Bronx, N.Y., June 28, 2011 – The Tuesday contest between the visiting Milwaukee Brewers and the Yankees in the Stadium was an intriguing one on several levels, and not just because each club sits atop its division. With many a Yankee fan clamoring for starting pitching help over the winter, the Yanks never really set their sights on the available KC Royal righty Zack Greinke once the Cliff Lee plans were foiled, much to the displeasure of some of theiir fans.
But far more fans accepted the club’s direction in eschewing the multitalented and multi-conflicted Greinke, and with him bringing his 7-2 record in a Brewers uniform to the Yankee Stadium mound vs. No. 4 starter Fredddy Garcia Tuesday, we were about to find out how chapter one in the drama would turn out. The rampaging Brew Crew had stormed to first place in the NL Central over the last few weeks and, even if injuries and difficulty derailed Greinke’s first spring and early season with the team, as many had expected, he’d been pitching like the ace he was expected to be for more than a month.
The visitors threatened against Garcia in the first, something that has become commonplace recently, but following a one-out single and a hit by pitch, Freddy escaped on a fly to left and one of just two swings and misses he coaxed on the evening, this one strike three past Casey McGehee for Garcia’s lone strike out of the game. Now what would Yankee bats be able to mount against Greinke?
Plenty, as it turned out, but not until Zack was betrayed by his own defense first. On this, the 97th anniversary of the assassination that led to World War I, fans were wondering if Greinke’s hitting Brett Gardner with his second pitch was retaliation for Garcia plunking slugger Ryan Braun, but not for long. Because four pitches later Curtis Granderson lofted a pretty deep fly to just left of center, and Nyjer Morgan circled the ball before suddenly attempting a lunging change in direction, and falling to the turf as the ball bounced to the wall. Garner scored easily, and Curtis had his easiest of an AL-leading seven triples on the year. A Mark Teixeira grounder made sure the miscue cost Greinke two quick runs.
But sensing opportunity, the Bombers were not done. Eight of the next 12 batters reached, starting with an Alex Rodriguez lazy ground single to right center against a bizarre shift that had three infielders on the left side of second base. These special defenses are employed against lefty pull hitters often, but there are reasons why it’s less effective against righties, which Alex would prove again in a four-run rally in the home sixth. Although the Yanks would load the bases in the first, they would not score beyond 2-0, but it cost Greinke 27 pitches to close the frame, and 56 to survive two.
“Survive” is not a good choice of words though, because although Zack would record six outs in this game, he would not do so before the Yanks had accumulated a 7-0 lead. An Eduardo Nunez single, Gardner walk, and double steal applied immediate pressure in the second inning. One of two Yankees with four rbi’s on the night, Teixeira bounced another rbi grounder, A-Rod walked, and Robinson Cano made it 4-0 with a single to center. The Yanks were upping the ante slightly on every opportunity, forcing Greinke to try to throw perfect pitches to all nine. Three pitches after the Cano one-base hit, the red-hot Nick Swisher applied the coup de grace with a 2-0 line homer to right center, and the Bombers had a 7-0 lead.
Garcia did not fritter away the gift the Yanks had given him, hitting Milwaukee bats through six innings, even though three singles in the fourth reached him for two runs. But whereas the Brewers defense had added to their pitcher’s burden, the Yanks did the opposite, getting Freddy out of the frame once the second run scored on a well-relayed 9-2-4 to catch Yuniesky Betancourt at second. Two innings later, Swisher, who aside from his offensive heroics played a superb right field, pegged Corey Hart out at home on a Mat Gamel single, the second time he contibuted to an out on the basepaths against a Brewers team that, five runs down on both occasions, had no business running themselves into outs. Swisher, who would match Tex at four runs batted in with an rbi double in the home eighth for the game’s last score, twice held doubles bids into the right field corner to one base with slding catches and quick relays to the infield.
Garcia went six, throwing 19 of 25 first-pitch strikes, as any veteran would with a big lead. He would mix 86-mph heat with effective split fingers, sliders, and too slow to hit curves to keep the Brewers off stride, although the scoreboard readout credited him with a fast ball at 90 mph on a second strike to Rickie Weeks in the fifth. There was a pretty strong toward-home-plate breeze at the time, the only reason I can find for the elevated reading.
Once the Yanks had their lead, they looked the better of the two squads by far, moving up on wild pitches, stolen bases, sloppy plays, one balk, and even getting a 3-2 walk to Robinson Cano in the home sixth when first base ump Gary Cederstrom caught lefty Zach Braddock going to his mouth on the mound for ball four. This followed Tex’s two-run jack and preceded a Jorge Posada rbi base hit. Following that the Yanks scored their 11th run on a potential double play ball once Weeks did what Morgan had done in the first, fell down in the middle of the play.
All of which led the Yanks to a 12-2 romp in game where they were outhit by their opposition, 11-10. They temporaily closed the door on how their rotation has ended up thus far through some tough offseason choices, edged their lead in the AL East up to 1.5 games, and took a 1-0 lead in their fifth interleague series of the year after having won each of the first four, two games to one. And they did it all with a,
Zack Attack
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!