Bronx, N.Y., July 4, 2010 — The Yankees pulled out a 10-inning 7-6 victory over the Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon, barely rescuing what has been a frustrating homestand and a nervous weekend. They salvaged a 2-1 series win, a must really when you consider that they were home to fourth-place Toronto, and that they had the lead in 20 of 30 innings in the three-game set. Combined with just one win in three against last-place in the West Seattle, they managed to escape the Bronx, despite a four-game stretch of delightful day baseball, with a 3-3 mark.
The day began with the announcement that six Yanks had made the All Star team, that a few surprisingly were left off, and that the Twitter-“friend”ly Nick Swisher was one of five remaining players who could notch the last spot on the team. The 80th birthday of owner George Steinbrenner, along with the seven trophies won under him, were feted outside the Yankee Museum. And tribute to the fact that this was Independence Day was paid before the game with a color guard, and a national anthem and “God Bless America” sung by West Point alum Mary Kay Messenger. But the biggest, brightest graphics throughout the game were devoted to the “Send Swish” campaign, featuring the Yankee right fielder in surfing regalia in the vein of the beach-themed campaign mlb has run for this year’s Star game in sunny Anaheim, California.
And Swisher not only did a bang-up job on his commercial appeal, he had a good game too. He singled in the midst of rallies in both the fifth and seventh innings, and in the ninth took clever advantage of a Toronto shift to single yet again down the third base line, a half swing, half push bunt that almost trickled into left field for what would have been an easy double.
The three hits were a small part of another huge Yankee advantage in the game, as they started four switch hitters (although Jorge Posada would leave with an injury in the seventh). Among the four, including Swish, they went 9-for-15 at the plate with a walk, a sac fly, three rbi’s, and two runs scored. Not bad, and if you throw in the numbers earned by portsider Brett Gardner (two more hits, a walk, two runs, and two rbi’s, on his second Yankee Stadium inside the park home run), it’s a wonder that it took the Yanks extras to win this one at all.
But that’s where “the stretch” comes in, a relatively brief portion of this game where the tide turned against the homestanding Yanks to such an extent that you had to start looking out for thunderbolts, even if the game was played under a largely cloudless, sun-drenched sky. Phil Hughes was coasting along, demonstrating the kind of pitching that earned him his first All Star Game nod an hour before game time, when baseball lightning struck, and did so three times. He had handled 12 of 15 Toronto batters through four innings, allowing nothing but a Kyle Overbay home run, and when his 76-mph curve buckled Edwin Encarnacion to finish the fourth he had five strike outs, just one walk and a 2-1 lead that would stretch to 3-1 before he threw another pitch.
When Overbay and ex-Yank Jose Molina flied out on the first two pitches of the top of the fifth, the chances for victory were looking good. But second baseman John MacDonald singled and Phil did the unthinkable, walking another singles hitter in the person of left fielder Fred Lewis on seven pitches. Still, with light-hitting DeWayne Wise, a strike out victim in the first and the third (who would again in the seventh) due up, the fans relaxed a bit. But Wise lashed a vicious and deep liner toward the right field corner, one struck apparently too hard to curve enough. When it thumped high off the foul pole, the Jays had a sudden 4-3 lead.
Uncomfortable being suddenly on the short end, the fans and the Yanks were hungry for an answering rally, and they got it, almost immediately. Swisher singled off hard-throwing Brandon Morrow leading off the bottom of the fifth, and the recently hot-hitting Mark Teixeira blasted a drive to deep center beyond Wise’s reach. With Swisher dashing around third with the tying run, Wise found shortstop Alex Gonzalez, who pegged home for a bang-bang play. “Out!” called home plate ump Dale Scott as Tex cruised into third. Then Alex Rodriguez lofted the next pitch to medium right center, Wise charged, caught the ball, and let fly, and here we were again, with Teixeira kicking up a cloud of dust at home plate just one pitch after Swish had. When Scott made the same call, a 10-minute stretch in the middle of a four-hour game had resulted in three runs for the visitors while costing the home team two tallies of their own.
Fortunes balanced out somewhat the next inning after Adam Lind had homered to stretch the Toronto lead to 5-3. Although Morrow’s 97- and 98-mph heat was a challenge, Yankee bats had challenged him much of the day, and he was over 80 pitches after four innings before the back-to-back outfield assists got him out of the fifth on just seven throws. But the Yanks were back at him in the sixth, and his count stood at 109 with two down and Posada on second via a single when Gardner flied to deep left center. It was Wise at center stage again, and he struggled mightily to keep his eye on the descending ball under the blinding sun. He staggered, it struck his glove, then bounded off toward the wall. He raced to recover, but he needn’t have bothered with the speedy Gardner running; the inside the park home run tied the game.
The odd doings were hardly over though. Damaso Marte pitched a scoreless seventh, and the Yanks rallied. Following leadoff Derek Jeter’s single, the switches were back as a Swisher single and Teixeira double made it 6-5. Alex Rodriguez, who had singled for the first Yankee lead in the third, struck out for the second of three times, and Cano lofted a fly toward the right field corner. It carried foul and Jose Bautista made a nice catch, then a better peg to home, where Swisher was involved in yet another bang bang play. Dale Scott called “Out!” yet again to the agony of the 47,000 watching in the heat. It was key too, because although Joba Chamberlain pitched a scoreless eighth this time, the Jays managed three singles off Mariano Rivera in the ninth for the rare blown save, with — you guessed it — Mr. Wise driving in his fourth run.
David Robertson pitched the top of the 10th, two days after failing in his second inning vs. the Jays in the 11th on Friday. Ten pitches into that frame David had allowed two singles, a sac bunt, and an intentional walk. This time around, a single and walk on 12 pitches had him in the soup again. And that’s when it got weird again. Encarnacion bunted down third, a ball that looked ready to go foul, but the quick as a cat Alex Rodriguez pounced, pegged the ball to Ramiro Pena at second, and his relay to Cano at first completed the rare 5-6-4 double play. When Robertson struck out Molina, the Yanks came to bat in a tie game.
Lefthander David Purcey walked Cano on four pitches, and Cervelli dragged a nice sac bunt toward first. The struggling Curtis Granderson struck out swinging for the fourth time, but Gardner battled through a seven-pitch walk. Joe Girardi wasted no time, lifting Pena for newly activated from the DL righty-hitting Marcus Thames. Marcus lofted a single to short left center, and Cano crossed with the winning run at exactly 5:00 pm. Thames has had some good and bad times with his new team, but now he stands as the only Bomber to earn an A.J. Burnett-applied pie two times in 2010.
Now the team flies to the West Coast for three against Oakland and four in Seattle, with likely repeat confrontations with southpaw Cliff Lee and righthander Felix Hernandez; perhaps a battle with the recovering lefty Eric Bedard as well. With the All Star break a week away, it will be good to have a Nick Swisher eager for a trip to California leading the way. And with righty and lefty aces on the horizon, the Yankee switch hitters will be called upon to produce some offense.
But they need to avoid a repeat of the ugly “stretch” they had today.
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!