Young Arms Tame Yanks as Tigers Grab Edge in Series

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The Yankees lost 4–3 to the Tigers yesterday afternoon, and in the process found out why the Detroit Tigers will be a formidable opponent despite their second-half slide. An argument can be made that the Yankees now face an uphill battle to win the Division Series and advance to the League Championship round of the playoffs.

Game Two, delayed 17 hours by rain, started auspiciously for the Yankees. In the top of the first, Mike Mussina struck out the side around a Derek Jeter throwing error, and it seemed unlikely that the free-swinging, impatient Tigers would be able to figure out Mussina’s kitchen-sink assortment of pitches. This proved to be optimistic. With two outs in the top of the second, Tigers left fielder Craig Monroe pulled a 3–1 pitch just fair down the left field line. It hugged the line and hopped into the stands for a grounds rule double. That brought up former Yankee Marcus Thames, who would bedevil the Yankees all afternoon.

Thames made his major league debut with the Yankees in 2002. A borderline prospect, he was quickly discarded for the empty shell of Ruben Sierra, a player who could not have done more damage to the Yankees in his second tour of duty if he had spiked Joe Torre’s green tea with laxatives.The Mississippi native swung at Mussina’s first pitch, looping it to right field for an RBI single.

The score remained 1–0 for the four half-innings, but the Yankees had their one moment of drama in the bottom of the fourth. After Alex Rodriguez opened the frame by softly flying out to left, Hideki Matsui singled to right. Jorge Posada worked the count to 3–2, then walked. Robinson Cano, who now seems as cold in October as he was hot in September, flew out harmlessly to left field. That turned the lineup over for leadoff man Johnny Damon. Damon took pitch one for a ball, then pulled Justin Verlander’s second offering deep into the right field upper deck for a three-run homer.

That was the high water mark for the Yankees. Mussina would pitch through the seventh inning but would be unable to hold the Tigers from then on. Thames led off the top of the fifth with a double. Mussina’s wild-pitch got him to third. After striking out number nine hitter Brandon Inge without too much trouble, Mussina faced left-hander Curtis Granderson. Granderson hit a fly ball to Damon in medium center field. Damon’s arm is the weakest part of his game, and his throw home had a lazy, rainbow arc. The play wasn’t close. The Tigers were within one.

With one out in the sixth inning, Mussina allowed a solo home run to shortstop Carlos Guillen, a player not demonstrably inferior to Derek Jeter. The game-tying home run stood in marked contrast to Jeter, who gave away an out in the first, popping up a bunt attempt after Damon led off the inning with a bloop single. In recent postseasons, Jeter, often calling his own plays, has bunted the Yankees out of several rallies. He may have done the same thing here. Jeter is not a home run hitter by the strictest definition of the word, but as a career .317/.388/.463 batter, he is a hitter, and his giving away outs in the first inning of a game is a double waste of resources. It not only throws away an out, it throws away Jeter’s bat.

The Yankees had little time to consider their new game-state. Thames led off the top of the seventh with a single to left. The Yankees gave away a base on a Posada passed ball, and Inge bunted Thames to third base. That put Curtis Granderson in position to hit another sacrifice fly, and Joe Torre made what was his first serious mistake of the series.

Granderson is the only lefty batter of note on the Tigers’ roster. He is extremely vulnerable to left-handed pitching. Torre knows this, which is why he called on Mike Myers to face Granderson in Game One. That move didn’t pay off, as Myers allowed an unlikely home run to the young outfielder. That move was mistimed; Wang was pitching well and there was nothing at stake in the Granderson at bat. This time, the Yankees needed to preserve the tie or risk losing the game. Torre made no move; Mussina got ahead 0–2, but Granderson lined his third pitch into the left field gap for a triple, putting the Tigers ahead 4–3.

A superlative play by Alex Rodriguez saved a run-scoring double by Placido Polanco, and Mussina retired the inoffensive Sean Casey to end the inning. For the Yankees, though, one run might as well have been a million as they now had to face 100-MPH setup man Joel Zumaya and the comparatively ineffectual closer Todd Jones. Jones has 263 career saves, but he’s benefited from the generosity of the saves rule more than he’s benefited his teams. Any pitcher, even a bad one, has luck on his side when he’s called upon to get three outs before a run scores, and Zumaya puts Jones in the position of doing just that. The arrangement makes Jones’ saves somewhat redundant, but Jim Leyland is not one to buck the conventional wisdom that says a team needs a veteran closer.

The Yankees never threatened Zumaya and a possible ninth-inning rally signaled by Matsui’s leadoff single off of Jones proved illusory. The Yankees now fly to Detroit where they must endure two uncertain pitching matchups. The first, Kenny Rogers vs. Randy Johnson, the latter of which, uncertain all year long, is battling a herniated disc. Even if Johnson doesn’t pitch well, the Yankees have a chance as Rogers is better at battling cameramen than postseason opponents. Game Four’s Jaret Wright-Jeremy Bonderman battle is also risky. Wright is variable, and his six-inning stuff inevitably exposes the Yankees bullpen. Bonderman is erratic and could easily throw a bad game, but he could just as easily strike out 12.

The Yankees could face elimination on Saturday.

Mr. Goldman writes the Pinstriped Bible for www.yesnetwork.com and is the author of “Forging Genius,” a biography of Casey Stengel.


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