Heartland Pinstripes

So this is what it feels like to write after a win? It hasn’t been that long–just a few days–but it’s seemed like an eternity. My son had martial arts class so I entered in the fourth, and it was great to see the Yankees ahead 3-0. Wang was dealing, and appeared to suffer from a mild finger injury in the fifth and exited after six. But the bullpen nailed it down the rest of the way, with Nuke’s benevolent alter ego Cool Hand Nuke, Joba, and Mariano finishing the deal. The bats benefited from some Mariners’ miscues in the field to help build the three-run lead, then added two big insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth to salt it. Wang moves to 6-0, lowering his ERA from 3.23 to an even 3 as part of his excellent, and vital, start.

After Wang’s nine-pitch first, the Yankees took a 1-0 lead right away. With one out Jeter reached on an E6, Abreu singled softly, Duncan fanned, but Matsui drove in Jeter with a single to left. But Giambi swung at the first pitch, ending Bedard’s 19-pitch first with a 3-1. After Wang fanned Sexson and Balentien, Ensberg reached on an error and took second on an E4, Gonzo singled to center, and Melky reached down and ripped a low off-speed pitch down the third-base line to score Ensberg and Gonzo, 3-0 Yankees. The Yanks stranded two in the third when Duncan worked a lead-off walk and Giambi was hit by a pitch, but consecutive fly outs to right by Ensberg and Molina ended the threat to add on. Wang averted trouble in the fourth, stranding Ibanez after his lead-off double by getting Beltre on an unproductive 5-3, fanning Clement, and retiring Sexson on a 6-3. After walking Burke with one out and seemingly having trouble with his finger, Wang got Betancourt on a 4-6-3 DP to end the fifth. Ichiro manufactured the lone Mariners run in the sixth, singling with one out, stealing second and third, and scoring on Ibanez’s 4-3, 3-1 Yankees.

But that was all the Mariners would muster. Cool Hand Nuke mowed ‘em down with a 1-2-3 seventh with two K’s, Joba allowed only a single to Ichiro (who I really think should be a Hall-of-Fame player) in the eighth, and Mariano worked a 1-2-3 ninth to shut it down. The Yankees added two insurance runs in the eighth. Abreu and Duncan singled, Giambi worked a one-out walk and, instead of using Cano to pinch-hit against the righty Sean Green, Girardi stuck with Ensberg who singled sharply through the hole, 4-1 Yankees. Molina then cranked a deep sac fly to Death Valley, 5-1. I agree with the decision to use Mariano. He was up and well warmed up before the Yankees scored two in the bottom of the eighth, so he might as well have entered and gotten his first work since Monday. Plus, locking this down wasn’t the worst decision the team could have made to get a win under the belt after being swept by Detroit.

Good win rooted in terrific pitching, starting with the outstanding Wang and carrying through the pen. Wang went six, allowing a run earned on three hits and two walks while fanning five on 90 pitches/53 strikes. Nuke has been moving toward Cool Hand Nuke for the last couple weeks. Though he allowed the solo homer in Wednesday’s 6-2 loss to Detroit, he had two scoreless innings against Cleveland (though one with two walks), and has lowered his ERA nearly two full runs after allowing a run against Boston in the 8-5 loss April 13. Since that game, Nuke has worked eight innings and allowed four hits, two runs earned, three walks but fanned ten. That’s pretty good, and I think we’d all take that from him. Mariano still hasn’t allowed an earned run in 2008 and has looked extremely sharp, while Joba was painting the black with 96-97 mph fastballs. The bullpen has been and remains a strong suit for the Yanks, and should serve the team well if not overworked.

Melky was 1-4 with the two-RBI double, giving him 14 RBIs and a .284 average. Matsui’s RBI gives him 14 also, and his 1-4 night sees him continue to add hits but drop in average as Pete Abraham pointed out, hitting a still-sharp .313. Abreu had two soft singles to go 2-4, but they don’t put asterisks next to the hits in the box score, and he’s batting .284 as well. Ensberg and Molina each had RBIs to represent the bottom of the order fairly well tonight, and Gonzo and Duncan each added a hit and a run apiece. Jeter was 0-4 and dropped to .275, but his run moved him into fourth on the Yankees all-time list for runs scored, past DiMaggio and behind only Ruth, Gehrig, and Mantle.  That’s some company. Giambi’s 0-2 puts him at an abysmal .160.

New York ups its record to 15-16, and hopefully the Yankees can manufacture some momentum tomorrow as Mussina (3-3, 4.73 ERA) faces wunderkind Felix Hernandez (2-1, 2.22 ERA) at 1:05 EDT. The posts are so much easier to write after a win.

Pete Abraham has a link to a column in The New York Daily News by Bob Raissman on Joe Girardi’s approach to media relations, and it’s well worth reading at LoHud. Raissman does a particularly good job laying the groundwork to why many, including myself, jumped to the erroneous conclusion that Hughes was not hurt. His column is not exculpatory on that issue, yet it does accurately target Girardi’s and the organization’s rather cryptic approach to the media generally, and injury issues specifically. People jump to conclusions about such things when the organization and its representatives are quite simply not forthcoming about pertinent details that fans and media want to know. People are well aware that there is only so much that the team will tell others in order not to divulge too much, to open their players to greater risks on the field, and to protect their interests. Yet the unfortunate by-product is leaving people in the dark, and doing so in a duplicitous way. To say that Hughes’s staying in the rotation is a matter of “internal discussion” while not divulging anything about an injury, then let work seep out about a minor injury that was revealed later to be major, inevitably induces speculation about the organization’s intentions. Trust is given when trust is earned.

No one should be jejune enough to think that some in the media and numerous fans do not have axes to grind, nor to think that there are no valid and understandable reasons for the organization to be intentionally vague. Yet there are also plenty of media and fans who are genuinely interested in getting things right, and when not doing so means not doing one’s job well, this is an annoyance to say the least.  While different in significance, scope, and severity, I could not help but be a little reminded of the tea-leaf reading that Kremlinologists undertook in order to ascertain the workings of the Soviet Union’s inner party. The Yankees are a terrific organization loaded with smart baseball people. They should do better than subject themselves to needless scrutiny by being as honest as they can, and to phrase things as such. If a player will be examined, or has complained of some ailment requiring an examination that everyone knows is not instantaneous, tell people so. If there is uncertainty about something, smart reporters can sniff that out anyway, so be honest about it and control the message. That should be fundamental–controlling the message and not doing so in a ham-handed or possibly duplicitous way. Girardi has a thing or two to learn about controlling the message while not doing so in a brusque manner. Torre wasn’t always honest, but he was open and patient enough to work with media, and therefore to a certain degree control the message and subsequently the tenor of the reporting about him and the team. Torre was darn good at it, and was early in his tenure with the team. Girardi might be showing more than the need to polish some PR skills. He might understandably be transferring a bit of frustration stemming his team’s significant under-performing through the first month.