There's a lot less head shaking and shrugs about the signing of Bartolo Colon to a minor league contract than there were before this stellar performance.
Tampa, Fla., March 4, 2011 — Freddy Garcia was happy with his work yesterday in Port Charlotte, and for good reason. But he might be feeling a little less comfortable with it now, because Bartolo Colon made a statement start Friday night. Admittedly facing a different-looking Red Sox team (more on that shortly), he retired seven straight and nine of 11, and recorded five of the nine outs via the strike out, three of them swinging. Only five of the 16 strikes he recorded in the first two innings struck Sox bats. A ground double down the left field line and a swinging bunt with one out in the third slowed his momentum, but Colon came back strong with the fifth strike out and a dribbler to first where the bulky right-hander broke from the mound and took the throw at first just ahead of Boston center fielder Ryan Kalish. In perhaps the most impressive stat of his night, Bartolo forged an 0-2 count against seven of 11 batters.
The Pink Sox came to Tampa Friday night, and although the offense-averse Yankees hit more than they have in the last few days, it was not enough. Jason Varitek, who was the Sox second-string catcher a year ago and only played 39 games, and Jed Lowrie, who appeared in 55 games around the infield, were the only (semi)regulars to make the trip. (Admittedly, game amounts were affected by injuries, but the point is they weren’t starters.) And Clay Buccholz pitching three innings certainly is legit. Left back in Fort Myers were these players: Adrian Gonzalez, Dustin Pedroia, Marco Scutaro, Kevin Youkilis, Mike Cameron, Carl Crawford, J.D. Drew, and Jacoby Ellsbury. Bud Selig used to penalize organizations for this kind of representation when fans are paying good money to see their teams. On the one hand, it was insulting and infuriating that Boston arrived with a team that included so few regulars.
On the other hand, it was embarrassing, because this AA assemblage left Tampa with a 5-3 victory nonetheless.
Joe Girardi has been using a strange strategy of his own to get the Yankee starters regular playing time. Since fielding the real team for a few innings on Opening Day last Saturday, he has been alternating starting his infield and outfield every other day. Thursday Brett Gardner, Curtis Granderson, and Nick Swisher made the trip to Port Charlotte to play the Rays; Friday night, then, that trio didn’t play while Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Robbie Cano, and Mark Teixeira took their turn. It’s a very different strategy than 2010, when on March 4, for instance, Gardner, Nick Johnson, Jorge Posada, Cano, and Swisher played against the Phillies. Although Joe may know what he’s doing, it’s undeniably different than what he has done before. And perhaps it has something to do with the erratic offense the team has been exhibiting. This, of course, is not a problem; this stretch is not about winning games. But this is a totally new approach, and a strange one.
Alex Rodriguez huddles with third base coach Rob Thompson after his double and a fielder's choice in the fourth inning.
The Yanks did threaten several times early, or at least Alex Rodriguez did. He’s been driving the ball since we got off the plane, and he singled hard to left in the second, and doubled to the wall in the fourth. All my righteous indignation notwithstanding (to be clear, the indignation does stand), the Boston team that made the trip played a very good defensive game. Josh Reddick in left made a diving grab of Cano’s drive that would have scored Alex in the second, third baseman Yamaico Navarro made two fine stabs around a Derek Jeter single down the right field line in the fifth, and shortstop Jose Iglesias robbed Jorge Vazquez of a base hit in the seventh. While Boston subs and no-names were snuffing out threats in the field, at least one of the Yankee youngsters who subbed for the regulars midgame made a bad decision that killed a rally.
Manny Banuelos was superb yet again taking the baton from Colon, striking out three more in the fourth and fifth, around Drew Sutton’s second hit and a walk, to keep the visitors off the board through five. Southpaw Pedro Feliciano, who will need to be as good as Mets fans say he is if Boone Logan continues to struggle, gave up a Lowrie double and Daniel Nava single to score a run in the sixth. But the Yanks answered right away. Facing ex-Phillie starter Brandon Duckworth in the bottom half, Mark Teixeira and Robbie Cano boomed doubles to right and to left center, respectively, around an A-Rod strike out to tie the score. Center fielder Austin Crum pinch ran for Cano and was promptly doubled off second when a hump-back liner off the bat of Andruw Jones was easily corraled by Sutton at second. The badly fooled Krum was standing on third when he was retired.
Tex blasted a double off Brandon Duckworth in the sixth that led to the first Yankee run.
The struggling Logan replaced Feliciano to start the seventh. Boone was OK Sunday despite allowing a single to portside hitter Ryan Howard, but he allowed three straight hits to the Astros in his second outing Tuesday; that same Logan showed this night. He got two quick outs, but Iglesias and Juan Carlos Linares singled around a Che-Hsuan Lin walk. Having hrown 28 pitches, Logan was replaced by Eric Wordekemper, and Oscar Tejeda (lots of big baseball names, right?) cleared the bases with a triple to right. It was 4-1 Boston with all three runs charged to Logan.
It was an uphill battle after that, although worthy of note was another effective inning from Mark Prior, who struck out two and walked one. Luis Ayala allowed another Red Sox run in the ninth, and then the baby Yankees did their best to save our night, rallying in the bottom of the ninth, as they had against the Astros Wednesday. They scored two and brought the winning run to the plate before Ramiro Pena’s bid for a tying single up the middle was flagged down. Pena was called out on a bing-bang play at first, and a bevy of Red Sox fans celebrated their win, even if none of the dozens of shirts they wore bore the name of even one player present at this game.
We'll continue talking about the young starters until they make it to the Bronx: Dellin Betances was very good again.
A year ago, the Yanks dropped a 3-2 decision to the Phillies in Clearwater in 50-degree weather on March 4. The runs came in the ninth inning and were driven in by Jose Gil and David Winfree. Although this evening was cooler than it has been, and windy too, it was another gorgeous night, 20 degrees warmer than last year. The two ninth-inning runs that closed this one to the 5-3 final score were plated by Jordan Parraz (infield single) and Gustavo Molina (bases loaded walk).
No matter how much Terry Francona decides to flout the “rules” about fielding a representative team and Joe Girardi institutes his bizarro alternating infield/outfield lineup scheme, things in the first week of Spring Training don’t really change all that much.
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!