What a day of watching baseball Saturday was! The Yankees took a 2-1 lead in their series behind the Rocket, the Marlins knocked out the Giants on a play at the plate, the Braves forced a Game Five by retiring potential tying run Sammy Sosa on a long fly ball, and the Red Sox stayed alive on a walk-off homer in the 11th inning. I spent the better part of eight hours in front of the tube (praise TiVo!), from the beginning of the Yanks game through the inexcusable braincramps of the Oakland A’s, before heading out to a birthday party, where we monitored the Sox-A’s game via cell phone updates.
First, the Yanks game. After walking the first batter, Clemens settled into a vintage performance, dominating the Twins for seven innings, working out of a couple of jams and allowing only a solo homer to A.J. Pierzynski. Meanwhile the Yankees scraped together some runs against Kyle Lohse. Hideki Matsui hit a towering two-run homer in the second with Bernie Williams aboard, and the hot-hitting Williams, who’s had much to atone for with his fielding, added an RBI single in the third. The Yanks threatened a few other times, but the Twins bullpen — including the Kenny “The Gambler” Rogers — kept the game close. But with two spotless innings, Mo Rivera again nailed down the 3-1 win.
It’s been a low-scoring series thus far, with the Yanks outscoring the Twins 8-5. The Yanks are hitting .253 AVG/.330 OBP/.323 SLG/.654 OPS, which looks positively Ruthian compared to the Twins’ .179/.245/.284/.529 line. The biggest difference between the two teams has been hitting with men in scoring position. In 30 opportunities, the Yanks are at .200/.265/.300/.565 which is anemic except up agains the Twins’ .067/.158/.067/.225 in 15 chances.
Today’s 4 PM matchup pits Game One starter Johan Santana, who stifled the Yanks for four innings before leaving with leg cramps, against David Wells, who has a long history against the Twins, including his perfect game back in 1998. The only current Twin who appeared in that game is Latroy Hawkins. This season, Boomer went 2-0 with one run allowed in 18 innings against the Twins this season. In the Metrodome on April 21, he backed a 15-run outburst with a 1-run complete game. Its tough to read too much into that, as he faced only four Twins who are likely to be in Sunday’s lineup (Guzman, Hunter, LeCroy and Rivas).
Onto the other games. The Marlins-Giants battle was going on simultaneously with the Yanks, so most of what I caught were cut-ins and snippets between innings. The Giants scored first, but the Fish took a 5-1 lead by the fourth, knocking out Giants starter Jerome Williams. Dontrelle Willis crused through five innings, but the Giants rallied to tie the game in the sixth, chasing the rookie sensation. The Marlins retook the lead in the seventh as Ivan Rodriguez collided with Giants catcher Yorvit Torrealba in a play at the plate, knocking the ball loose to score the go-ahead run. The loose ball enabled Derek Lee to score as well, 7-5 Fish. But the Giants mounted a rally in the ninth against Ugueth Urbina, starting in the most unlikely way — a leadoff double by pinch-hitter Neifi Perez, he of the .632 OPS. J.T. Snow singled him in. With two outs and a man on second, Jeffrey Hammonds singled to shallow leftfield, where Jeff Conine fielded the ball and fired home. Rodriguez held onto the ball as Snow, son of a former NFL star, collided. Out! Ballgame and series to the Marlins, who pigpiled at home plate in celebration while the Giants simply looked stunned.
So much for my half-assed prediction that they would go all the way, but at least the pundits fo the baseball universe have something to ponder beyond the eterntal pitch/don’t pitch to Barry Bonds. To quote the late Brooklyn Dodger manager Charlie Dressen, “The Giants is dead.”
In Chicago, the Braves stared down elminiation. Russ Ortiz, who nearly pitched the World Series-winning game for Dusty Baker last October, faced Baker from across the diamond. Ortiz wobbled through five innings, allowing only one run while the Braves rolled against Matt Clement and his ridiculously pubic-looking beard on the strength of a Chipper Jones 2-run homer. With a 5-1 lead, Ortiz gave up a homer to the not-so-undead Eric Karros and was soon given the hook. The game became a battle of the bullpens, as eleven relievers were used. Jones slugged another 2-run shot in the eighth, and Karros countered with a solo shot to keep the score at 6-3. John Smoltz came on to close things out and the visibly pained closer struggled, yielding a run on back-to-back doubles to lead off the inning. He got the next two batters, forcing a confrontation for the ages: tying run at the plate in the form of Sammy Sosa. Taking an eternity between pitches, Smoltz fell behind Sosa, who worked the count to 3-2. On the seventh pitch of the at-bat, Sosa connected, driving a ball deep to centerfield. With the potential for bedlam in Wrigley Field if it went out, the Braves held their collective breath. But Andruw Jones snagged the ball at the warning track, breathing life back into Atlanta’s chances. Game Five is tonight, with Kerry Wood facing Mike Hampton, who goes on short rest.
In the nightcap, Derek Lowe and Ted Lilly deadlocked to a 1-1 tie through seven, abetted by two brainlocks on the part of the A’s. Trailing 1-0 in the sixth inning, with one out, Eric Bynes on third and a man on first, Miguel Tejada slapped one back to Lowe, who wildly threw home. Byrnes tumbled as he collided with Jason Varitek as the ball skipped by the Sox catcher. Byrnes came up wincing and limping. He pushed Varitek out of the way as the catcher chased the ball to the backstop, and Varitek came back with the ball to tag him out for missing the plate. Incredible! I swore a blue streak that had children a block away crying, phrases which will give me plenty to atone for on Yom Kippur. But hurt or not, Byrnes’ play was pitiful. There isn’t a man on the Yankees roster who wouldn’t have crawled back on bloody stumps over broken glass to touch home on that play, and I’d say the same thing about the Sox roster with the exception a certain leftfielder. For all of their sabermetric blueprints, one has to wonder if the A’s teach simple fundamentals like how to slide into home plate (somewhere Jeremy Giambi is shaking his head) and principles such as “You have to touch home for the run to count,” and “There’s no crying in baseball, especially when the ball’s in play.”
The answer to all those questions is apparently a resounding “No!” as things went from dumb to dumberer for the A’s two batters later. With the bases loaded and two outs, Ramon Hernandez slapped a ball past Nomar Garciaparra. Moving to cover third, third baseman Bill Mueller collided with Tejada as coach Ron Washington waved him home behind Erubiel Durazo, who scored. As Manny Ramirez’s throw home beat Tejada, the A’s shortstop stopped short, holding up his arms and complaining about obstruction. The umps called his whiny ass out. A’s manager Ken Macha stormed out of the dugout to argue, and the men in blue held a lengthy conference, but the play stood. While the obstruction call was probably the right one, Tejada’s mid-play appeal brought to mind Chuck Knoblauch’s whining about interference in the ’98 ALDS as the ball squirted away. A better thing to do would have been for Tejada to retake third, then mount his complaint that he should be awarded home.
The A’s ended up losin on an eleventh-inning pinch-homer by Trot Nixon off of Rich Harden, none of which I saw. But I can’t shake the collective incompetence they showed on those two plays. Had either of them happened to the Sox, they would have assumed Buckneresque proportions in the team’s horrible lore, and they may well do so for the A’s if they blow this series. The tide may well have turned in the Sox favor.
Which reminds me: it’s 1 PM, and there’s a ballgame calling for me, Tim Hudson facing John Burkett. Here comes another tough day at the office. I can barely see over my smile.