Serious Likeability

While the Mets couldn't get out of their own way in Houston, playing a totally un-watchable game in managing to get swept by the middlin' till now Astros, the Yankees were locked in a death match with their most formidable foes, the Los Angeles Angels (yeah, that's right the ones of Anaheim).

From beginning to end, it was a classic. John Lackey, the Angels starter, had everything going his way early in the game, and looked much as he'd looked five days earlier when he no-hit the Red Sox for 8 1/3. Darrell Rasner, the Yankees starter, seemed to have trouble every inning, and the locals seemed lucky to be down by only 4-0 after four innings.

In the bottom of the fourth, in fact, the Bombers were embarrassingly bad. Bobby Abreu and Derek Jeter combined to erase an RBI Nady should have had after he’d hit a sacrifice fly to left field with one out. But Abreu tried to take 3^rd and was thrown out before Jeter crossed home plate. Jeter could’ve run harder and Abreu shouldn’t have tried to advance.

In the fifth though, the entire complexion of the game seemed to change, as Dan Giese struck out two of the three Angels he faced. And, in the bottom of the inning, newly acquired Ivan “Pudge” Rodriguez knocked one over the left field wall. It was still 5-1 but you had the feeling the Yanks wouldn’t lie down just yet.

After Giese delivered another uneventful inning in the 6^th, the Yankees went to work, Jeter, Abreu and Arod managed to load the bases once again. After Giambi popped out to left, Nady struck again, cracking a long, seeing-eye ground rule double to deep right-center. Betemit knocked in a third run on a groundout, and now it was really a game, the Yanks down just 1 after six.

Giese set the Angels down still again in the seventh, withstanding a Garrett Anderson double, and you had the feeling the Yanks were ready to roll. And they did. Bobby Abreu knocked in Jeter with the tying run before Nady struck once again, homering to score Abreu and Arod, who had singled. So it was 8-5 Yankees after 7.

Edwar Ramirez looked like gangbusters by fanning the first two batters he faced in the eighth. But then he started to unravel, two walks and a single loading the bases for the newly acquired Angel, Mark Teixeira, who wasted no time at all in smashing one into the right field seats for a grand slam. So now the Yanks were down one yet again.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Yanks would come back once again though, and Joe Girardi showed why he’ll be a manager in this league for a long time. After Pudge had singled, and with the weak-hitting Melky Cabrera at the plate, Joe seemed to manage Melky’s at bat, pitch by pitch, until, after he had worked the count to full, Girardi sent in a pinch-runner for Pudge.

Joe became a genius after Melky bounced one to short, but with the speedy Christian running on the pitch, shortstop Eric Aybar muffed the play, and all hands were safe. Then Christian stole third and scored on the bad throw to third. The Yanks had tied it once again. After that, the Angels started unraveling, seemingly making mistakes every time there was an opportunity. The Yanks would finish the eighth inning up 14-9, which turned out to be the final score after Jose Veras set the Angels down in the ninth.

What was most remarkable about the game, besides the wild swings in fortune, were the main perpetrators of the scoring. They were the “new guys” for both teams., Xavier Nady and Mark Teixeira, and, of course, Pudge, who smacked that first home run to open the Yankees scoring and prove that John Lackey was not invincible.

In fact, it was another “new guy”, Justin Christian, the pinch-runner, who really broke the game open, not only with his speed on the hit-and-run, but also the steal of third and subsequent errors he forced. Yes, speed did kill on this afternoon, and, for once, it was the Bombers who would put it on display.

It had to be a most unnerving experience for the Angels. Hadn’t it always been the Angels who’d used speed and guile to outscore their opponents? And hadn’t it been their heavy-hitter Teixeira who should have knocked these upstarts out with his grand slam in the eighth? And wasn’t it the Angels who had the best relief pitching in the land?

Not yesterday. Dan Giese pitched three beautiful innings to keep the Yankees around. And, even though Edwar Ramirez gave up that big grand slam to Teixeira, he didn’t really look that bad doing it. By that I mean he had some trouble with his control, in part because his ball has such movement. And Veras looked great in the ninth. There would be no need for Mariano on this particular afternoon. Even their other “new guy”, the lefty specialist Marte, showed his face in the pen, perhaps just for show.

How can I be a Yankee-hater with the team they have now? What’s not to like? Nady adds zing to their lineup, in just the right spot. Pudge looks like a new man. I always liked the Giambino and Damon. And Melky, he can grow on you too. Cano’s been a hit machine.

I haven’t liked a Yankees team this much since the one I found impossible to hate, the one with Tino at first, and O’Neil in the outfield, and that clutch third-baseman Scott Brosius. Not to mention Chuck Knoblauch at second and there was even the young Alfonso Soriano. That was the year 2000. It’s been about eight years of Yankee-hating ever since.

But these guys are seriously likeable. Look out, American League East, this Yankees team is for real. They knew what they needed. They went out and got it….unlike the Mets.