mph fastball but mixing in an effective cutter and a nice curve, he set the Tigers down in the second and third innings each around a single, then reeled off nine outs through the next three frames. Despite all the early strikes, Phil was pushed to 44 pitches through two frames, but he needed but 40 more to pitch the third through sixth. All the early strikes served him well: He pounded 18 of 22 first-pitch strikes, and the 61/23 strikes/balls ratio was, well, remarkable. The young righthander allowed three singles and the Cabrera homer, walked none, and struck out six, five swinging, to earn his 15th victory of the season.
More “remarkable” still? Phil did it while his team was struggling too. The Yanks tied the score at 2-2 on four hard singles in the fourth, but entering the bottom of the sixth they were still the only Yankee hits. Thirty-five minutes and three pitchers later, the home team had piled on six hits, including a team cycle, and nine runs. Cano scored the first run with a double into the left center field gap and the last two on a home run to dead center field, a ball that not only landed in Monument Park, but at the feet of the monuments that center the whole memorable scene. Nick Swisher had stroked an rbi single on a 3-0 count in the fourth and now Jorge Posada did the same, followed by an Austin Kearns two-rbi double to the wall in left center, a walk on a wild pitch to Brett Gardner, and Derek Jeter’s two-run triple off the wall in center.
On the fourth day of Hope Week, the Yanks welcomed You Are Beautiful People, an organization that works with special needs children, whose head threw out the first pitch. Not only did these children and their families get to see the game, they played a game with Yankee players following the one in which the Yanks spanked the Tigers. But more “remarkable” still, perhaps, sixteen-year-old Daniel Fratto did a flawless job as the PA announcer in the big game’s bottom of the fourth inning, when the offense got off to its start. It was strange hearing a voice other than the late Bob Sheppard’s announcing captain Derek Jeter, but if the Yankee shortstop can handle it, so can the fans.
The Tigers got to feel a little better about themselves, as Joe Girardi handed the last three innings to a Sergio Mitre badly in need of work. Everything was up from the sinker ball pitcher, and the visitors did reach him for three runs on six hits to close it to an 11-5 final. Worthy of a second mention is the play Teixeira made on Damon’s foul popup. We’ve seen Mark tumble to the ground as he lunges for these before, but this time the ball jarred loose as he hit and the Yankee first sacker had the presence of mind to bat it in the air, then recatch it as it tumbled toward the grass. The play that followed was exceptional as well, as Peralta’s long drive to left center went into and through Gardner’s glove, only to end up lodged in Curtis Granderson’s, as their gloves touched on the play in the gap. Neither outfielder gets to that ball on some teams, but both got there for the Yanks.
Hughes only achieved two more 0-2 counts after the remarkable six straight early and, strangely, the Tigers staff equaled him, though it took five of them to get the eight 0-2s. And 3-0 counts played a part too. Phil’s only 3-0 count was to Damon in the at bat in which Tex robbed him. But Tigers pitchers went 3-0 four times, resulting in two rbi singles on the next pitch and two walks.
So after dropping the first of four to the Tigers, the Yanks came back to win three straight. They scored a run in the ninth inning of that loss on a bases loaded walk, the only run the team scored in 18 innings. And now they have scored 20 runs in two games.
Remarkable.
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!