Bronx, N.Y., June 21, 2013 — Following a dreadful road trip where their starting pitchers have slowly been given the impression that to win for the Yankees you need to hold the other team to two runs or less, the team returned home to cash in a win, only to follow that with 14 straight scoreless innings in back-to-back losses. Recent struggles had dropped them from first place in the AL East, and then from second. And a look in the rear-view mirror showed last place in the division was a mere three games away.

Despite some offensive highlights, even in the early season the team had been carried by its pitching, but the recent dearth of runs appears to be having an effect on the starters. Both Phil Hughes and Andy Pettitte allowed five runs in the two aforementioned losses, and young David Phelps, off to fabulous early-season success, was showing some of the same strains in Friday night’s tilt hosting Tampa Bay, a fourth-place team nipping at the Yankees’ heals following their 6-0 win in the first of four in the Bronx Thursday night. Staked to a one-run lead twice in the early going, Phelps gave each back on hard ground singles just out of the reach of infielders’ gloves.

Following a promising early season relying on veteran pieces penciled in to fill in for the long list of Yankee veterans on the disabled list in 2013, the team and its fans have been experiencing a double rude awakening in the last few weeks. First, vet signees who had carried the team in the early going hit a wall. Vernon Wells has become the poster boy for “don’t believe what you see in April,” Travis Hafner’s average has dropped, Lyle Overbay has come back to earth after a slew of big rbi hits, and Brennan Boesch has been in AAA for weeks.

While disturbing, this trend was supposed to be mitigated by the slow and gradual return of the team’s most dangerous veterans, and in May, indeed, Curtis Granderson made his way back to the Bronx, followed by first baseman Mark Teixeira and corner infielder Kevin Youkilis weeks later. All three, unfortunately, are back on the DL.

Desperate for some offensive spark, manager Joe Girardi has been trying to find the right combinations, a search that perhaps had its nadir Thursday night when five lefty batters dominated the lineup against Tampa southpaw Matt Moore. The team had a sixth lefty hitter Friday, but this was against righthander Roberto Hernandez, and uncharacteristically, they immediately gave Phelps a third lead. Hafner and Overbay singles got the home fourth inning going, but the key hit was the second straight single off the bat of left fielder Zoilo Almonte, making his first major league start. Even though shortstop Jayson Nix followed with his second straight double play grounder, it did score one run, and set up another, resulting in a 4-2 lead that would not be seriously challenged.

Almonte would not embarrass himself in the outfield, handling three chances and showing a strong arm on a throw to the plate after catching a liner when Tampa had the bases loaded, with a chance to take the lead, in the third. But the best was yet to come, and the switch-hitting rookie tacked on a run with a second-pitch home run that cleared the Yankee bullpen wall with two down in the seventh. The offense-starved 40,000 or so pinstriper fans interrupted their incessant passes at perfecting the Wave to give Zoilo a well-deserved curtain call for his fine game.

The litany of names is not new, but it is instructive in this, what many of us believe is the best sport, given the fact that even very good players most often fail. Eduardo Nunez, Austin Romine, David Adams, Alberto Gonzalez, Reid Brignac, Thomas Neal, Corban Joseph, Ben Francisco, Chris Nelson. We love the game, not because it is about failure, but rather in the sense that in this scenario, rising above and succeeding in the face of expected losses is that much more sweet.

There are no guarantees. The phrase “flash in the pan,” thought to have originated with the California Gold Rush in the 19th century, has become a sports cliche. And Yankee fans are no stranger to it, given the example, in one case, of “Shane Spencer, the Home Run Dispenser.” Almonte has had his ups and downs playing in the minor leagues. And he did show a disturbing propensity for the strike out in former years. A switch hitter, the team envisions him as much more of a threat from the left side. He did strike out batting righty in last at bat in this game, but it bears pointing out that there have not been many 3-for-4 nights with a home run in the recent Yankee experience.

The Friday night win does accomplish three things. First, it pushes the Yankees closer to second place, and further from fourth. Second, it eases a bit of the psychological strain on the Yankee starting staff, who not only witnessed this team score six runs twice in the last three games, but also hand a starting pitcher three separate leads in four frames. And finally, it introduces to the team and to its fans Zoilo Almonte, that one among thousands of prospects who could be the real thing, a budding star for years to come.

So did the Yankees “strike Zoil”? Stay tuned.

BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!