Tampa, FL, March 5 — The first surprise I was confronted with as I entered Legends Field under a dazzling cloudless sky Monday was the number of front-line Tigers who had made the trip to Tampa from Lakeland. Jim Leyland pencilled the names Ivan Rodriguez, Placido Polanco, Gary Sheffield, Carlos Guillen, Brandon Inge, Sean Casey, and Curtis Granderson into his starting lineup, handed the ball to Justin Verlander to pitch the first, and used both Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney to pitch late innings to protect a slim lead.
Next, I wasn’t so much surprised as disappointed in the debut start of new Yankee fifth starter Kei Igawa. A hard-throwing Japanese import, he threw 38 first-inning pitches, 20 of them off the plate. Establishing early wildness, Igawa fell behind Rodriguez 3-1 leading off the game, then grooved a pitch Ivan smacked to left for a single. Three walks and three outs later, the righthander had walked in a run, but he did strike three of the last four batters out. Although Kei was removed after surrendering a Casey single leading off the second, Jeff Kennard picked up where Kei left off, going so far as to walk in a run of his own on two free passes around a hit-by-pitch. Down 2-0 to that lineup, and the runs scored on bases loaded walks? That’s a surprise.
It had taken the Bengals 61 ugly pitches to take the 2-0 lead; one hopes the quickness of the Yankee repsonse came as a surprise to them. The Yanks tied the score three tosses into the second inning, and had a lead another seven throws later. Alex Rodriguez singled leading off before a Hideki Matsui home run down the right field line. Then Jorge Posada singled and moved up twice on wild pitches before crossing the plate on a fielder’s choice. A-Rod singled in Derek Jeter in the third, and the Yanks had a 4-2 lead.
A one-two-three frame from Mariano Rivera is hardly a surprise, but perhaps that it took place in the third inning was. Although the Bengals retook the lead 5-4 on a Polanco double in the fifth, young Steven Jackson, a vital cog in the Randy Johnson trade, posted back-to-back strike outs and did not appear overmatched following Mo. Chris Britton was brought in to face ex-Yank Gary Sheffield, who took him way deep, but comfortably foul to left as he had done so many times in New York the last three years. Britton retired Shef on a fly to left, and AA prospect Tyler Clippard came in for the sixth and seventh. A hard thrower, Clippard hit Brent Clevlen in the helmet, and the crowd muttered as Inge ducked away from two pitches during the next at bat.
It appeared to be exactly according to the Joe Torre plan that Scott Proctor and Ron Villone held the Tigers at five runs through the eighth and ninth, and it was no surprise that Zach Miner, Zumaya, and Rodney thwarted every Yankee attempt down the stretch as well. As the game approached the end, a smattering of Tigers fans became a loud chorus, but Yankee backers took heart when they were presented with the biggest surprise of the day, though few of them realized it at the time. The tall lefty Detroit brought in to garner the last three outs of the day was a nonroster invitee and therefore not on any printed roster distributed in the park this day, but it was none other than former Yankee reliever Felix Heredia. As a Yank, Felix struggled mightily with his control, but he got off to a good start when he retired pinch hitter Melky Cabrera on a bunt and Chris Basak on a 2-2 hopper to third. But the Pinstriped faithful took heart once Heredia fell behind power hitter Josh Phelps 3-0. Given the green light, Phelps drilled a single to left and the Yanks were alive.
Thirty-eight years ago this March, the pilot for a TV show named Then Came Bronson was shown, picked up, and scheduled for the 1969 TV season. It ran just the one year, and is rarely shown in repeats. The principal character Bronson, a free spirit who rode his Harley around the country searching for the meaning of life, stopped in different towns each week and helped people in various walks of life with their problems. Lefty-swinging Bronson Sardinha had a problem of his own in the Yankee minors a few years back. Contemplating his future at third base once Alex Rodriguez was acquired in trade, he switched to the outfield. Sardinha had gotten the start in right this day after having stroked hits in his last two at bats Sunday in Clearwater. He was a meek 0-for3 against righties so far on the day, but when Heredia grooved a 1-0 fastball, Bronson lashed a line drive over the wall in right, and the Yanks celebrated a 6-5 win that has them off to a 5-0 start in games.
If TV had plots like this, perhaps Then Came Bronson would have survived, at least long enough to make TV Land repeat showings.
BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!