¶ Alex Rodriguez marched on in his quest for another Most Valuable Player award with a two-run double that provided the tying and winning runs in the seventh inning;
¶ Andy Phillips improved his chances of securing the full-time first-base job before the July 31 nonwaiver trading deadline with a two-run single in the same inning and several more slick fielding plays around the bag;
¶ Roger Clemens, two weeks shy of his 45th birthday, again battled long enough and tough enough to keep his team close before handing the baton after the sixth inning to the shaky pitching hands of the bullpen;
¶ And Manager Joe Torre, who celebrated his 67th birthday, still has a few things to fret about, even though his team won for the fifth consecutive time and for the 11th time in 14 games.
“This was a nice gift,” Torre said, referring to the result on his birthday and not implying the Blue Jays gave the Yankees something not earned. But Torre quickly added that his relief pitchers have to stop walking batters and forcing him to use Mariano Rivera for five-out saves, as he did last night.
“Eventually, it’s going to catch up with you,” Torre said.
Speaking of catching up, the Yankees are doing it on two levels. Because Boston and Cleveland lost, the second-place Yankees moved to within seven games behind the first-place Red Sox in the American League East and six games behind Cleveland in the race for the A.L. wild card.
Seven is still a lot. But the Yankees trailed by 12 as recently as July 5 and by 14 ½ on May 29.
“There’s definitely a positive outlook,” said Rodriguez, who had the most important hit last night and has 92 runs batted in. Rodriguez drove a 2-1 pitch over the head of left fielder Reed Johnson, who was not playing deep enough to reach the ball that landed in front of the wall.
Two runners scored and the fans chanted, “M.V.P.!”
Toronto Manager John Gibbons came to the mound to replace starter Shaun Marcum (5-4), who mixed his pitches well in giving up only two hits over the first six innings.
Four batters later, Phillips drove a bases-loaded single through the left side of the infield off Brandon League to score two more. The victory went to Mike Myers, the first of five Yankees relief pitchers, who faced only one batter, Lyle Overbay, and retired him on a grounder to first with the bases loaded in seventh.
When asked about that critical play, Myers said the most important part was neither his pitch nor his fielding play at first base.
“Andy giving me a good feed,” Myers said of Phillips’s throw. “He’s so solid over there defensively, it’d be nice to see him there a whole year. He’s diving. He’s scooping balls out of the dirt. He’s all over the place.”
Indeed, in the Toronto fourth, with two men on and one man out, Phillips saved an inning-ending double play by scooping a relay throw from Robinson Canó.
Clemens scattered nine hits and one walk among three strikeouts as his record stayed at 2-4. He seemed to labor on a humid night and admitted he may have been working too hard on physical conditioning.
“I’m not young,” Clemens said. “My body wasn’t helping me much. I didn’t have much energy. I continue to show Joe I can get out of some of my messes.” His voice took on a determined tone as he continued.
“The training I’m doing is for October,” Clemens said. “That’s why I came here. I know what I bring when I go to the mound, especially in this stadium in the pinstripes.”
Others on the same mound in the same uniform are disappointing their manager. Luis Vizcaíno, the most reliable relief pitcher lately, needed a rest last night, and so did Kyle Farnsworth, who is struggling to hold on to his eighth-inning role.
So Torre used Scott Proctor, who walked two men, and Myers, who did well against a left-hander, his specialty; and Brian Bruney, who walked a man; and Ron Villone, who walked a man; and, finally, Rivera, who retired all five batters he faced.
INSIDE PITCH
Johnny Damon, the designated hitter for most games in recent weeks, started in left field in place of Hideki Matsui, who was the designated hitter. In the Toronto sixth, Lyle Overbay moved from first to third on a single to left by Aaron Hill. When Damon unsuccessfully tried to throw out Overbay at third, Hill moved to second. Damon has a batting average of .236. ... Joe Torre said he would let Jorge Posada catch Mike Mussina tomorrow night instead of Mussina’s usual catcher, Wil Nieves. Posada will rest today because it is a day game after a night game. ... Phil Hughes, who is returning from ankle and hamstring injuries, worked four innings yesterday with Class AA Trenton and gave up a run and two hits with two walks and five strikeouts. He will work next for Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Monday.
No comments:
Post a Comment