Yankee Stadium shook when Alex Rodriguez took Joe Nathan into the Yankees bullpen for a two-run homer to tie the game in the ninth, a game the Yankees would go on to win 4-3 in 11 innings. But preliminary tremors already were registered with the Twins closer.
One of the very best becomes one of the very worst when he comes to New York, and if Nathan certainly is not the only reliever to be victimized by Alex Rodriguez, he remains the only one in a come-from-behind, late-inning, postseason situation.
In 2004, the only postseason series in which Rodriguez excelled as a Yankee until this one, his two-on, one-out double turned around a 6-5, 12th inning Twins lead in Game 2 into a Yankees win that turned the series.
Rodriguez didn’t do in Nathan on May 15 of this season, when in the opener of a series the Yankees swept, Nathan couldn’t close a 4-2 lead into the ninth — Melky Cabrera did with a two-out single. But only after Johnny Damon’s one-out smash off Jose Mijares in last night’s 10th inning went right to Orlando Cabrera after Nathan had sent Brett Gardner to third with a bad pickoff throw, did the closer avoid being the losing pitcher.
Nathan did not, however, avoid making himself look small by making Phil Cuzzi’s errant foul ball call on what should have been a Joe Mauer double to lead off the 11th as big a factor in the Twins’ excruciating loss as the blown save, never mind which occurred first.
“I wasn’t the only one who blew one tonight,” said Nathan. “That double [would have] put us in a great situation, we could have done a lot of things. You don’t know how he missed it. You see on the replay, he’s probably about 10 feet from the call. He’s an outfield umpire there to make calls on the outfield line. I don’t want to make this bigger than it is, but it was a big call for us, obviously.”
Mauer singled regardless, then got stranded at third after the Twins loaded the bases with nobody out. That wouldn’t have happened, either, if Nathan hadn’t given up a hit to Mark Teixeira before A-Rod unloaded, a truth the closer finally conceded.
“If I go out and do my job earlier, we wouldn’t be talking about this,” he said.
