Bronx, N.Y., May 16, 2010 — The Yanks already had a series win in their pocket when they took the field against the AL Central first-place Minnesota Twins Sunday afternoon, but that didn’t make the loss of the third game in the set any more palatable. The Bombers have been having their way with the Twins for a few years, and in particular at home wearing the Pinstripes where they had won 10 straight of these in the regular season, plus the two games in last year’s ALDS .
And not all the news from the loss was bad. Not many teams can go six deep in quality starters, but throwing with that designation Sunday Sergio Mitre held the hot-hitting Twins to one run and four hits over five innings. Despite recent struggles, reliever David Robertson still held the 3-1 lead he inherited once he came on in the sixth when he passed the baton to Joba Chamberlain to start the pivotal eighth inning.
It was a very pleasant day in the Bronx, cool and sunny with a steady breeze that gave way to occasional gusts, as the one that took Jorge Posada’s popup into short left leading off the home sixth and deposited it onto the grass for a single between frustrated left fielder Jason Kubel and shortstop Alexi Casilla. That this freebie did no damage, however, was telling. It was just one of several promising innings during which the Yanks scored too few runs.
Behind 1-0 to a Justin Morneau opposite field home run in the second, they immediately rallied for two runs after two were out. Posada smacked a legit single up the middle this time, and Marcus Thames, playing right field for the injured Nick Swisher, put up a fabulous at bat against righthander Nick Blackburn. He fouled off six balls, five of them trickling weakly past third base, before walking on the 10th pitch. Playing intermittently before a recent spate of injuries, left fielder Randy Winn hasn’t hit a lot, but he drilled Blackburn’s 1-1 pitch into the right center field gap. It bounded and rolled to the wall, and he reached third for a two-run triple. But Winn didn’t score as Ramiro Pena flied to left.
The home team couldn’t score around two-out singles in both the third and the fourth. Denard Span robbed Derek Jeter’s drive to deep right center before Mark Teixeira’s single in the third, and Winn’s long fly to deep right died on the warning track after Thames singled with two down in the fourth. The Yanks managed to add to their lead in the fifth, but not as much as it appeared they would. Pena and Jeter singled leading off, and Teixeira delivered Pena with a one-out single to right. But Joe Mauer effectively blocked the plate on Alex Rodriguez’s bouncer to third, nabbing Jeter trying to score. Cano flew out to end the fifth and Morneau started and finished a nifty 3-6-3 to end the sixth following Jorge’s second single. The Yanks did not score after a Brett Gardner two-out single in the seventh either.
Still, it was a nice day, and the home team enjoyed a two-run bulge with a good bullpen awaiting. It was around now that the restless crowd went through their daily “sure it’s great baseball, but when do we get to play?” moment and started the wave. A look out the back of the stadium around revealed that there were strange doings on the new soccer stadium that abuts the old Stadium site as well. Although 20 or so players were milling about, neither goal was being defended, and then it became clear that the youth were playing American football rather than soccer, and doing so sideways, with the sidelines in the middle of the field serving as the football goals. Would anything go according to form this day?
Span had a good at bat leading off the top of the eighth against Chamberlain, finally singling the other way after fouling off 95-mph heat. Orlando Hudson force him at second, but Joe Mauer walked. Still, things looked promising when Joba punched Morneau out swinging on four pitches, and got ahead of Michael Cuddyer. Here in the biggest play of the inning and the game, the Yanks became victims of their own success, as Cuddyer lined hard toward first base. The usually sure-handed Teixeira made the leap we and his pitchers have come to expect. He got his glove on the liner, but when the ball trickled free, Chamberlain was just what we all were: a spectator, watching from the mound. There was no one at first base to throw to and Cuddyer reached.
Joe Girardi came out and inserted a bizarrely underused Mariano Rivera, and making this as painless and quick as possible: Mo fell behind Jim Thome 3-0, then walked him after three strikes to make the score 3-2. A Rivera walk was shock enough, one to force in a run unthinkable. Then Jason Kubel turned on a 1-0 cutter and deposited in the seats in right for a grand slam, 6-3 Twins.
Kubel has a bit of a history with the grand slam, having accomplished the rare feat of completing a cycle one year ago by hitting a grand slam home run in his last at bat. And this blast had to be cathartic for the Minnesota team, given their recent struggles in the Bronx, including having lost to an A-Rod grand slam just two days ago. “Back in the day,” pitchers hitting grand slams were big in the May 16 news too. Hall of Fame righthander Steve Carlton, who reached all of 13 fences over 26 years in the bigs, beat all-world Dodger hurler Fernando Valenzuela 7-2 by hitting one on this day in 1984. And White Sox southpaw Tommy Byrne beat the Yanks and Ewell Blackwell with a ninth-inning pinch hit four-run blast 5-3 on May 16, 1953. And that’s not the only Yankee blight of the day. It was Billy Martin’s birthday in 1928, sure, but it was the celebration of that birthday that led to the infamous brawl involving classic Yankee players at the Copa Cabana nightclub in 1957.
Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, and Yogi Berra were involved in that storied night, one that led to Martin’s eventual banishment from the Yankee team as a player, though he would return (and return, and return, etc.) as a manager. It’s fitting we mention the string of Hall heroes in talking about the rare Rivera failure. Perennial All Star Valenzuela belongs too, I think, in that he shares with the Yankee closer one of those surefire signs of fame. “Fernando” and “Mariano”: You know who these guys are by their first names.
You’ll find that Mo has allowed just four grand slams in his career, and not one in Yankee Stadium since he was a rookie starter back in 1995. Fans around me felt that Girardi overmanaged, but I totally agreed with Joe’s choice of Joba to start the eighth, and Mo once the sacks were filled. What I do find troubling is the long stretches with Mariano not facing any live action up to this point.
The Yanks failed to come back from the big blow, managing just a two-out Posada walk in the eighth, although they gave their fans something to cheer when Winn and Pena led off the bottom of the ninth with singles. But given the opportunity to bring the tying run to the plate three times, they couldn’t break through as Minnesota closer Jon Rauch then struck out the side.
Though the superb back of the pen failed, the team had to take some heart from Mitre’s start, though it was disturbing that the Twins had as many fly ball outs against him (five) as grounders. The oddest stat of the game was first-pitch strikes, as Sergio did well despite throwing just five to 20 batters. And Robertson, who is a vital cog and did well, missed the zone five of seven times. But it was undoubtable that Rivera’s failure to do his usual and start batters off with strikes cost him, and did so dearly.
There is no time for this team to lick its wounds. The Yankees face Boston in two, then Tampa for two, then “travel” to Flushing to battle the Mets. My advice? Pitch Mo five times this week. Most (if not all) will be saves.
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!