Tampa, FL, March 6 — Friday was the 110th anniversary of the day aspirin was patented, something C.C. Sabathia might have been interested in hearing once he witnessed the first inning his fielders handed him in his Yankee debut game vs. Detroit in George M. Steinbrenner Field. Ryan Raburn was overmatched on a four-pitch strike out and Placido Polano followed by lofting an opposite-field rainbow down the line in right.
A nice start, but not on this night, as Shelley Duncan overran the fly ball and it bounded untouched into the Yankee bullpen for a grounds rule double. A tough break, but Sabathia shrugged it off and faced ex-Yankee DH Gary Sheffield, who stroked the only hard-hit ball of the frame, a hotshot grounder to short that Ramiro Pena corraled and threw to first as Polanco crossed to third. One-time Yank outfielder Marcus Thames followed with a slow roller to second, but then Angel Berroa followed up errors at short and third he had made earlier this week by bobbling yet another at second, for a doubly tainted run. But Sabathia never skipped a beat, coaxing three grounders and a swinging strike out around a second-ining single to finish his first outing having allowed just the one unearned run.
The home team replied with an answering tally in the second after third sacker Cory Ransom drilled a legitimate one-out double into the right-field corner. Justin Verlander could have escaped one out later with Ransom on third when he got Berroa to bounce to second, only a passed ball by catcher Dane Sardinha scored the run on the pitch before. The official scorer deemed that run unearned, but he couldn’t help the Detroit righty escape some earned numbers in the third.
With Berroa struggling in early March, the Yanks appear an infielder short should it be decided that immediate A-Rod surgery is the better option. But shortstop Pena just may have used this game to proclaim that if Berroa, for instance, is not up to the task, he is. He had displayed a solid glove in the first, and he showed off his speed when he beat out a grounder that deflected from the pitcher’s glove right to second to start the third. Brett Gardner deftly directed an opposite field single past short, and Johnny Damon followed with a line double to right on which third base coach Rob Thompson shocked the 10,000 present by holding Gardner at third. It did not matter, as Gardner scored on a Nick Swisher grounder, and Shelley atoned for his earlier misplay by dropping an rbi single in front of left fielder Thames, who was celebrating his 32nd birthday this day. The hard-throwing Verlander got one out in the third before leaving, but he allowed four runs.
Pena was at it again in the fourth and sixth innings. He followed leadoff singles by Molina and Berroa in the fourth with a perfect sac bunt. That threat fizzled when Molina was thrown out at the plate, and things became a bit tense when the Tigers plated two against a shaky Steven Jackson in the sixth for a 4-3 score. Sheffield reached when he was hit by a pitch for the second time to start things, and Gardner saved the day with a fabulous catch of a Mike Hessman liner to deep center. But following a single, Jackson missed with four straight after being up 0-2 on Brandon Inge, and then new catcher Alex Avila stroked a two-run single.
But then it was Pena to the rescue yet again, as his rbi single delivered Jose Molina in the bottom half. The Yankee catcher had doubled leading off and moved to third on a Berroa fielder’s choice. Ramiro promptly stole second but died there, but the best Tigers threat had been thwarted and the Yanks coasted to a 7-3 win.
Additional kudos go out to Cody Ransom and to the bullpen. Aside from his hard double that led to the first Bombers tally, the current third baseman, who looks more at home every day, snagged a liner with a dive to the line, leapt to his feet, and pegged to first to nail the speedy Raburn in the fifth. And Alfredo Aceves followed Sabathia with 2.7 scoreless fames reminiscent of his fine 2008 work. Then after the iffy Jackson, Jose Veras, Anhony Claggett, and David Robertson recorded six strike outs as they threw an inning apiece, with Robertson striking out the side in the ninth.
So perhaps we’ll look back someday and smile about C.C. Sabathia’s Spring Training Yankee debut. It may not have been a pretty win, but it was a spirited one. Eighty-seven years ago on March 6, the immortal Babe Ruth signed a three-year deal with New York for $52,000 per season. Let’s hope number 52 has even a fraction of the Yankee career the Babe did.
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!